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Chihuly's legacy

Without Dale Chihuly there would be no Studio Glass Movement –

Bird Thief Strikes stained glass  click image to enlarge

he is almost solely responsible for the tremendous interest in collecting and exhibiting sculptural glass. Dale is responsible for starting the glass program at Rhode Island School of Design, the Pilchuck Glass School and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. These institutions have been nothing short of life changing for many. There are literally thousands of artists who have benefited from Dale's career – from the people whom he pays (and if they have a gripe about recognition, I propose that they should launch a career of their own) to the students who are studying glass in college who may or may not have heard of him. Dale Chihuly is an artist of historical importance for these generous contributions – in addition to (or despite) his actual art.

Apprentice to a master

I have myself worked under the apprentice system with several

The Falls first panel in the mural: Passing Again, Very near the Way  click image to enlarge

different master artists. My intent was to get near the master by "sweeping the floors" to learn first hand. Rubbing shoulders so to speak. I was always surprised at just how much responsibility would actually be delegated. Sections of a mural might be left in my hands to accomplish within certain parameters and would not exclude using elements of my own style, subject in the end to master approval of course. In one case the entire text portion of a church fresco was executed in my own architectural handwriting. All credit went to the master in the end. I suppose like "found object art," the art might be in the selection of the apprentice.

Fears lock us up

I work alone in my studio and I work with others on designs as well as

mixed media sculpture

teaching. I see art as both a solitary process and a collaborative one. And unfortunately, it is the collaborative processes that are being stamped out today because of fear. When, once, a budding artist could apprentice to a master and learn by doing; today it is a TV show where people get humiliated and fired in front of millions of viewers. When, once an assistant was valued and credited with the important job of implementing a concept, design or idea, today that person is rarely mentioned, or even known. It is this fear of ideas being stolen, images copied, concepts used without the creators knowledge or credit. It is also fear of being seen as a mere cog in a wheel instead of the important instrument of creation that keeps us all locked into our solitary processes and away from the creative energy of collaboration.

Think contracts. Think copyright infringement. Think gag clauses. Think of what has happened to artists whose work has been bought and locked away from the world, including the artists themselves. It is this fear on the part of the artist/creator and assistants/apprentices as well as communities, corporations and lawyers that keeps us from collaboration that could really move this world forward on all levels.

There is creative energy in solitary and collaborative art processes. It's a great loss to society, as well as to ourselves, that fear constricts free movement in and out of both types of process.

Needed: 'Boy Friday'

I'd like to have an assistant to make my stretcher frames, stretch the

Tulip acrylic painting  click image to enlarge

canvas as I want it to be, to do the framing, to gesso each canvas as many times as I want it done, to paint the edges and to do the final varnishing, as well as attaching the screw eyes and wire. As it is, I buy pre-stretched, pre-gessoed canvases. The painting is my fun time and mine alone. But I'd also be happy with an assistant to cut wood to my specifications, to do the sanding, and to do the cutting prior to my carving. And cleaning up! As it is, I sometimes use my mechanical assistants, Mr. Foredom or Mr. Dremel. But don't tell the purists. Sometimes I even forego sanding by just burning the wood.

Only real test is time

As artists we love to do three things – make art, look at art and judge art.

Garrapata Creek oil painting  click image to enlarge

But arguing the merits of one style or methodology over another is like ranking clouds. The only real test is time. It seems that the work that is remembered is either outright mastery (JS Sargent) or work that has completely gone against the grain and advanced the purpose of art (Pollack/action painting). And while it's good to have an evaluation system for viewing art, a lot of notable works break every rule in the book. You may not like Damien Hirst, but you have to admit he has certainly ruffled enough feathers to go down in the books. Kostabi is Warhol with a staff. What's the difference between Michelangelo and Norman Rockwell? (Michelangelo's biggest client wore a large red hat.) I truly love good quality painting. Sargent makes me salivate. But when I discover someone like Andy Goldsworthy (see Rivers and tides), it rocks my world. In a Chihuly exhibit, I really don't care how he did it; I just care about the new place it takes me.

Blindness of the 'purist'

How an artist decides to work is to me like the same decisions made by

Moonstruck original painting  click image to enlarge

any other professional. Which way to go and still enjoy your chosen role in life is often dictated by factors not under our control. Here in Mexico you can still find excellent medical doctors willing to make house calls. We should know, my wife is a fine artist and also a Mexican doctor. Individual needs lead to individual decisions. The purist often fails to see the needs of the real world.

'A manufacturer of wealth' (Dali)

Salvador Dali did not do any of his graphics after WWII. When I

Innocence cherry wood sculpture  click image to enlarge

was living in Barcelona, 1969-70, a truck with 200,000 white sheets of paper signed by Dali was stopped a the border. Four years ago a similar incident with only 60,000 sheets was reported in the Prague papers, ironically during a highly hyped Dali exhibit.

Crapshoot in the jury process

More and more I am seeing that most works submitted to shows need to be judged by criteria such as your fourteen points because they don't meet Tolstoy's criteria of the direct transmission of emotion. If we are to select winners, we are left to judge by these other means, which focus on design and impact, rather than a higher emotional content. If we don't have criteria such as yours then most competitions are just crapshoots, where winners are merely a reflection of personal likes and dislikes of one individual. To me that is a waste of time and money at least, and at worst, a misdirection of aspiring painters and the public.

Key to personal happiness

Last July I spent my birthday at Kew gardens in England. I can't describe how lucky I felt to find that Chihuly had decorated the whole garden with his glass sculptures. There were glass globes floating on all the ponds, glass flowers in the garden beds, huge lanterns and chandeliers over the light fixtures. The garden was transformed into a fantasy land. It seemed like a wonderful unexpected birthday present and I took away several hundred photographs and memories for free. It is my experience that an artist gives. Period. Gives visually, gives through courses, or with free advice, through generosity of spirit and through a need to share. Also it is my opinion that nature is neutral. Nature just doesn't care how much money a person makes. Perhaps the key to personal happiness is asking oneself the question, "How can I give," and not, "How can I get."

Guilds formerly trained artists

We all have assistants, whether we realize it or not. In the time of Michelangelo, the artist did not simply go to the 'art store' and buy his stretched canvas or tubes of paint. Paint was made from pigment, powdered in the mortar and pestle, and combined with the chosen medium. Assistants were necessary in the studio. If it were not for the artists' guilds training new artists, so much of the craft would have been lost.

Mother of all arts

Architecture is considered by many to be " the mother of all arts," yet every design is executed on paper by a team including not only the Architect's staff but also many specialist consultants. It is then executed in the field by a team of construction specialists. Talk about the use of workers and assistants!

Apprentice and mentor benefit

A Cleveland Institute of Art student from Hong Kong was my apprentice one summer. Harvey's job was assisting me at workshops – fresh water, etc, and painting and sketching on his personal work at every opportunity. He never touched my work, only observation and questions on his part. That summer he filled three sketchbooks and did twenty half-sheet watercolors and four acrylics. I had a ball! Harvey had a ball and we really got to understand and know one another. Upon returning to CIA for the fall semester, the department head asked Harvey to mount a show of his summer work – a display of ten watercolors, one acrylic and several drawings. A dean congratulated me on my work, believing that I had done it (I had a letter in the display discussing Harvey's apprenticeship). He was stunned when realizing that Harvey Choi had produced the work and not I. This type of apprenticeship is sorely needed and so worthwhile for both apprentice and mentor!

Art or artifice?

It would be helpful to draw a distinction between those who actually use assistants (and assistance) in creating real original work – and those who mechanically duplicate a previously executed work and then hire someone (not an assistant) to make one random mark on it in order to claim it as an "original one-of-a-kind." Of course, it would help if terminology were not so manipulated as to tell a lie to an observer or possible consumer as well. Is that art or artifice?

Artist 'conducts' studio

Dale Chihuly's "assistants" do all the work – he does none of it. As I am sure you know he lost an eye and has no depth perception so he cannot do the work. All he does is tell his people what he wants and then they do all the work, including installation. He is like the conductor of a Symphony orchestra – the orchestra does the work and he conducts. It would be much more honest for Dale to bill his artwork as: "Designed by Dale Chihuly" or "Dale Chihuly Studio."

The jerk creates 'aesthetic arrest'

Thanks for the picture of Dale's tear-droppy things in the canal. Opening

At the Breakwater oamaru stone sculpture  click image to enlarge

the image, it just struck me how delightful, whimsical and trés gai the glass was, bobbing up and down and winding down the canal. It caught me and made me a bit teary-eyed in surprise and pleasure. Took all my recent frustrations and held them at bay for a minute, and reminded me of what amazing stuff life is really made of. But isn't that one of the things art is supposed to do? Joseph Campbell called it "aesthetic arrest" – where life stops for a second and you get whanged right down to your core-of-core. All those whiners about Dale's work – how boring. So he makes a lot of money – so? He does amazing work, and he gets paid. Isn't that what many artists wish they could do, too? The whiners should take the energy they use complaining and try making something of their own. So he's a jerk – who cares when there's that amazing, one-of-a-kind rainbow frozen in time?

Artists well employed

The truly knowledgeable art buying public is not large – I mean the ones that truly know why they are buying a piece, what they are looking for and why, can discuss the pros and cons of a piece, etc. There is a vast majority of people who sort of like the piece, but wouldn't touch it unless it has also famous or infamous name recognition or some controversy attached. Can't tell you how many times people asked me, when I still did tent shows (and in some pretty established and good places), "Are you somebody famous?" I developed some pretty snappy answers. Things in the art market are driven by some very different powers, the artist him/herself most of the time being the least powerful. Art schools release a flood of hopefuls every year and it is unrealistic to expect all of them to even make a part-time living off their talent. So it is a good thing that some well-known or financially able artists employ others in their work.

Art factory abhorrent