Art = Autobiography

[Malinda Neisess]

Ms. Dandy Lines dropped by Florabelles the other day and left me with a quote by Italian movie director Federico Fellini

"All art is autobiographical," he explained when asked about his inner-life creations. "The pearl is the oyster's autobiography."

I've been thinking about this since and it also reminded me of the past discussion here about the legacy we want to leave behind and also the old saying that a picture paints a thousand words...

We had another discussion somewhere, at Florabelle's maybe, not sure, but about the idea of a soundtrack for our lives, it would be a fun project and Cynthia actually made one! I haven't set out to do this yet but it is still percolating...

I like the idea of my Art being left behind as my autobiography. I believe I will look at each new piece that I create from the perspective of it speaking volumes about me when I'm gone. I am a very happy person but we all have had some icky stuff in our lives and so I think if I do decide to bring these to a visual documentation, I would make them very small to signify that they were the small things because the good stuff is what matters to me :-) and that alone will speak volumes about me.

I have studied the lives of a few artists in particular and so I was thinking that if I had not read about them, would their art have been able to show me what I'd read? Since I can see the art and know the background it is hard to separate the two but it is very interesting to see how their art did indeed paralell their personal lives but without knowing all the details I could have made up my own fantasies about them and the reasons and motivations for their work.
It is an interesting analogy to narrow this particular question to the simplicity of looking at one piece of art when you know nothing about it except what you see and the many different ways in which you can interpret it verses having the artist right their telling you exactly what and why for each detail, which limits the way you can then look at that picture...

What are your thoughts on your Art being your autobiography???

[cat stone]

I do it for pieces that I know won't be washed. I wait 24 hours after printing then iron it to heat set the ink. There are some inks that are waterproof and some that aren't. I don't know which is which though. There is also a product you can buy to treat the fabric with first, it's supposed to make it washable. It's called Bubble Jet Set, but I think it's quite expensive. Mostly I just use this method for atc's and postcards, and small wall quilts that don't need to be washed. I printed out a photo of the aurora borealis onto fabric then stitched over the top of it - turned out pretty good. I haven't taken a photo of it yet.

[Malinda Neisess]

:-) I can't wait to see it! sounds wonderful!

[Lotus L Vele]

I'm like you Malinda,
I see the positive in most things and I'm a happy person for it. I can see my work as being autobiographical. It reflects how I'm feeling at that moment. Although I don't do much darker stuff, you brought to my attention that sometimes I do have a sad or closed off feel to my work (like the art journal page I did) which can come out without me realizing it.

I love the art of children and youth. I love to look at what they create and "see" what state of mind they are in. Does that make sense? I have been encouraging my own children to pursue art and it's so fascinating to see where their minds are at, or their life in general. Sometimes I use a piece of their art to start a discussion when I think there is something my child is struggling with.

I have also asked their advice on what they thought was going on in my mind with my journal pages... LOL! Case in point, the page made from one line! ; )

Did I totally drift off subject?

[Malinda Neisess]

Dear Lotus,
I love the idea of asking your kids what they thought was going on in your mind with your journal pages! :-)
this might also encourage them to use artwork to express their own feelings if they see it working with you and between you and them
hmmm...
now I wonder if we can get our kids to do things with our art work?
I can see collage made for kids by their parents something like this;
a picture of the kid taking out the trash and then a picture of the mom smiling and dad smiling
and then a picture of them all doing something fun together... :-) just a thought

[Lotus L Vele]

Oh yes, to dream... lol

[Anne Westlund]

A lot of my writing is autobiographical, but not explicitly though, well sometimes. Especially poetry. I like to fiddle with the details, even about my own life. But other stuff isn't. Sometimes creativity is just jumping off the diving board and writing about what you know nothing about. Research helps, but it's not necessary for everything. I also like crafts because they are not so personal and yet you can put a lot of yourself and time and love into them. I think what is really weird is if you write about your life and then someone judges or interprets your life instead of your writing or what you wrote. That hardly ever happens though. This is a really thought provoking post, Malinda!

Anne

[Malinda Neisess]

Anne, I think your work shows a lot about you and even about where you are in your life right now.
One thing that shows in your work to me is that you're brilliant but also that you are a very independent person and very strong and that's just for starters...

[Anne Westlund]

Thank You, Malinda!

Anne

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Anne, that's interesting what you said about other people judging or interpreting ... have you heard about what's happening with the actor, Randy Quaid? He is being sued by other actors and people he worked with on a set, who say that he was rude and disruptive to the point they had to cancel the production ... and he says that he was portraying his character in the show, who was a drunk - I think it was Shakespeare. I can't quite buy that ... interesting though.

[Anne Westlund]

Barb-

I had an instance where I wrote a poem about a guy mistreating a woman, "Traffic Stop", from a prompt on CCS and someone thought it happened to me. Had to set him straight.

Anne

[Dan Goodwin]

Anne - "I like to fiddle with the details, even about my own life" - I do this too in writing and only just realised it. You make emotions more dramatic or scenes more vivid or you get the girl you never got at school, or whatever. A subtle rewriting of history...

[Malinda Neisess]

this is off the subject dan, but i caught a bit of america's next top model or make model, oh wait it was a show of Janet Dickenson's where she was treating her models to salsa lessons and I thought of you :-)
they were just not able to pick up the moves and I thought it would have been great to see you on there showing them how its done...

there's a story for you... but make it salsa "Dan"cing :-)