#2 “The arts teach children that problems can have...”by Elliot Eisner

“The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.”(Elliot Eisner)

What does this mean to me? 

As an artist I am highly suspect of any pronouncement of a single, simple solution to any problem. At the other extreme; over thinking the multitude of all the possibilities in solving just one problem could take a lifetime. The artist must narrow the scope and simplify the focus on smaller parts of the larger issues of art and life. Hence, the lifelong struggle of many artists to discover the true meaning of their own work. 

In my art, I start with a plan consisting of a list of issues or element I want to include. This could be color/shape dominance, variety of materials and techniques, a purpose or idea, and the presentation. I want the work to be complex, but you cannot include everything in one project; so simplification is necessary. Anything can be repeated in a series of projects showing variation, change, and growth toward one final goal. One problem is being solved through many different solutions one project at a time. JA

This is demonstrated by the following statements about an exhibition of African Ceramics at the Art Institute of Chicago: 

For Hearth and Alter African Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection, Kathleen Bickford Berzock, at the Art Institute of Chicago.

“In the collection, the idea of endless variations on a theme emerges through the groupings of pots on display. Good examples are seen in the Nupe or Zulu pots (cat. 68-75, 122-25).” (Kathleen Bickford Berzock)

“It is wonderful to see that variations on a theme do reveal more information. Usually, in our research, we only see one example of a particular artist’s work. You don’t realize the artist may have made fifty drawings, paintings, or sculptures based on [one] idea.” “.....all of those objects are worth looking at, to find out how an idea bloomed from the small seed of an inception to something grand and wonderful only through lots of trial and error. By looking at many pieces, we start seeing the variations, and they become beautiful and [inform] us that variations in life are pretty amazing.” (Keith Achepohl)