Designers offer potential then make decisions.

Design is a process of decision making.  Putting yourself in a position to make informed decisions is the designers skill. We do this by making offers that hold potential rather than resolution.  A design concept is not ready to share because it looks good it is ready because it holds the potential you seek.  Once the potential is made clear the decision making is direct. A decision is always measured against the best way to achieve that potential. The result is that the aesthetic or function shifts but the potential we seek does not. The intention remains the same.

Design, like most things, is alive and uncertain. The thing we want to achieve through design on the contrary can be very specific.

Ready...fire!...aim

Design works like this.  Ready...fire...aim.  It is not until we put work on the floor that a director can respond to a design. Firing on the day of shoot or on the deadline is too late. Great work requires rigorous critique before the designer can take aim. We need to take the shot early often before being given clear direction. Drawings, models are all tools to this end. The ideal is to stage the action in a real space and see how it plays.

Get Help

I have been thinking on the nature of help. Probably because I need help to make the work I want to make. When designing or making a film it takes a great deal of energy and enthusiasm from a number of people.  Putting together an exhibition of work takes a great deal of people. Art takes resource and that resource is people.

'Why we help?' is important to ask but often impossible to lock down. Sometimes we help for money, experience or exposure. Often we help because we can...more often though those who help make sacrifice to do so. Why so generous? what is the motivation?

This leads to a truth I have taken from working with wonderful people. Being professional is the by-product of their work it is not the work itself.  Their work is to be artists, good, generous creative artists. This means making work for the sake of the work without buying in to potential benefits that may not manifest. Being professional and fulfilling the needs of others is a result of this culture not the prerequisite. Fortunately another by-product is the work can lead to more and greater reward for all.

Last night Ben Affleck thanked those who helped him when, at the time, he couldn't repay them in any way. It is obvious he has connected with the generosity of others. It must have taken great courage to accept that help. He received it with humility and now all can celebrate in his success. It is great to see art growing this way.

So help more and receive help well whether it can be given or not. Ask for help and most importantly develop art that warrants the generosity.

Space for something else - A Learning Innovation

Toi Whakaari began with students back this week. A piece of work developed throughout last year was introduced by the staff. The staff had devised a day with no scheduled classes across every discipline. Open time and space. Room for independent practice. Space for something else. 

I think this is a wonderful innovation. As a result we will see staff and students bring more of their unique self to the work. Framing this space is the hard and generous work of the staff at Toi whakaari. The framework supports the student and teacher new to this type of learning. The aim is that the individual will generate purpose and as a result better work.

A list of principles for this day  was recorded by the staff in their last meeting together. I have published it here below.

I contributed the drawing... For me this action modelled some of these principles.

Build through difference

I haven't been blogging as frequently. I have been busy creating work with and for other artists. This leads me to an important question. Do I still have a voice when being lead by another? Do I retain my voice when I am the follower?

First it is important to identify that I value 'following' greatly. The person who leads shouldn't always be the strongest, fastest or best but rather the most appropriate to context.  By this I mean to say the leader should be the voice of greatest impact. Let me give an example. When arguing the need for better care for impoverished children in NZ would the message be better held by a politician or by a child?  The child of course would create the strongest impact. Context is everything when deciding who must lead.

In the context of my present work I am a follower. My task is to know what I hold as a follower in relation to the leader. When I meet with my director through a piece of work I am held to a vision. I achieve that vision but I also hold difference.  If I were to deliver only what was asked everyone would be happy. Great work though should make us more than happy. I also deliver what I want.  The director then gains choice, diversity, the unexpected, new ideas, inspiration, potential. He gets great work.

The leader has vision and lays down the challenge. The follower responds and builds off the leaders challenge. Together they build through difference. Either way each voice is important and needs to be heard.

Stop Competing

Being the best at what everyone else does is wonderful but it can only last so long. You can only commit the hours, the intensity, your body and mind for so long before someone can put in more. Basically you cannot remain the worlds fastest man forever. Eventually you get slow and someone else in the right place and time is faster.

Being the best at what 'you do' is different. When your work is unique, particular to you, it is no longer a matter of commitment of energy. Instead it is a commitment of self which is very different. Commitment of self is being self aware and acting on that awareness. Knowing your talents, your passion, your instincts and approach is key to bringing your uniqueness to work.

When this awareness of self is brought forward in relation to the needs of others then what you have is a unique product that cannot be surpassed by a competitor who exerts more energy. So stop Competing. By stepping aside from the wasteful energy consumption that competition brings you can focus on making your  work better and more focused on the clients that want it.

Meeting through the Work

I have started another collaboration. This with NZ director Toa Fraser. Toa is Director of Dean Spanley, No.2 and currently in post production on Gisele, a film of the NZ National Ballet production.

It is wonderful to meet such a talented artist through a piece of work, through ideas, concepts, imagery and a common passion for cinema.  Check out Toa's process and work on his site.

http://toafraser.com/

You Can't Please Everyone

With a huge amount of practise and skill a designer is able to create a client or directors vision.  Reaching this skill level though is only the beginning. The next step is to learn 'you can't please everyone'. Only then can you follow your instincts and create art and design that inspires.

Pleasing everyone has the opposite of the desired effect.  Being acceptable and meeting expectation results in work that is watered down and uninspiring.  The best approach is to exceed expectations, create great work!

This of course leaves room for someone to dislike your art. Some will interpret it as wrong. Designers and artist know there is always a small audience who will make no connection. What keeps us creating is to remember the work is not for them. The work is for the people it does connect with.

An Artist Works With The Clay They Have

This statement holds true for all art. Use what you have. If only pencil and paper, create. Paint, wood, stone,computer, performer, your own body...an artist uses what he/she has. The limitation or opportunity of what is available is the framework for creativity.

This practice does not end with the individual artist.  We are all creative and all artists.  If we consider  other artists working with 'the clay they have' we can see how our generosity is vital to their creation. When creating work consider what other artists need to continue the creativity from where you leave it. The question we can evaluate this work by... 'is my art giving others more or less clay to work with?'