Tales from Studio Mailbox

Fly the Twist Defiant Badge

Just because Lee was the world's first doesn't mean she has to be the world's only!

If you'd like to fly the Twist Defiant Badge, then go for it.  I think the html code is available at Flickr under "Share This." 

If you're techy enough to figure out how to re-direct it to Studio Mailbox, BONUS! I'm so out of my league with formatting sidebar content it's asinine to even offer any advice. 

For me, this badge is all about the meaning. 

Flying this badge shows that you're an artist (or writer) who's trying to achieve some originality along your journey to developing your own style!

Thanks for the support! 

 

Twist Defiant Summary

Wow, thanks for all the comments on the recent Twist Defiant post!  This brought up everything from strong opinions to uncertainty. 

Here's a sum up:

• It's agreed, stealing stinks.

• We like to emulate people we admire but if we are going to sell our artwork, it's extremely important that our creations are not imitation copies of somebody else's.

• Since (nearly) everything has been done, some sort of influences will likely be recognizable in anything we create. 

• There can be overlap in techniques, styles, mediums and interpretations, it gets confusing.
  Where is the line between influence and imitation?  Who knows.  80-20 is a possible guide.

Peeps I've gone out on a limb writing this because I'm coming to you from a place of exploring this myself, not as an authority.  I've made tons of mistakes.  Remember my own lesson in being original? 

Yikes. That was a big step for me.  And it wasn't necessarily easy to share my giant screw-up with the blog-o-sphere.  But I share my mistake with you in hopes that you won't make the same one.  We're all learning.

My guts tell me this whole topic is something really important.  The reactions you shared in the comments supports this feeling. 

When I formulated the original post I wrote, "Twist Defiance is something fresh, new, original and really truly ours."

Since our discussion, some would argue that's not even possible. All I want to do is encourage awareness and an effort on our part as artists to keep exploring the boundaries of originality.  So now please allow me to tweak the mission statement a bit further.  (Normally big corporations pay tens of thousands for this crap and here I can just do it because of my awesome arty friends -- thanks guys!!)

How is this sounding:

Twist Defiance is a concept that challenges us to find a fresh, new or original way to express our creations.

At first I wrote that it was "an artistic commitment" but that's too hard core.  There are days I just want to go in my basement and pretend to be Teesha Moore and I want to reserve the right to do so.  The distinction here is that if you've got Twist Defiant Awareness, you know it's not cool to take your Teesha-tweaked journal page and copy it off in a 'Zine for sale.  That's all I'm sayin!

Any more thoughts on this?  Anything we need to add to the mission?  Are we getting warmer?

Defiant Artwork from Defining Me

Today I'm sharing artwork with you that I am so very in love with. 

I've been following Lee's blog Defining Me for some time now.  She started blogging way back in April 2006, and when I visit her site, what I can't shake is her unique writing and artwork.  Many of Lee's posts remind me of a brainstorm.  A compilation of raw thought.  Although all her images have distinctive "Lee style" I'm especially fond of her cool portraits with their big lush lips! 

Lee has been a major inspiration for me in my whole concept of Twist Defiance. I remember visiting her site and thinking, "there should be an award for this!!"  (Not to mention how her posts are complimented not by random photography, but by her actual artwork.  Impressive to say the least!)

In our correspondence over this post, Lee shared with me her thoughts on creativity, and what she thinks being original is.  In her own words, "...originality to me means using my own pictures, paintings, or drawings, even if they are crap and just putting it out there... I think originality means that something in your art somehow just screams out that you did it." 

Lee is busy making art all the time.  She's taken many on-line classes and does something artful every day.  She says, "I am constantly learning, taking classes, reading art books, looking at blogs, trying new techniques. When I create art or work in art journal, I listen to books on tape. I like a bit of background noise when I create, nothing too loud..."  

Besides Studio Mailbox (bless her heart), Lee follows Alisa Burke for "her style, her use of colour, and line."  She's currently enrolled in Julie Prichard's Melange Workshop  learning new techniques in mixed media using pieces of vinyl, plexiglass and tyvec paper.

I'm so grateful to Lee for her generosity in sharing her artwork with us as well as her patience with me while formulating this. 

Because I've never seen artwork quite like hers, I hereby crown Lee Kreklewetz with the world's first Twist Defiant merit badge! 

And for those mail artists out there, if you're interested in a cool upcoming feminine-themed swap that Lee's co-hosting, investigate that here!

Twist Defiance

Maybe you've noticed the new little badge in my sidebar.

Maybe you've noticed how my posts are slowing down.

Big things are cooking in my brain and there's 3 notebooks getting worked over simultaneously along with an old fashioned paper calendar.  (I never have mastered iCal).

I'm going to go out on a limb here and type something that some people may not want to read.

I'm tired to seeing mixed media artwork that looks sickeningly similar.  I'm concerned about stuff that that appears (at least to me) to be a manipulated copy of someone else's artwork.  I'm interested in discussing the difference between influence and manipulation.  And then I'm interested in discussing blatant theft. 

But these things focus on other people.  And we can never change other people.

So for now, I want to start small.  It starts with a little badge.  Somehow I want to applaud artwork that looks truly original. I want to unite artists who are interested in developing their own unique style.

Now, are you with me?

Let me be clear here on something.  I am talking about the kind of artwork you are intending to sell or publish.  What's in our private art journals, along with experimentation are good things.  Yet I'd suggest if you are using your heavily influenced artwork on your blog or websites, that you cite the artists who inspired it. This is called good manners.

There is so much to this.  But this is a beginning.  Let me challenge you with this thought.  If we were to take some random "big names" and summarize their style, the list might look something like this:

• Pointy Hats, vivid colors, strange figures, wonky writing (Zetti Style) = Teesha Moore
• Patchwork backgrounds, pastels, wings, female faces, long necks, tilted heads = Kelly Rae Roberts
• Collage, emphasis on unusual handwriting = Sabrina Ward Harrison
• Birds, feathers, mandala/symbolic imagery, photo alteration = Karen Michel
• Spray Paint layers, text layers, graphic, crucifix, chess pieces = Michelle Ward
• Alphabetica, ancestor, historic, old fashioned and repeated imagery = Lynne Perrella
• Assemblage, rusty, metals, quirky = Michael Demeng
• Folky, cute animals, girls, skulls, costumes, petit dolls = Suzi Blu
• Female portraiture surrounded by journaling = Pam Carriker
• Freestyle illustrations, odd creatures, silliness = Carla Sonheim

I love these people.  I love their work.  I admire how they've all managed to create their own styles.

Now here's the kicker:  how is your work different from theirs?

Twist Defiance is not artwork that is someone else's merely twisted into something new.  Twist Defiance is something fresh, new, original and really truly ours.

If you've been lurking, please speak up.  If I've ever wanted input, now is the time.  Please don't hold back, join in! I welcome a discussion.  Even if you don't agree with my concept, your input is valuable.  For instance many people think mixed media is supposed to be altered and manipulated.   What do you think?