Begining an “Atheism Portfolio”
I’m beginning to wrestle with finding ways to express an atheist point of view in my work. At least now and then.
I’m a life-long atheist — since childhood, and not because of any trauma, and not because I grew up in an atheist community. Atheism just makes sense to me. I’m not without religion: it’s my cultural background, my community, and in part my ethical framework.
Most of my life, I’ve kept my atheism to myself. But lately, it seems prudent to put it out there — to make it part of a world where atheism is a reasonable and acceptable choice rather than something to be hidden. In the past, I’ve said I would never want to convince anyone to join me in my atheism. I live on a cold and windy promontory, facing the void each day. Why ask anyone to give up the warmth and comfort of a world where God and heaven provide a final justice, right all wrongs and rescind oblivion?
But more and more, I feel that humanity will be better off without God. Time is short. We’ll solve more of the problems that face us, if we work from a platform of rational understanding. Less rationalization of suffering, more concentration on preventing it.
Notes on “Child’s Worldview” – currently on display in the exhibit “Ready for my Closeup”
I am currently displaying photographs at the gallery at NewTV in Newton. This is a 2 person show, with Eric Myrvaagnes. More info at http://fishermural.com/photoPrints/closeUp.html
This is an extended version of the notes posted at the exhibit:
Child’s Worldview (1967 Coin Collection)
2009 Artist’s Proof.
This is an experimental image – part of a series of images I hope to create based on my childhood coin collection.
In these coins I see the simple worldview of my ten-year-old self. Each coin a beautiful miniature that had passed from hand to hand in distant places. No mint coins in this collection. Well worn coins, fascinating for their acquired patina of use. I hear a jingling in far away pockets.
In these coins I also find a strong sense of loss. The mid 60s was a time of the birth of the Peace Corps, and of conspicuous American largess. It seems in my childish memory that every day the newspapers carried a photo of men in famine stricken countries joyously hefting great sacks of US grain off of mountainous shipments. Though The Cold War and the Viet Nam war were in full swing, they did not meaningfully intrude on my understanding, did not yet provide complex sub-text to every headline. Daily images of the destructive power of napalm were still a few years away. I see these coins now, and am wistful for that simple worldview – that confidence in both America’s benevolence and in the gratefulness of the world that received it.
The Napoleonic coin from the 1850s (the dark one at the bottom) and the 5 centime from 1919 would have had seemed equally antique to me. I can recall that, as a child, anything older than about 25 years passed into the category of history – distant and mythic. The ’20s, 30s and even the 40s seemed hardly less distant than the civil war era. Perhaps it was the scale of events that dominated those years – the Great War, the Great Depression, World War II.
The cloth is one that my mother embroidered in the mid 60s. While she no longer embroiders, she was prolific from the 50s thru the 70s. Her linens and blankets were part of our everyday life. I recall sitting with her to learn each of the various stitches that made up these flowers, tho I never achieved her fluid and easy rhythm. Daisy stitch, satin stitch, French knot, crewel stitch.
Open Door Policy
This piece was originally published in the Newton TAB, May 2008.
at Left, Digital Image by Sue Yang
Open Door Policy:
How to Visit an Open Studio
Next weekend during Newton Open Studios, 67 doors will open wide all over town. Behind each door you’ll find an artist – or two, or a dozen – 200 in all, each with a unique view of the world on display.
It’s a growing phenomena in recent years: artists across the Greater Boston area are banding together to organize town-wide open studio weekends. And Newton’s event has become one of the largest in the region.
The beauty of any open studios event is the informality. You get to meet the artists, ask questions, offer opinions, see where the muse lives. You get free cookies. You get the chance to buy art, jewelry, and beautifully crafted objects directly from the artist. And, whether or not you buy anything, you get to support the local art community just by showing up. And eating cookies. Good deal.
In spite of the cookies, some visitors are intimidated by the idea of meeting the artist. Maybe they won’t really like the work and won’t know what to say. An awkward silence will slowly pressurize the space until everything in it explodes. While it’s never, to my knowledge, actually happened, it can be a real fear.
Solution One: if you take a little time to pre-view the art on the web site (NewtonOpenStudios.com), you can avoid the whole “what do I say here” question – it’s quite possible to visit 20 locations this weekend and only see art that you know you’ll love.
Solution two: Go ahead and seek out some art that you’re not sure about—just go armed with this key bit of knowledge: some art is meant to be beautiful, meant to be loved, and some is … not … But all art is meant to change you.
Every artist sees something that gets under their skin, something they want to capture and need to share. In Newton, as anywhere else, that something – that vision – takes a thousand forms. Newton has artists exploring color and emotion and memory. Artists whose work is about politics, or comfort, or pattern and movement. About volume, shape, and texture. About vast landscape, or seed-small minutia. All of it is about trying to change the way you see – to give you a new lens.
Art has always been about changing your perspective. Take Van Gogh’s Starry Night, for instance: once you’ve seen it, you will never see cypress trees the same way again – you’ve been changed. Cypresses will ever after coil and sway for you as though van Gogh had painted them. And 100 years after he last lifted a brush, he still packs the house. Last winter the Met in New York hosted a show of his drawings that was a sardine tin for weeks on end. Van Gogh is a master of masters because he so thoroughly changes the way we see. Because we love to see through his eyes.
Van Gogh sets a pretty high bar, but every artist wants to give you that light-bulb sensation – wants to change the way you see something that’s perhaps become familiar to the point of invisibility. Often, our love for a work of art grows directly out of that thrilling moment of change.
If you head out this weekend, you’ll certainly see plenty of art to fall in love with – art that you’ll instantly connect with – art that changes you effortlessly. But don’t expect all art to be transparent in its intent. Often the artist’s intent benefits from a little context to make it clear. It’s not a sign of weakness. And it’s not confined to abstract art: every museum curator knows this, peppering their installations with kernels of information that can round out your understanding.
Newton has artists who are well established, and artists who are at the beginning of their search for a voice. All of them appreciate the open studio as a window into their art; for themselves as well as for the visitor. The exercise of choosing and hanging work – seeing it as a whole – often brings insights. The exercise of discussion with the visitor often helps them to clarify, crystallize and focus their own intentions.
So, here are some ideas for conversation at an open studio – and these will work whether or not you like the art. Dig around a little for the artist’s intent: Ask about their influences – their favorite artist. Ask about how the piece is made. If something is just plain baffling, be direct and ask what it’s about. Or, buy some time and ask for the cookie recipe. Artists don’t expect everyone to like their work, or to “get it” right off. An Open Studio is their opportunity to actually see the effect their art has on a viewer. Help them out – go stand in front of some art this weekend. See and be changed.
Newton Open Studios, May 17 & 18, Noon to 6 pm. NewtonOpenStudios.com .
You Don’t Know What You Think You Know: Open Studio Notes 2009
Or
Seeing is Believing: Open Studio Notes
By Ellen Fisher
Left: Oil Painting by Will Kirkpatrick
Hundreds of art images cross my computer screen from area artists who are inquiring about Newton Open Studios or participating in our events. I’m the director, and it’s one of my favorite things about the job. The variety is intense and intellectually stimulating – always making me re-assess my view of what art should be and what my own art can and should accomplish.
I rarely see much of the artwork in person – traditionally the NOS director has been a participant in the show. The May event takes place in locations all across the city, and once it begins, I’m manning my own location; greeting visitors, re-supplying the cookie plate, filling the coffee pot, and talking about my artwork.
But last fall, for the first time, I was just running the show. Just lining up the dominos and moving all the pieces into place. This was our first juried show, with artwork submitted by CD or email. I got to see a lot of great images. And I got to know the art of the 35 accepted artists very well. So I thought.
Once all the mailing, and phone calls, and hanging and lighting was done, I was able to step back and relax, and see the show. Again and again I was taken off guard, captivated by art that I thought I knew well, even at times by art that I thought I didn’t like. The images I’d been seeing on my monitor (it’s pretty large and quite state of the art) had been unable to convey so many subtleties; the sheen and ripple of a painted surface, the fine detail in an expertly printed photograph or a densely beaded fabric.
In spite of it’s sophistication, our reproductive media just can’t match the ability of the human eye. It cannot convey the myriad gradations and colors that our eye is capable of differentiating. We’ve become comfortable seeing through the portal of a backlit screen. We’ve re-defined browsing – made it a multi-media feast of image and sound. We learn and absorb. We make unexpected connections. It’s great, but it’s not the real thing. Maybe some day. But for now there’s a reason that the image of a Monet on your computer screen is free, and the real thing on the wall costs . . . more.
Seeing the real thing really is better.
I would say you get what you pay for, but in this case the real thing is also free. Newton Open Studios is happening this weekend [May 16&17 2009] at 52 locations across Newton. NOS is a wonderful way to get out and see art. Lots of it. Solid, old-school browsing, through the work of 160 live local artists. Meet established artists and discover emerging artists: one of last year’s NOS artists went on to become a finalist for the Foster Prize, winning a group show at the ICA this past winter.* NOS visitors were treated to stunning previews of the work that went to the ICA. NOS is an opportunity to buy art, jewelry, and finely crafted objects directly from the artist. It’s a chance to support the local art community just by showing up. Browse away.
*Foster Prize finalist: Rania Matar, not showing this spring.