THE ARTISTIC PROCESS

How many times have you looked at a work of art and wondered “how did they do that”? Some think of the artist as a solitary being, misunderstood by society, toiling away in the studio to create a masterpiece, and yes, there is something fantastic about a singular creative act becoming a work of art. The reality is that artists rely on a support network that includes family, friends, peers, industries, business and, in essence, the whole society they live in. For example, an artist may need only a piece of paper and pencil to create an extraordinary drawing, however they still depend on a supplier in order to acquire those two simple tools.

Whole industries surround art making, and artists rely on many different materials in order to realize their work, from the pencil and paper mentioned above to the painter’s canvas, paints and brushes, the sculptor’s wood, stone and chisels, and the photographer’s film, digital camera, and software or chemicals used to manipulate an image. The point being, we are all interconnected and rely on each other to bring to life whatever we can imagine creating! Keep that in mind next time you wonder, "how did they do that?"

From the Kusama exhibition, part of Fairchild's 2009 Knight Arts Challenge project to expose new audiences to contemporary art by exhibiting large-scale outdoor sculpture on its grounds. Date: 28 November 2009, 05:27 Source: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Author: Knight Foundation
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After the artwork is finished there are other support networks in place to help exhibit, market, move, store, and even critique and comment on the artwork! Here's a little bit of history: commercial art galleries as we know them, are a relatively recent innovation. The first "gallery exhibitions" happened during the industrial revolution in 19th century Paris. Then, as societies concentrated their populations in cities and formed a middle class, households began to have more discretionary income. As a result the business model of galleries and selling art to a broader demographic became possible. As art became more affordable, the gallery became a place to focus solely on buying and selling, and in the process, making art a commodity.

Museums have a different role in the world of visual art. Their primary function is in the form of a cultural repository – a place for viewing, researching and conserving the very best examples of artistic cultural heritage. Museums contain collections that can reflect a particular culture or that of many, giving all of us the chance to see some of the great art humanity has to offer.

The role of the critic commenting on art is another function in the process -- remember, a critic only has a voice as long as people are listening! The role of the critic is important, they offer insight into art’s meaning and make judgments determining ‘good’ or ‘bad’ art based on the intellectual, aesthetic, and cultural standards they reflect.

In this way, museums, galleries and critics have become gatekeepers in helping to determine what is considered art within a culture like our own.