Okay, here is a draft of the introduction for our proposal (let me know what you think):
It is important to have an active soul: A person should constantly explore who they are, what they believe, and why they are where they are. Self-reflection is important, but self-reflection without more is limited and hastens bad ideas. The ideal should never be the stoic thinker, off in the corner, who develops grand ideas through reflecting on his own insular experiences, which are caged in by his own prejudices. Rather, the ideal should be open and honest collaboration. That is, working with others to develop and crystallize your own constitution.
"Sibling Revelry" is a celebration of the importance of collaboration. "Sibling Revelry" is a multifaceted essay on collaboration in the context of our digital age--a digital age that opens the door to effective collaboration to the greatest extent in history. First, "Sibling Revelry" is a visual art show, where my sister and I have been creating and will continue to create various pieces of artwork. The artwork will be (or is) 6" x 6" in dimension, and we will be done with this project when we have create 150 unique pieces of art (I will create 50, my sister will create 50, and we will have 50 pieces where one of us has started the piece and the other finishes the piece). The second part of our essay is the process itself.
For the past six months, my sister and I have kept a blog detailing each piece and detailing our various influences: Our critiques of each other's work, various artists that inspire us, and other discussions about this project and art in general. We are also putting our work in other online forums to get feedback and inspiration from artists around the world (other forums include, among others, MySpace, Etsy, Indiepublic, and Flicr).
The third and final part of our essay is a written essay. The written essay will be more expansive than a traditional artist's statement. We will tie all of our efforts together and place our collaboration in the proper context. We will look back and explore our blog and our various discussions in other forums to see where we were and where we ended up. We will study great artistic collaborations of the past; such as, the Pre-Raphaelites, Die Neue Sachlichkeit (the New Objectivity), and Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. We will then reflect on whether and in what ways our individual work was enriched by our collaborative work.
I like the whole description of the project and the process. I'm not too sure about the first paragraph because you use big words. just kidding - I like the concepts in the first paragraph about self-reflection and the benefit of collaboration, but I think it needs to be fleshed out a bit. also, I think we should have a couple versions of the proposal - a full length in depth one, and a short press release style one for a quick description.
ReplyDeleteyou know, Cathy (cousin) has said many times that we could have a show at her house. I think she would like to host something like that. plus, a small intimate venue might be a nice way to start it off.
ReplyDeletereflection upon your life, actions, art, everything leads to self exploration and self understanding. knowing ourselves is most important. knowing yourself leads to honesty with yourself and others - and with your art. having someone to collaborate with is an ideal way to facilitate this type of reflection. to have someone who can be completely honest with you, who will encourage and support your ideas, will help you to pursue more possibilities in your own work - you will be encouraged to explore and experiment knowing you have a safe atmosphere to share your ideas.
ReplyDeletethe Sibling Revelry project has done this for me - I have been challenged by Colin to work outside my comfort zone, to experiment and explore new ideas and techniques. I have expanded my own ideas and begun to work on other projects fueled by the inspiration that has resulted from this collaboration.