Making Art is Making Decisions

“You’re so talented!” It’s a phrase that makers of art hear often, and don’t get me wrong, we appreciate being paid a compliment! But I believe that natural ability has little to do with what we make. True, most artists have a natural aptitude for working with their hands, but what brings our ideas to life is commitment, paying attention, exploring, and making decisions.

Whether a woodturner, a painter, a weaver or a glass artist, what we do constantly is make decisions. Which tool shall I use next? Which product will give me the result I’m looking for here? How much should I use? Should I stop now? Of course, we aren’t voicing the question and formulating an answer. Experienced artists and craftspeople appear to work intuitively because they have internalized the knowledge. We did that part years ago. Whether schooled or self-taught, our so-called “talent” is the result of years of education, experience, research, observation, and lots of trial and error. We develop a relationship with our medium and learn to conform to (or challenge) its boundaries. Most art and craft media require carefully planned technical decisions. For myself, I need to imagine how the firing process will transform what I’m doing. I must remember what I buried under that clear crushed glass, because until it’s fired, it’s opaque and obscures what’s underneath.

And firing glass presents technical decisions relating to the size of the piece, which kiln I’m using, what result I want to achieve; all this and more goes into planning a firing schedule to end up with a chunk of glass that will remain intact for the next several centuries. When I try a new firing schedule, I record the results on a spreadsheet for future reference. Each medium has its own set of decisions to be made, and most “talented” people have been refining their decision-making skills for years. When you admire a well-made, beautiful, challenging, or wonderfully functionally designed “something”, you can also appreciate the skilled decision maker who brought it into being. The final decision they so wisely made? Stop, it’s done!