I’m thinking a lot about concept building at the moment as I nurture an idea for a gallery collection. I’m on a journey of personal development as I embark on my first body of work which will exist to evoke an emotional response. Not something I’m making for a gift shop, but a collection that I hope will be desirable to a gallery.
I’ll be sharing more about my collection as I develop it over the following months. I’ll be referring to it during this blog though, so it may be useful to know that my concept is;
A series of works that explore the unique and intricate relationships between mums and babies.
A lot of my favourite glass, and other art, is produced by artists that have a clear concept or theme to their work. Below are some things I’ve learnt as I’ve made progress and I hope will be useful to others looking to set themselves a similar challenge.
Consider what inspires you
Take a moment to consider what it is that inspires you, and I mean on a big scale. What do you love about life? What puts the fire in your belly? What makes you feel the most extreme of your emotions? Elation. Fear. In my experience this is where the magic is. When you work with inspiration that is really powerful to you, you stand the best chance of making the time to put the work in that developing a collection needs. After all, isn’t this our mission as artists, to tell our stories?
Importantly, you don’t need to immediately see a finished project in your head in order for it to be a viable concept. You just need the passion and the will to experiment. Many of us will have started in glass with ideas that translate in a literal way. For example, I live in Bristol and love the balloons and I created a range of hot air balloon window decorations. A very clear inspiration, with a clear end product. My current inspiration is much more abstract. Sometimes it can be difficult to see immediately how you are going to translate your idea into glass, but that is the absolute joy of the working artist. With my current project I am going to work with colour and shape to convey personalities and relationships.
And it begins with research…
Love your primary sources
In this context, your primary sources will include photographs which you have taken of places or people that inspire you. It’s very important that they are your images, so that you remember the presence and emotions felt at that moment. This isn’t possible with photographs you didn’t take. Another primary source will be your first hand experiences. For me, given my concept, this is the time I spend with my friends who are mums and their babies. As a young mum, I’ve been overwhelmed by the beauty that radiates from my friends and their bonds with their babies. It became obvious to me that this was a deep pool of emotional stimulus.
Take your secondary sources with a pinch of salt
By secondary sources, I refer to the creative work of others based on their own concepts. My main suggestion here is stay away from Pinterest. It certainly has its place, but when you’re trying to develop a unique concept it can be so easy to lose focus when you look at the work of others. If you look at glass work by other artists specifically, one or two things can potentially happen. 1) Your confidence is hit by seeing work you believe to be better than yours, or 2) You may doubt ideas you have based on a way another artist has approached the same subject matter.
We are of course inspired by other artists, but when you’re developing your own concept it’s important to have complete faith in yourself. The best way to create authentically on your concept is to work mainly with your primary sources.
Focus on a technique or process…
…and use the development of your concept to master it. Don’t confuse your project by trying to throw too many techniques at it. Let the concept speak. This isn’t a moment to show off every single skill in your arsenal, rather, how you can use one to convey an idea. Personally, I’m focusing on experiments in colour layering and saturation to communicate the personalities and relationships of my subjects. So I’m thinking about how colour creates mood, how my glass shapes can reveal the temperaments and complexities of the people they represent. I will be working solely with sheet glass and creating fused/cast stand up blocks. Some test samples I have been producing can be seen in my website gallery.
Accept constructive criticism, and edit
This is a process I learnt during my degree, which happened to be in creative writing. I find the skill fully transferable to visual art. It’s healthy to develop an emotional attachment to our work, but this can sometimes make it difficult to look at our work objectively, recognise its flaws and change what isn’t working. Seek counsel from your fellow artists and respond to their feedback, if you agree with it of course! I’ve been seeking advice from a colleague as I’ve been cold-working my artworks, and he isn’t afraid to tell me when it’s not good enough and suggesting a different approach. This is invaluable to me as I try to finish my work to gallery standards. I am also actively making friends with artists on similar journeys to build a supportive network.
Language matters
I was unable to start work on my collection before I was completely clear on my concept. If it’s just in your head, it’s abstract. Get it down on paper, or even a note in your phone, so you know in words what your concept is. If it’s longer than a couple of sentences, consider that it might be too vague and need re-focusing. Powerful concepts are clear and un-confused.
I’m sure other artists will have different ideas on how you develop a concept, and I’d love to hear if anyone would add anything. I’m certainly learning as I go.
Catherine Dunstan is a glass artist and teacher working predominantly with fused glass. She also has seven years’ experience producing glass courses with local and international artists, booking them to teach in the UK.
The Resources for Artists blog speaks mainly to those working with glass, but its content is also applicable to artists working in other mediums.
© Catherine Dunstan Glass 2019. All rights reserved.