Putting The Positive First

It might surprise you to discover that I don't like to sew.  I like sewing my animals, but if the fashion world ever turned upside down and we had to start making our own clothes, I would be wearing potato sacks.  I might embellish them with ribbons or beads, but at the heart they would be potato sacks.  Seriously if I had to pull a Scarlet O'hara...the curtains would have been wrapped like a toga.  I like to watch Project Runway, it fascinates me.  I could not do what these people do.  Even when I don't really care for what they create, I am still impressed that they can do it, especially under that kind of pressure.

I firmly believe however that it's time for Nina, Michael and Heidi to be replaced.  Over the seasons they have become very harsh in their criticisms when they don't like something.  Now I understand that it's their job to judge, but I think it's so important to temper a criticism by pointing out a positive first.  Even Len on Dancing With The Stars said that this week. 

Over the years I have sometimes been asked by newer artists to give them suggestions on how to improve or what I think they are doing wrong.  Yes they are my competition and I am in business for myself.  But I also know it's not all about me, so I am not going to steer them in the wrong direction.  I always try to deliver those suggestions in the most positive way...but I ALWAYS have told them what I think they are doing right first. 

Nina and Michael have a lot of experience in the fashion world, they are always harping on a fresh idea and a new perspective.  I think it would improve the show if we had a fresh set of judges with a new perspective.  I cannot believe that they said Andy's outfit was unwearable tonight.  Obviously it wasn't since the model was wearing it.  It might not appeal to some people, but I am sure there were viewers out there who loved it.  I know several times I have seen something on the show they hated and I would buy it in an instant, and vice versa.  Also I thought that Valeries's dress was pretty tonight. 

They have been extremely hard on her this season, and I don't know why.  I thought that some of the things she created  were just great and I would wear them.  Some of the winning outfits this season didn't impress me at all.  I did LOVE the dress Mondo created last week though that won.  I would wear that in a heartbeat.

I want you to take a moment and think back to when you first started on your career as an artist.  Chances are you made a few things you thought turned out terrible.  Of course we are our own worst critics.  But most likely some well meaning peer, family member or friend told you what they liked about it in order to bolster your spirits.  Whether you realized it at the time or not, that little encouragement may have been the very thing that kept you working on towards the next few pieces instead of just giving up.

I remember the first bear I made, it was terrible.  TERRIBLE!  I was 17, and I threw it in the trash and cried because I had worked on it for five days.  My Mother pulled it out of the waste paper basket and told me it was cute.  It wasn't, but if she hadn't I probably wouldn't have made another one.  I am glad she salvaged him because I did make another one, I still have him packed away in a trunk.  Now I can look back at him and just laugh.  I can also see how far I have come in three decades.  Back then we didn't have the luxury of the tools and information on making bears that is available today.  Nor did we have the benefit of other artists experience to draw from since it was a brand new genre of art.

Now I realize that Project Runway is a TV show.  For some reason cruelty on TV gets ratings, and I don't understand why.  But for me...I won't buy Marie Claire anymore.  I picked up a cute pair of shoes while shopping the other day, and as soon as I saw the Michael Kors label in them I put them down and walked away.  I just cannot bring myself to support the careers of people who can be so cruel to other people whose places they were once in.  I think it's important to focus on the positive in another artist first, then deliver your suggestions.  You don't have to like their work, but you should appreciate their efforts.  I think it would be nice if we focused on the positive a lot more on TV.  Maybe it would be a nice step towards teaching us to work together to help one another in this business.  If we could do that we would all be more successful!

The Rest Of The Story

I don't know how many of you remember Paul Harvey.  He passed away last year and I kind of miss his radio spots he used to do where he told "the rest of the story."  It was always interesting.  One story in particular stands out in my mind. 

He told about a man who was well off but lived in spartan conditions, he would donate lots of money to various charities and he even put a nephew through the seminary.  He was very kind to many people throughout his life.  But very few really knew about the man's private life or all the good deeds he did until after his death.  The man turned out to be Andy Warhol who of course always seemed so flamboyant in his public life.  But that was an artistic diva-esque persona he played because at that period in time it was expected.

Today I am going to tell you the "rest of the story" about the things I post.  It won't be as lovely as anything Mr. Harvey would have told, but it might help you understand just a tad more.

I stay up all night working.  I don't go to bed until about 5:00-6:00 AM after R has left for work.  I sit down here in my creative space working on whatever latest thing I am making.  While I do that I watch TV and I think about things.  All sorts of things...some of those things would probably make you scratch your head in puzzlement.  Two nights ago I was hand sewing, watching The Incredible Mr. Limpet and thinking about a theory I have on the Higgs Bosun particle and why it's so elusive.  Not to worry I won't bore you with it.

The point is I think about a LOT of things, all kinds of things...in depth.  That's the way it is at night when it's quiet and no one is talking to you for hours.  The mind goes to these places usually prompted by something else.  

At 4:30 R gets up for work, I go see him off, pour a small cup of coffee and come back down here which is usually when I make my blog posts. 

I keep telling myself that I should make them during the day.  When I make daytime posts they always seem less...esoteric.  I suspect that sometimes you read what I write and wonder to yourself what brought me to that place and made me want to post that thing.  Especially since I always say it's important to have continuity to your work, but yet I certainly don't apply that to my blog.

Like yesterday's post.  There was more behind that than what you read.  It was an offshoot of a conversation I was in the middle of earlier in the day.  I had been mentally chewing on it for a while before I got here.

Sometimes I go back and read my posts and I think wow, people must think I am the strangest creature on the planet, when really I am only in the top twenty or so!  *gigglesnorts*

We have been discussing on a forum I frequent about blogging and what people might want to read or not read.  I have no idea what people want to read.  Half the time I am not even sure why I post what I do or if I want to read it.  But maybe you will understand now if it seems odd it's because I have been up all night by the time I get to posting.

Thankfully blogs are like art and they are subjective...I am also thankful that you come to read it anyway and leave the kind comments that you do...and that no one has sent men in white coats to haul me away yet!

The Sistine Chapel And The Soup Can

Can you believe I am making a second post today?  I have something I have been chewing on a bit here though. 

I want to tell a little story first.  When I go overseas to do a show I always like to take a few extra days to sight see and shop.  It was on one of these trips a few years ago that another artist pal and I were shopping and wandered into an upscale department store. 

On a mannequin we saw displayed a dress by a very famous designer.  I was rather excited to see it because while I had seen their clothes on celebrities and in magazines I had never seen one of their garments in real life.  The dress in question was a simple orange rough linen shift.  It was sleeveless, with a flower near the rounded neckline made of the same material.  The price tag worked out to a little over eight thousand dollars with the conversion rate.

As I was looking at it, something seemed a bit off.  I realized the dress didn't hang straight.  My friend and I started really scrutinizing it.  The seams were poorly stitched and weren't finished on the edges, it wasn't lined and the new fad of having unhemmed material had just taken hold so the edges was raw and frayed...by design.  I also noticed that one of the arm holes was slightly larger than the other.

I was shocked.  This was a designer that had achieved a level of success that most others could only aspire to.  I guess you could say they would be considered the "gold standard."  This dress wouldn't have survived more than two wearings.  I have a linen shift in a blue floral in my closet that I paid twenty five dollars for at Target that was better made.

For me to spend eight thousand dollars on a dress it had better have perfect hand stitched french seams, silk lining, a hemmed bottom regardless what the current fad is, hang straight, slice, dice and make julienne fries!

I belong to a bear artist group, and this week a topic was raised on making a list to set the gold standard for bear artists.  I, along with a few others are rather against that notion.  I think it's nearly impossible to quantify what the gold standard in any artistic venue is. 

Art, even in the bear world, is so diverse, how can you make a standardized list.  And...should you?  There has been quite a bit of discussion about what would go on the list.  No one seems certain if it should be about a simply making a quality product or specific design details.  I also raised the question of is it simply who can get the highest dollar for their work over someone else who charges less but who also makes a quality product.  Because in the case of the previously mentioned designer, their work was clearly sub par to many of their peers despite their reputation.  That holds true in some instances in the art world as well.

What really sets the gold standard in art?  What happens if you don't meet the decided upon set of requirements?  You can set Michael Angelo's Sistine Chapel painting up as the gold standard, but that doesn't invalidate Andy Warhol's tomato soup can as a genuine work of art if someone loves it and wants to own it.  At least that's my opinion because I believe that art is in the eye of the beholder.

But I am curious about your views on this.  I know that many artists making things other than bears read my blog, so I would like to hear your input on this regardless what you make or if you are a collector.  How would you feel if a group of people in your venue set up a list of what defines the "gold standard."  Would you try to adhere to it?  Would it affect you at all?  Would it affect your sales/purchases to know that someone does or does not meet the list?