Reading 3

Cage's rules were interesting. I especially liked his "helpful hints". I think it is incredibly true that you should "read everything you can get your hands on". I believe that information can be especially influential to any thought process and especially in creating. I also think that it is important to save. Save, save, save. I like that he encourages these things. He also makes an extremely valid point about not analyzing and creating at the same time. Not that I practice these two processes at the same time on a regular basis, but I had never thought of keeping them so very separate.

Reading 3

Out of the two, I found John Cage’s list of Rules and Hints to convey the most helpful things to consider. The thing that struck me first was the word “hint” in the title. I liked how he used that particular word because it’s less didactic, as not all rules apply to everyone equally. I like his emphasis on constant hard work and daily discipline, but disagree on his ‘rule’ of following a leader. Having role models and influences is good and a natural thing to do, but I believe that eventually, we all have to be our own leaders.

Mau’s manifesto was fun to read; he has this laid back, relaxed, and flexible attitude towards the process of making art. Some of his statements made me laugh though, just because it sounded funny and pretentious, like “don’t be cool.” I understand his point though, and I agree, but it just sounded funny. I disagree with his statement on software because I don’t think his logic was sufficient enough to back it up; I think it may be a little risky to be relying only on technology as a mechanical tool in hopes that it will somehow pull your work up, but to work with it as part of your creative process is another thing. His logic of “don’t use it because everyone has it” is faulty; everyone has a brain, but it’d be dangerous not to use it. =D

Reading 3 Response

I agree with Cage that it is important to not only take in everything from your teacher, but also classmates- especially in an art class. The more help and feedback you receive, the better. Self discipline is essential in creating a concept for a project and also executing it well (although hard to do at all times)- however, I don't always think that a person should choose someone specific to model themselves after, but instead, should be inspired by them while at the same time have personal motivation. Overall, I think Cage stresses the importance of really putting yourself out there and trying everything- no matter the end result- which is essential, in my book, for learning and experiencing things.
In Mau's article I found some of his rules helpful and some that didn't always apply with me. Staying up late for instance- I know I do it, but really, sometimes I write the worst papers or come up with not fully thought out ideas when I'm just plain exhausted. I'm not saying I don't enjoy being up late, but not when I have to do a painstaking assignment. However, when looking at all his pointers, I felt that Mau had a very positive and laid back style to some of his guidelines for life. Allowing time to drift, to go deep, to laugh, and to begin anywhere, all seem like refreshing ideas to me.

Reading 3

Cage has a lot of interesting ideas present through out his hints and rules. I specifically liked his rule about not creating and analyzing your work all at the same time. A lot of people stop working on something because they don't like the way it looks even before it's finished. By doing this people eliminate any chance of a project actually becoming something amazing. A project only half finished can't be fully examined because only the finished project will portray everything that the artist was trying to instill in it. In general though I agreed with all of Cage's hints and found them to all be helpful and enlightening.

Mau has numerous helpful ideas on growth and most of them seemed particularly useful. His whole idea on being open to change and allowing it to help you grow is an idea that most people don't realize is essential to creating any form of art. Being able to take life experiences and the experience of surrounding events and allowing it to help you grow is one of the main principles that art was based upon. Artists use there emotions, life, and surroundings to create great pieces of work and without the ability to draw on life and thus helping you to grow you are limiting what you can create. For the most part, Mau's ideas where very enlightening but I found his idea on not using software and his reasoning for it to be concerning. Yes, everybody has it but everybody does not have the patience, attention to detail, or the creativity to utilize it to its full potential. Before this class I had a limited idea of just what kind of things could be done with photoshop and now I know that the only limit to what can be done with this program is the software and a persons creativity.