Cast/mold, Rockfish, by Tammy Vitale of Tam’s Originals
This is bad. I can’t remember if I’ve had Rockfish up here before. I need pictures of new work so I can be sure I’m not repeating!
Rockfish here is made from a casting of an actual rockfish. I went to the seafood store and said "I want half of that one," and proceeded to explain that I wanted the full head and half the fish lengthwise. Which brought an odd look. I smiled and explained I’m an artist and that seemed to do it – you know how those artists are. Odd folk (see yesterday’s post here). I took the fish home and cast it in plaster. Originally made for my public piece, Chesapeake, the cast now takes up a lot of space in my bin, so I made this piece from it and rakued it. 
Then I handfinished it with shells and some swarovski sparkles and metallic paints since the raku process didn’t exactly do what I had anticipated (does it ever? not for me! But that’s not a complaint – I love the surprise and anticipation of the process).
Why didn’t I just handbuild you ask. Because rockfish are the darlings of the Chesapeake Bay – they are the fish – highly prized and protected by seasons to keep all those avid fishermen from destroying the species. Every fish person of the Chesapeake Bay knows what one looks like and rather than do an artistic rendition, I decided to do this one fish in real life. It was a fun, smelly, messy process. Dog still loves that particular cast mold.
On another note, following yesterday’s posting about artists as rebels, here is another article from Artdaily.com about artists and their persona. African American Works of Art at the High Museum, Atlanta, " presents Paper Trail: African American Works on Paper, beginning July 1 through September 3, 2006. This exhibition, based on the High’s collection of African American works on paper, seeks to blur boundaries and highlight that African American art is more than just art by African American artists—that it encompasses a range of decisions and consistent themes that document creative strategies of self-expression. [emphasis mine]
“’African American art is as complex as the members of that community,’ said Michael D. Harris, the High’s Consulting Curator of African American Art. ‘The purpose of this exhibition is to examine the evidence—thus, ‘paper trail’—of diverse interests that African American artists have explored. Creative decisions showcased in this exhibition include whether to emphasize and acknowledge one’s ethnicity or to emphasize one’s role as an artist as a means of foregrounding his or her humanity in a more personal sense.’
"The exhibition features many never-before exhibited works and embraces an array of artists from the end of the Harlem Renaissance (1940s) to the present, including Terry Adkins, recent David C. Driskell Prize winner Willie Cole, Sam Gilliam, Adrian Piper, Kara Walker, and John Scott. The exhibition comprises four general categories of expression: Subjectification and Personal Vision, Rootedness, Abstraction and Exploration, and Identity and Conflict. Rather than representing chronological developments, these groupings suggest the diversity and complexity of African American art connected with, but distinct from, mainstream modern and American art in the 20th century. "
For me, this begs the question about any minorities, including women, in the arts. Are we first women making art or is art a human thing which is influenced by but not made of the culture in which one is submerged? I have always been somewhat tweaked (when I bother to think about it) by the term "women’s art" or "women’s poetry" and the assumption that "art" and "poetry" if not defined by a possessive adjective is in the realm of (white) men. Only. Anything else requires the descriptive possessive adjective to make sure the reader knows that are dealing with something other than real art or poetry (or theater or music or anything except maybe creative housekeeping). What do you think?
Thought for the day: "It should be understood that business is business and, fundamentally, that corporate interest in the arts is self-interest. Corporations need to know that the motivation for becoming involved goes beyond helping artists. After all, art is viewed as a luxury, not a necessity, in the workplace. Keeping in mind that all of life’s endeavors contain self-interest, it behooves the artist to determine just how enlightened that self-interest is in order to evaluate the possibilities for entering the corporate marketplace….Some corporate needs that must be addressed when collecting art include the need to: enhance corporate image; decorate walls and public spaces; provide good investment; satisfy a percent for art law; challenge thinking, please people, boost morale; improve productivity. While most companies do not ask their art programs to fulfill all these functions, at least two of them are operative in every corporate collecting situation. In almost all cases, corporate management is intent upon improving the work environment. At the same time, it must answer to both stockholders who question the appreciability of art expenditures and to employees who might feel that the art budget should be applied to salary increase or other financial benefits."Lee Caplin The Business of Art
Question for the day: Is art a luxury? Do artists feel differently about being surround by art (their own and others’) than the rest of the world? Do we all have a bit of artists in us even if unmanifest? If yes, how does that affect question 2. (OK that’s more than one question for the day. Chew on it while you’re being creative).
