This workshop was actually a fairly emotional and mentally draining one. I yearn to create work that really means something beyond the small audience of my clients. I truly value my clients and put a lot of heart into creating memories for them. I, in no way, take that for granted. I want more, for them, to be honest.
My personal work is what feels to me the most lacking in narrative and emotion. But I know that revalations I have about my personal will also add life to my client work as well.
I desparately search for the "thing" that makes one's work speak to humanity. I feel eerily close at times then, in the next moment, feel a million miles away.
I am pretty sure that emotion and narrative are in some way the key, for me and my work. Those qualities seem strangely missing in my work and I don't know why. So I search.
Jen is stellar in her approach. She attaches meaning to every little thing she adds to her work. Every prop, every gesture, every media choice, it all means something to her. In this may be, at least part of, the secret.
In attaching meaning and symbolism to everything, Jen can add a prop without hesitance or doubt. She can coax a subject into even the most awkward pose confidently. She owns her vision quitely and peacefully but does not have to question her motives, because she can justify the action.
If I take the same prop and attemp to put a subject into the same pose, it becomes trite and meaningless and I feel exceptionally awkward in the act, even to the point of embarrassment for even trying it. I simply have no reason to add things that have no meaning to me or the image.
This justification of all things may be part of the key to how some artists are able to push their work so much further than others. It is certainly a factor that influences the gravity of Jen's work.
Interestingly, it does not really matter what meaning the viewer ultimately reads from the created image. Every person is free to attach their own meanings. What matters is that each element be there with purpose and with any skill at all, they just make sense.
So I have some soul searching to do. I feel that I need to write down what has meaning to me and what elements of my work can I attach that meaning to. What can I add to my work, with newly found confidence, that carries a narrative through to the end viewer.
I am a bit anxious and excited at the same time, by the thought of exploring these new avenues. It is something that has to be done or I feel that I will fail to remain relevant inwardly and outwardly, to this craft that means so much to me and those who support me.
If I can manage to focus, what follows should be quite interesting and "in tents".
