“Without passion, all the skill in the world won’t lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.”
Twyla Tharp
Combining passion and skill. This is one of those lovely simple dissections of what can be a complicated issue or discussion! You need them both. I wonder how she feels the best balance would be - 1/3 passion, 2/3 skill? Or maybe half and half? Or the good old 80:20 rule?
It's interesting to me that she determines passion is the ingredient that shifts work from craft to art. I guess that means it has life. It gives expression to something. It is more than the thing itself; it says something perhaps.
I can often times appreciate the technical expertise of someone who has crafted or created the most precise print or lettering, but sometimes it is so perfect it can almost feel lifeless. I guess it is different for each of us when we view a piece - what speaks to us, or what stays mute.
I wonder as well, if we feel it ourselves sometimes in our work - the job we "had" to do; the piece we created to a theme for a group show, which didn't appeal to us at all; or a piece we just couldn't get excited about along the way. For me, works I do under these circumstances sometimes feel flat, or just don't "sing".
But I must admit, I agree completely that all the passion in the world doesn't crate good work!
A fragment of a favourite piece that combines passion and skill - Fragile Gains.
Twyla Tharp
Combining passion and skill. This is one of those lovely simple dissections of what can be a complicated issue or discussion! You need them both. I wonder how she feels the best balance would be - 1/3 passion, 2/3 skill? Or maybe half and half? Or the good old 80:20 rule?
It's interesting to me that she determines passion is the ingredient that shifts work from craft to art. I guess that means it has life. It gives expression to something. It is more than the thing itself; it says something perhaps.
I can often times appreciate the technical expertise of someone who has crafted or created the most precise print or lettering, but sometimes it is so perfect it can almost feel lifeless. I guess it is different for each of us when we view a piece - what speaks to us, or what stays mute.
I wonder as well, if we feel it ourselves sometimes in our work - the job we "had" to do; the piece we created to a theme for a group show, which didn't appeal to us at all; or a piece we just couldn't get excited about along the way. For me, works I do under these circumstances sometimes feel flat, or just don't "sing".
But I must admit, I agree completely that all the passion in the world doesn't crate good work!
A fragment of a favourite piece that combines passion and skill - Fragile Gains.
How I LOVE those burnt pages !
ReplyDeleteMe too Jo!
Delete(((Fiona))) "Fragile Gains" most certainly has "the muchness" as the Mad Hatter said to Alice
ReplyDeleteIt is one of my faves Mo - and I do love the notion of "muchness" - thank you!
Deletemust keep making
ReplyDeleteSo true Velma, so true...
Delete