Black Bucket Essays
Volume 1, Issue 1
“The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others’ ideas to be realized. ”
- Mel Chin
Billy Friebele
I often question the concept of ownership of “my ideas.” Are these thoughts unique to my mind, or is there a network of ideas floating among us that are realized in
different ways by different people in different disciplines? Working with technology is especially humbling, as each software or hardware dictates a set of options and questions. Combine this with the human mind, and similar questions tend to arise. We’ve all had the experience of working tirelessly on a project, only to find that someone else has completed a very similar piece years before.
So, while I question the premise of the first part of this quote, I also question the second, which is that the artist is tasked with setting the creativity of the general
public free. While I create work that includes input from the viewer, I do not want to fool myself in to thinking that I am transforming their livelihood by doing this.
I actually believe that teaching comes closer to accomplishing this second goal than the short amount of interaction one has with the viewer through the vehicle of the artwork. Dialog over a period of time with students creates situations where exchange can lead to interesting realizations on both ends of the encounter. In the most productive of these discussions, both the teacher and student are transformed and knowledge is synthesized. In this ideal state, what is “mine” or “other” is wholly unimportant. It is the shared knowledge and exchange in both directions that is of value.
Volume 1, Issue 1
“The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others’ ideas to be realized. ”
- Mel Chin
Billy Friebele
I often question the concept of ownership of “my ideas.” Are these thoughts unique to my mind, or is there a network of ideas floating among us that are realized in
different ways by different people in different disciplines? Working with technology is especially humbling, as each software or hardware dictates a set of options and questions. Combine this with the human mind, and similar questions tend to arise. We’ve all had the experience of working tirelessly on a project, only to find that someone else has completed a very similar piece years before.
So, while I question the premise of the first part of this quote, I also question the second, which is that the artist is tasked with setting the creativity of the general
public free. While I create work that includes input from the viewer, I do not want to fool myself in to thinking that I am transforming their livelihood by doing this.
I actually believe that teaching comes closer to accomplishing this second goal than the short amount of interaction one has with the viewer through the vehicle of the artwork. Dialog over a period of time with students creates situations where exchange can lead to interesting realizations on both ends of the encounter. In the most productive of these discussions, both the teacher and student are transformed and knowledge is synthesized. In this ideal state, what is “mine” or “other” is wholly unimportant. It is the shared knowledge and exchange in both directions that is of value.
