Last week Wednesday, the painting department here at GVSU was privileged enough to invite the painter Mary McDonnell to come talk to our classes. Because I am an advanced painting student, I also was able to have her come into my studio for a critique. The experience really helped me, so I thought I might reflect on how feedback affects us as artists, and how building a community of trusted people to come in to talk to you about your work can really benefit any artist.
Meeting with Mary answered a lot of my questions about my own work, but also gave me a million more. She changed how I was thinking about my current projects, and I think that I can really learn from her feedback in how I should always be experimenting in my projects - knowing what you are going to do before you do it not only limits your work, but also makes it a lot less fun to produce. To constantly be questioning yourself and what you are doing and why you are doing it will ensure that you are growing as an artist, and challenging yourself in everything you are creating.
Meeting with Mary was also really encouraging because of the nature of my work - I paint non-representationally, and it was incredibly helpful to talk to someone who is working abstractly herself, who could understand the struggles of trying to create something non-representational. I felt really uplifted by the way she talked about my work, because she had this way of making me feel like my work really was important, especially when sometimes I feel like it’s only important to me. I definitely appreciated her feedback, not only to encourage me but also to show me that as an artist I need to be more open to things that could unexpectedly happen as a result of playing around in the studio, and letting go of my control over my work.
Feedback from other artists is always valuable no matter what level you are at in your work, and I think that people often underestimate that. Especially as students, we get focused on grades and impressing our teachers and professors, rather than focusing on furthering our ideas and work. The awesome experience that I had with Mary (and believe me, visiting artist critiques don't always go so well) made me think about how having the right people around us to push us and challenge us can not only help develop our ideas in art, but now as I'm thinking more about it, push us as a person. Really, this can also apply to friends and family - surrounding yourself with people who are not afraid to challenge you can only help you grow. And who can deny their own growth?
