Less of Comfortable Shoes Studio has posted a series of blog posts on the Cult of Stuff, the idea that you need more stuff – expensive supplies, fancy kits, shiny & sparkly tools – to create art worth caring about.

Check this out:

This is the entirety of my art supplies (and as you can see some of it isn’t even supplies, like the row of completed journals); usually half of it is all over my table but I stacked it up all nice for you guys. I’d always considered this to be a ton of stuff (I’ll probably toss the entire bottom row when I move) but then I see people with entire craft rooms filled to the brim. Bananas!

I’m a proponent of limiting your supplies so I’ve been enjoying the Cult of Stuff discussion (Less has done a link roundup, saving me the trouble!) and thought I’d throw in my thoughts.

It’s “interesting” or “unfortunate” that so many people have forgotten that one of the functions of art – and the primary function of art journaling in particular – is to express the artist’s intent/emotion/bad hair day. A lot of people seem to work backwards – technique or supply first, sentiment second. It should be the other way around: decide what it is you’re trying to say and find the best way to say it. Maybe this means you DO need super fancy paint or such…but probably not. What you’ve got will probably work just fine. In fact, Less has created a whole (free) workshop on the Art Journaling Ning around the concept of actually using the stuff you already have.

If you’ve watched my videos, you’ve probably noticed that I tend to use a lot of thin layers of color. I get a surprising number of people asking me what paint I’m using to get that effect. Every time somebody asks I have a little laugh with myself because it’s the cheap-ass acrylic craft paint mixed with tons of water. I “discovered” this “technique” while I was trying to conserve paint because I was too lazy to go to the store and I had to figure out a way to stretch what I had.

The vast majority of my quote unquote techniques are actually just that sort of problem solving. The reason I feel relatively comfortable screwing up inventing new-to-me methods is because I use cheap everything so I have no excuse or worries. I think a lot of people buy expensive supplies because it makes them feel arty but also provides them with a “reason” why they can’t actually use them (they’re so expensive and I don’t want to waste them).

At the end of the day, many people are not secure enough in their own art – and the validity of their expression – so they use supplies, special techniques and imitation of other peoples’ ideas as a shield. It allows them to create without actually creating, which is scary because you are putting yourself out there. This is not to say you should never try a new supply or take something you like from another artist (you should always be learning!) but there is a huge difference between expanding your repertoire and using these things as a crutch.

Listen, your art is important and we need it. Your art, not your approximation of the tutorial on the back of a craft kit. Use your supplies to express your vision (whether your supplies consist of professional grade acrylic, graphite, chewing gum, whatever), the way only you can. Use your supplies; don’t let them paralyze you.

This TED talk is tangentially related and it’s very interesting – it’s a talk by Barry Schwartz, author of Paradox of Choice, in which he states that excessive choice paralyzes us rather than frees us.

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June 10th, 2011 |