Fleeting impressions

First impressions are fascinating to me, but so are fleeting impressions. Folks of the scientific persuasion and the business schools have done a studies to show the effect of a good first impression and the consequences of making a bad impression, but I haven’t seen anything related to the partial impression, or what I’m calling the “fleeting” impression.

This kind of impression would be a partial or quick viewing of something that quickly passes and you are left without it, possibly when you are interested in it. Examples might be 5-second commercials that have no resolution, or a person you almost recognize zooming past you on a bus. These types of encounters leave us curious, befuddled, or sometimes frustrated with the quick exposure to something we didn’t have time to sort out in our minds. I had an impression like this, and I’m choosing to write about it because I enjoy writing about peer artwork, not just the “good” art exhibits my professor requires.

I had a quick encounter with the Visual Communication exhibition that left me wanting more and at the same time it left me with so much to think about. Having a limited amount of time, I had to move through the exhibit rather quickly, which is never a good thing, but I would rather have seen some of the works in a limited fashion than miss out on the entire show!

There were a large number of pieces shown, many from illustration students and some on the same topics or from the same assignment. There was a miniature book which showed in each spread, something relating to a blackbird. The overall tone and feeling of the piece was very dark but at the same time rather quaint, as a children’s story. I really enjoyed it, and I wanted to spend more time with it, but I moved on because I was excited to see a friend’s work which I was hoping made it into the juried exhibition (it did – yay!). I saw some works by folks whose names I recognized from other student shows throughout the year, some portrait styles I really loved and some slick designs for corporate branding I wanted to hang around and admire.

This can’t be too much of a review because I couldn’t stick around to take notes – but I promised myself I would return as soon as I had an opportunity. Well, I sheepishly admit that I didn’t pay attention to how long the exhibit would stay – it seems like the norm is at a minimum of two weeks around that area – and when I came back, the work was gone. I was so depressed that I was stuck viewing the MFA Exhibition, recommended by my prof. because her peers are showing work, instead of viewing the work of my peers in the adjacent gallery!

This is not to say that the MFA show wasn’t desirable, in fact, it was fantastic! But there was a larger quantity of work in the Viscom exhibit, and more of it interested me because it showed outcomes from the very same classes I will be taking in the future. The MFA exhibit seemed a bit random in topic and media, and it seemed there was less work to see, though some of the work was very very large.

So my curiosity is in my impression of the Viscom show, which I had to see more quickly then I would have liked. Does my imagination add more to the exhibit than was actually there? Is my opinion of work changed by the fact that I didn’t stare at it for very long, and is that for better or worse?

Sometimes I think that people – especially people of the artistic persuasion – can inject meanings and ideas into a work that were never there before nor intended to be there by the artist, simply by staring at a piece for a long time. Sometimes what’s there, is what’s there, and it doesn’t have to be a long and detailed comment on anything at all. I think that detailed analysis of work sometimes adds really unnecessary weight, and to me that gets in the way of simply enjoying the experience of the piece itself. Actually, I often enjoy my own work until unnecessary meaning is injected by way of critique or my prof.’s input.

Work that hasn’t been given so much content WEIGHT seems to be the only work that I continue enjoy, no matter how many times I view it. An abstract piece may be something that the artist is trying to portray that’s not actually something in existence, or something that’s meant to be felt or understood rather than explained. Giving concrete meaning to individual elements of the abstract work brings the piece into the real world. It makes us imagine real concrete things and ideas in place of the original, abstract shapes.

So, those are my light and airy impressions of the Viscom show. It must not have lasted more than a week, but it certainly did make a good first impression!

Effective Practice

I’ve found that for anything you study, one thing is true. Practice doesn’t make perfect. Effective practice makes perfect.

There are plenty of reasons to keep doing it wrong. Reasons not to see the bigger picture and do something right. Some of the common excuses include “My boss/friend/mom told me to do it this way,” “I don’t know how to do it any other way” and “It would be too difficult to find a better way to do this.”

I can doodle in my sketchbook for days and days and years and years, but if I’m not practicing a specific skill or working on a technique that’s difficult for me I’m not necessarily improving.

I could continue to practice graphic design for years and years, but without someone who knows how to do it right, I get no improvement in my skill and ability. I’ve been practicing it wrong this whole time because I’ve had the first excuse applying to me. If the boss says that images always go in the center because wrapping text is more interesting then the images always go in the center. I think there can be a peaceful, calming feeling in compositions that do not include any ragged edge besides the right, and the tone of the content should dictate the style of the layout.

By never trying to be the best at something, we often end up being the worst at something. This statement applies more to businesses, departments, companies and brands more than people, but it could be interpreted either way.

I believe that “Because we’ve always done it this way” shouldn’t be a valid excuse for avoiding innovation and squashing improvements as they come along. Practicing outside one’s comfort zone could be the best way to improve.

That’s what I think.

OK, I’ll Play

Okay, Free to think, I’ll play the six word thingy, but I don’t have anyone to tag!

I’ve been hanging around on Avanoo.com for awhile now, and they’ve got a project where people post “six-word-stories” that are really great as well. Check them out!

I think my six words will be these:

Silently singing, I continue my search.

Review: We Draw Good

Sometimes viewing art is negatively impacted by the opinions of others, intentional or subconscious.

Last week we were referred to specific galleries to write reports “because there’s good stuff there.” I disagree with “good stuff” being someone’s judgment before we’ve seen the work for ourselves, so I’m writing about the stuff we were pointed away from. “We Draw Good” is work by the Visual Communications graduating seniors, and it’s showing in the Kachina Gallery which is also a student lounge. The theme is the sketch and the process by which ideas come about.

I viewed this exhibit because, by not including it in the “good stuff” it deserved attention without bias.

It’s a little difficult to browse this exhibit during the day when the lounge is filled with people. Some of the tables are pretty close to the walls and the works, and you have to watch out not to trip of people’s laptop cords and backpacks. I came to see it when it was almost empty.

Viewing these pieces seems a lot like being inside someone’s head. You can see the ideas as they emerge and develop. You can see raw inspiration and searching through doodles. You see what’s usually unseen; the sometimes-ugly beginning.

The presentations were different depending on the work, and every piece was in a space in the gallery that was appropriate for it. From scattered paper to cards neatly arranged on a piece of mat board, presentation matched the work entirely.

There were many types of media in this exhibit and also various levels of development of ideas and images. Some images were just drawings or sketches. Others seemed more finished and intended for exhibit, such as the tiny papercraft scenes by Margarita.

Some of the pieces could have been made more interesting with the addition of a story or small narrative to explain the existence of the work. One such piece was called “Bigaro Journal Project,” and it seemed to be a collaboration between a few artists. It was made of a large sketchbook with sketches on the pages. The images didn’t seem to relate to each other or be particularly well-developed.

The papercraft scenes I mentioned before seemed to have their own stories without an explicit narrative. Like actors on a stage in a scene, the (very small) paper characters showed emotions through four constructed panels. In wooden frames, paper was suspended in layers to create depth and detailed scenery for the characters. Two of the four frames had titles written on them, in a few words describing the scene and sometimes naming the character.

One piece I enjoyed in particular was entitled “My Lively Mind.” Made of paper (which looked like scanned sketchbook pages which were then printed and glued together), the piece begins with one small single sheet glued to a piece of glass in a frame hanging from the wall. It’s then a chain of papers that are the same size, some attached on the short side, and others on the long side, creating a waterfall of paper that usually goes down and sometimes sideways. I think that’s a really neat way to add a 3-D element to a piece, and I’m considering taking that as an inspiration and trying a similar idea on my next project.

All in all, I would highly recommend this exhibit as a look into a process that’s not normally seen. The raw ideas and half-developed characters leave much to the imagination, making the exhibit almost interactive.

Well worth the time, and though not polished, definitely worth a look.