Somehow I’ve traveled in the past two days from weary depression, after self-isolating for three months due to COVID-19 concerns, to a new appreciation for entropy.
My frustrations with the pandemic situation are not unique and more likely global: suffering from loss of cherished routines, finding no way to safely spend time with adored companions, little ease in taking care of most any business, and enjoying a sense that all is well. I haven’t had to deal with extreme economic losses, infection from SARSCoV-2 or death of loved ones, yet.
The handwashing routine I can handle and welcome. The social distancing and mask are a bit more difficult since my body is aging into a lessening of senses and abilities: my hearing, vision and capacity to breathe are at their lowest point. If I wear a mask I can’t wear over-the-ear hearing aids with a nasal cannula and/or eyeglasses. The choice is to breathe or hear and protect my eyes from further macular degeneration. That choice is a no-choice, breathing wins every time. Yet even proprioception, knowing where all my body parts are and how they’re doing, is getting somewhat challenging.
As a white, privileged (though female) American, I’m also living in a particular state of upheaval with the Black Lives Matter taking hold. While delighted so many of us are acknowledging and leveling the disparities inherent in racial discrimination, a major complication is that we still have what I believe is an unstable administration. This too is not unique to the US of A. We don’t own racism or unhealthy leaders. Behind this scenario lurks the ever-present changing climate.
Moving on: “Seems like people always want to think they’re doomed,” says Nat Romanowski, a character in “Below Zero” by C. J. Box. This I read after watching a series of geology reports by Oregon Public Broadcasting. See https://www.opb.org/news/article/geology-oregon-thunder-eggs-caves-canyons-caves/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=First%20Look%20June%206%202020&utm_content=First%20Look%20June%206%202020+CID_245dda465ad7402ea3a15b3f02cce4f6&utm_source=firstlook&utm_term=Read%20the%20story
At the beginning of watching the OPB videos I was rejoicing in the beauty of Oregon’s physiology. By the time I finished watching the whole thing, I was convinced the earth I stand and live upon is undergoing modifications that totally disregard any and all life forms. We have tectonic plates, calderas, volcanoes, historic floods, and all matter of change: hence, entropy, chaos. It’s natural.
Jonathan Taylor [Colby.edu] wrote in 2017 that “Entropy will almost always increase (unless some outside force is applied to the system) … the idea that things generally will get more and more disorderly as time goes on is very important.” I’m sure we’ve all witnessed this in our living spaces. Further, Taylor states, “It seems to me that, ecologically speaking at least, we’ve passed the point of maximum order.”
 So how does art figure in? I define art, and art-making or doing, as the finest expressions of the human spirit. It is love and defines who we are as a species and community. To welcome the whole shebang and continue to express or engage one’s humanity in such terms enriches every aspect of human potential. It’s probably accurate to assume heaven and earth are in harmony. And this may be truly experienced in the arts.

First off, what is it? A series of 27 artworks done on gallery-wrapped canvas.
 
Why the heading “Caprice”? I’m using the word in the sense of whim/whimsical/whimsy since its final viewing is left open and flexible, and is unknown.
 
Inspiration: Seeking a way to get the collector/owner more engaged with the art.
 
Approach:  Do a series that can be arranged and hung any which way. There is no hanging wire on the back of the 2” canvas frame and no front signature of the artist to establish orientation.
 
Process: In December of 2019 I started a series of artworks under the heading “Caprice.” It’s based on an abecedarian platform, partly because I love the word “abecedarian”—the way it rolls off the tongue and the association it conjures. But mostly I selected it to establish a structure.
The English alphabet—the A to Z ditty we sang as children to the same melody as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”—is recognizable as 26 characters.  Plus which I added the ampersand [&], which is sometimes done, since I needed a number equally divisible by three.
 
Rules:  The directives I gave myself were to do all in the series in the same size using the same materials and done in an abstract, geometrical, though loose style.
Additionally, sets of three (9 of them) were to be done in tandem—that is all three to be done at the same time and treated as a flexible yet whole unit. “Caprice one” would be A-B-C, “Caprice two” D-E-F and so on, finishing with the ending ampersand to even out my threesomes. The alphabet letters themselves have no meaning, yet remain to indicate where in the process each work is created.
All works in the series are 12 x 16 (or 16 x 12) on gallery-mounted canvas, using a white base—either Gesso or Titanium white acrylic paint. Colors are in a limited range using both acrylic ink and paint. Marks are made with brush, sponge, toothpick or cotton ball.
 
Where we are today: In the midst of a pandemic! I have only six more canvases to complete the Caprice Series. New canvases just became available and I’m waiting for the curbside pickup notice.
 
The Vision: Besides offering sets of three to collectors, and obtaining permission to use in future exhibits if required, I would like to see all 27 displayed together.
              A total grouping would require a minimum of 36 x 27 feet of space (16 x 12 X 27), unless they’re displayed as a 3-D object, sculpture, or scattered. (The canvas backs only show my signature, year and inventory number.)
              I would invite different artists or curators the opportunity to arrange them as their own statement. The variances in possible aesthetics would be marvelous to witness! Of course, I’d like a shot at it too. So, the future invites opportunities for exhibition in large public spaces and like-minded curators or artists to join in to arrange an exhibit.
              Meanwhile, collectors with their threesomes are welcome to display them high, low, at an angle, in different rooms or throughout a living space. All is flexible according to one’s personal fancy. Their presence will illuminate many of the art principles artists work with, honing one’s own sense of dynamic visual energies.

In a novel I recently read (“Foe” by Iain Reid, Simon & Schuster, 2018) a major philosophical question for the main characters is whether he and she “wanted to be a better person.”
          This brought to mind the function of art: Could art support one becoming “a better person”? What is art supposed to offer? Beauty? Grace? More? Or something else?
             People considered dedicated art collectors, may buy art that offers potential—a sound investment on the future. Other collectors simply bask in the reflected glory of distinguished works. Other buyers might be seeking a pretty picture to enliven their day-to-day or something to match the new furniture or paint scheme. A few might simply want to cover a blemish on the wall. Quite a few seek the status associated with displaying fine art. For yet others a picture may illustrate a valuable memory.
            While there are undoubtedly more factors in the impulse to share one’s life with art, I’m proposing a key function of art is to lift one’s spiritual development—support the soul. This applies to all buyers, no matter the intent or focus.
            Spiritual development—feeding the soul—requires support; just as physical, emotional and intellectual development cannot exist in a vacuum or be ignored. Some equate spirituality with religious practice or church attendance. I don’t believe it’s enough to attend church and maybe “try to be a better person.” I still remember a story years back, somewhere in the 1980s, about a group of Roman Catholic nuns leaving the church because it wasn’t meeting their spiritual needs.
            Art supports spiritual development just by being present: offering a moment of rest, an escape from the everyday, a broadening of perspective. Additionally, engagement may offer:
     • a focus for meditation;
     • generate a full-body response, as nothing else can;
   • suggest a means to enter into a pure and abstract contemplative state through the elements of color, form, texture and composition.
     • This freedom of engagement allows detachment from insistent wants and needs or verbal limits.
            The idea that classical art supports spiritual development might be easier to grasp when including the performing arts and literature. Comments welcome.

Consider the Interior
 
Many artists say nature is their source of inspiration: the beauty, power, grandeur and persistence can incite one to fervent composition—whether in paint, ink, music, literary works, theater or dance. This can be seen as representing an exterior landscape concern. Such expressions may also be expressing  reverence and/or gratitude.
 
My artistic expression most often arises from the interior landscape. By this I mean I’m contemplating what moves a person? What moves me? What do you contemplate, wonder about, love, hate, find intolerant, boring? What are your core beliefs and priorities? All of these are expressed by a person’s actions.
 
Since part of my philosophy is that reality manifests the interior state, much of my work is concerned with enhancing awareness of one’s interior and learning to recognize its power over actions and subsequent consequences. That’s addressing  growth potential for me and you.
 
An alphabetical run through on some of my titled artworks includes: 4:am Anxieties, A Quiet Place Within, Action-Motive-Instinct, An Absence of Meaning, and we’re not even finished with  the letter “A.”
 
A painting just finished is titled “Unwanted Stuff.” Let’s examine its potential:
 
• On the simplest level the reference is to household items now useless or at their last gasp, ready for garbage, re-cycling, passing on to someone else as donation, garage sale item or moved to rental storage. It’s just stuff. These items take up space, time, and maintenance.
 
• A secondary level is to one’s memories: the stuff we remember with uneasy fondness, lost joy, regret or shame.
 
• A particularly real level for “Unwanted Stuff” could be physical: being short or too tall, weak eyesight, impaired hearing, carrying an extra too many pounds … any illness or physical trait perceived as a fault, like “my nose is too big.”
 
• Another level might include character traits we’ve recognized that we’re not particular easy about having—say irrational fear, hate, bigotry, pettiness, laziness, anger, impatience, greed, a tendency to gossip. Sometimes these are things other people may have commented on recently or forever.
 
• Some viewers might find a spiritual level to examine too, depending on their aims.
 
Viewers may welcome a floating state of engagement—musing, following one’s own thought processes, identifying visual elements in one’s own terms. For example, with “Unwanted Stuff” one may imagine the yellow dots represent ongoing fear, the brown elements unwanted memories, and so on. The silver gray swashes as parts of one’s being. There are no wrong paths on offer.

This is a hot topic for many and repeated throughout the centuries, but more so with the current information deluge. Such an imposed conflict also is probably the basis of why I didn’t get the job as director of a craft museum years ago. However, my beliefs and this discussion operate on the idea of “in contrast to” not “in opposition.”
 
For sure there is some kind of assumed hierarchy here: fine art being higher, more spiritual more la-de-da if you will. Craft is often viewed, in relation to fine art, as being lower, simply functional.  I believe these lines are often muddled and distort the whole glorious picture of made by hand.
 
For me the intention of visual art makes it different from the intention of craft. Unless an artist is primarily out to display technical mastery, art generally serves to illuminate something within or without, to express things that are difficult or impossible to express verbally, to engage a whole being, or to challenge. Art deals with shadow and light. Craft is generally unconcerned with such somber realms, since its main purpose of being is to maintain functionality. A leaky but amazing teapot will not be welcome in most circumstance.
 
Craft typically produces something useful and can be quite beautiful and reflective of sensitive hands. Typically the craftsperson aims for high quality. Craft goes way beyond production needs.
 
Many people operate on the assumption visual art is a luxury and possibly pretentious—it’s an extravagance not normally figured into most household budgets. Fine-crafted objects can serve a purpose and function and are more likely to enter one’s home. Well-chosen crafts will become more of a physical experience: you will handle them, wash them perhaps, and enjoy using them in some daily or ritual routine.
 
So what?
 
I believe all people need to have their aesthetic senses tuned and heard. It maintains our joint humanity and addresses living fully. Sometimes other culture forms—music, dance, theater, literature, etc.—or nature will temporarily fill this vacuum. Yet well-chosen art additions to your environment will consistently inspire new paths, ideas, conversation, meditation, reflection, memory, and contribute a special and personal aspect of beauty. Art will engage all your senses and enrich your life experience when chosen well: that is from the heart/mind/soul, honoring one’s unique and special being.

A major drive for art--whether literature, visual, dance, music, architecture or culinary--is to illuminate not obscure. By nature most algorithms tend to obscure.
 
Of course, commissioned art pieces may entertain a bit of dichotomy on this point: witness Renaissance portraiture presented mainly to establish status—eliminating flaws and hiding weaknesses. Still we have cave drawings beautifully illuminating the power of animals. Similar stories abound throughout all aspects of art and culture.
 
Artists tend to focus on thoughts, experiences (whether staging or static), materials, historical incidents or contemporary concerns. Most any unfamiliar topic may be safely explored through responsible art intended to portray a singular aspect of the subject. Art is a great source of discovery.
 
Recently I spent a few hours with Thomas W. Malone’s “Superminds / The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together” (Little, Brown and Company; 2018). This is not a statement about merging human brains with AI or computers. It is a picture of how our seven billion human beings and their computers are affecting things. It visualizes our activities on the web as a mass, influencing events and perceptions. Read it for a better understanding of where Malone is going with this idea.
 
What his thoughts inspired me to consider is the manipulation underlying most everything on social media platforms and the media we receive. This acts to obscure rather than illuminate. I participate in LinkedIn and Twitter; I’m a refugee from Facebook and most of Instagram. My news sources are web based: the BBC, The Economist, New York Times for cooking, Google News and yes, Twitter. I don’t pay attention to print or TV news unless it shows up as a Twitter tweet.
 
It’s long been recognized that US media is negatively charged; Canadians apparently get more positive news items. I don’t know what other country’s media face is since I don’t get ready access to such information. But there is a face and organizations creating it.
 
Most of us recognize that our news feeds from social media platforms are based on algorithms that define and profile users. We get what the algorithm thinks we want; high number of users, readers, followers, subscribers, and their data, is its primary goal.
~LinkedIn recently tried to tailor feeds to the individual, asking users to specify their desires. LinkedIn users make “Connections.” I have 860 and rarely hear of or from more than ten. My LinkedIn handle is Micheline (Mickey) Ronningen.
~Twitter offers “Following” and “Followers” and options to comment, retweet, heart (love) something or send a message (mail) to the tweeter. Tweet to me @MickeySteffy.
~Facebook has “Friends” and if I remember right, only “Like”s. My time spent with Facebook, though nice to catch up with some people, felt like living on a diet of frosted cupcakes with a cream center: pretty much only smiles, platitudes and superficial comments were on offer, despite frequent death, disaster and illness news presented to gain some kind of ethereal web-based emotional support. If that works for you, fine. And maybe this sugar-rich diet was peculiar to my “Friends” circle (ca. 600), though I have doubts on that point.
 
*I’m thinking that my information feeds and news bases are not broad enough. I’m developing a bit of awareness, through social platforms, about the difficulties in being black, trans, or Other in our country and others.  But not enough.
*I’m saying that what I want added to my social media platform is somebody else’s feed, maybe as often as twice a week for a full day each. This “somebody else’s feed” would reflect a random selection, say every 10th person with matching initials. Something obscure and unbiased. Random.
 
I want to see what somebody other than me might be getting fed. I might (likely, given the circumstances) be in non-agreement on much of it, yet I think it could incrementally raise consciousness of things outside my circle of existence. Discretion and critical thinking advised, always.
An idea I remember from years ago, though I can’t find the source, is the idea that if one were able to enter another person’s mind and thinking it would drive one crazy because it’d be so alien. Maybe, but it hasn’t been proved.
I believe if I or we were to get the feed from another random user, what a marvelous web consciousness creation would develop! Much more textured, colorful, connected, and thriving, expanding.
 
Do you think any media platforms or outfits could arrange this? Media platforms could offer an “Illuminate Me” button or choice to provide a random user’s feed as often as preferred.
 
If you too enjoy the idea, let’s post, tweet, comment, share, and otherwise make web-ish joyful noise that we do not want to be limited by an algorithmic profile in this amazing age of sharing information. If you have additional ideas on encouraging our sense of connectivity please comment. Thank you.
And thank you Thomas W. Malone for keeping me awake in the wee hours contemplating some of your thoughts presented in “Superminds.”

This blog title refers to the idea that willing viewers need to engage, put some energy into whatever they meet, to fully benefit from the experience.

For example:

Sunday, February 4, 2018 was the 52nd Super Bowl. One can believe a lot was viewer-invested—whether viewers were stadium-seated (average ticket price $3,900), party-going or home watching TV. All viewers invested in enthusiasm, time (viewing and/or traveling), money, and calorie intake. One can pretty much count on the Eagle fans saying it was all worth it, and perhaps some of the Patriot fans would agree. The Philadelphia Eagles won over the New England Patriots by eight points.

All of which leads to:

Recently Art Biz coach (http://artbizcoach.com) Alyson Stanfield encouraged her audience of artists to write Three Things they would want people to notice about their art. Aside from the blog title and Super Bowl metaphorical interruption, some of my thoughts run along these tracks:

1. I invite a response. Experiencing art, especially live and in-person, can be defined as an individual moment. We bring to our reaction or response a history of living, complete with preferences and prejudice. A picture depicting flowers may excite, or depress one who recently experienced a floral-rich memorial or emptied a vase of smelly, slimy dead flowers. An abstract floral picture may bring comfort or discomfort for the same, yet perhaps unrealized, reasons.
2. There is intention in every mark I make. Each line, dot, form, presence in a composition is considered from a basis of being a trained artist and my intention. Some lines are fast and furious, suggesting release, energy, action. Other lines are slow and meandering, suggesting a restful, if not boring, pace. Colors, and their relation to each other, are basically emotionally charged. Round forms are cozier than angled. Big dots become circles. Patterns reflect nature.
3. My work talks. I make a statement with each work. Although some statements appear ambiguous, all statements encourage viewer interpretation. By necessity, all work reflects my being, thoughts, concerns, and philosophy. Titling gives a hint as to the direction of my talk.

In considering Stanfield’s exercise, I discovered there are countless points that I’d appreciate people noticing about my art. My intent is to share the language of the visual realms and speak of abstract things; to give abstractions voice by having their own two-dimensional physical presence.

If you have a specific question, concern or comment, please use the Contact form if you want a personal response. Otherwise your public comments are welcome here at the blog.

Unless a person has been living in a well-constructed underwater cave, one has at least passing familiarity with the term “mindfulness.” To recap from Google to Wikipedia:
“Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and other training.”

In brief, mindfulness means paying attention. Surprisingly enough, perhaps, none of us practice this 24/7. Our minds are often caught up in mindless routine (done completely without conscious thought; such as driving home from work and not being aware of anything until we get home) or busyness, doing anything so we don’t have to think overly much, but maybe getting something done that doesn’t require much planning, creativity or involvement (folding laundry, totaling lists of numbers, doing most any chore for the thousandth time). Busyness may also describe time spent with social media.
 
Yet mindfulness also encourages responding to things with an attitude of non-judgmental acceptance, as long as the moment is not dangerous to one’s health or well-being.
 
I got on this track, considering mind habits, while working on #5 in my “Inky Geometrics” series [soon to be introduced]. This is a particularly fun series for me, involving control and non-control and all the elements of art in their purest forms. To do this, as when doing most art, I need to suspend everyday thoughts and enter a state of mindfulness.
 
Abstract art compositions demand engagement without thought even for most viewers. They don’t offer a prepaid political or ideological agenda, but may bring up associations. The “Inky Geometrics” series doesn’t have an agenda beyond the viewer experiencing color, shape, positioning, contrast, and movement between its parts; in effect they whisper sweet nothings.
 
To enjoy such a non-thought communication it is most helpful to employ mindfulness, especially at first meeting. Busyness won’t do as one’s attention is virtually nowhere. Mindlessness may work for some. The art itself offers simple engagement.

24 x 36; acrylic ink, paint, graphite on canvas, 2017

Block, v.; make the movement or flow in (a passage, pipe, road, etc.) difficult or impossible.
Surrender, n.; the action of surrendering; v. cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.
 
The above definitions come straight from Google. I don’t know which dictionary Google uses, but for our purposes these definitions will do fine.
 
The art titled “Blocked Surrender,” pictured above, evolved from an earlier piece. “Blocked Surrender” is the result of painting over “Happiness” since I wasn’t satisfied with the “Happiness” statement. Initially I found this to be an awkward juxtaposition, but with further consideration maybe not.
 
When the piece started calling itself “Blocked Surrender” (yes, this is how it often goes), I immediately jumped to the more negative associations such as provided in the above definition which puts the authority outside oneself.
 
Then I went on to think about some of my own experiences with surrendering and discovered sometimes I surrendered to what could be perceived as a higher level. Say, for example, resisting or blocking that urge for a second or third glass of wine. Such action may be perceived as surrendering to a larger desire for health and non-fuzzy clarity. Or the act of blocking knee-jerk or harsh judgements may suggest surrendering to a more holistic basis. Blocking can function as a growth mechanism, resisting a habituated pattern of reaction rather than employing response. Surrendering may be essential to one’s evolution.
 
Many years ago, not long after what felt like a disastrous financial development, my husband commented to me, rather strongly I thought considering his generally calm and accepting temperament, “Why can’t you just be happy!?”
 
I was stunned. What a great question! We still enjoyed each other, we had a roof over our heads, food to eat, clothing to protect us against weather variations, shoes for our feet, electricity, water, computer and phone service, chairs to sit on, a bed to sleep in, most of our teeth, better health than we have today, happy children, fine relatives, great friends, and there I was resisting or blocking happiness.
 
In the artwork, the many layers of color and form put down as “Happiness” are still somewhat visible and establish much of the textural quality of “Blocked Surrender.” The attention-grabbing darker forms float above any of the action. The block grid created with graphite contributes a small, whimsical note meant to further invite viewers down their own paths of interpretation on how blocking and surrendering have impacted their lives.

Mr. Mickey photographed and posted six new works at the web site landing page (http://www.artmsr.com/index.html). Here are a few notes about their personal significance.
 
By the way: If considering purchasing any of my works, email me at mickey@artmsr.com to discover availability, pricing and shipping info.
 
• “All Beginnings Have Endings.” A painting on canvas featuring Celtic spirals of life. This emerged from a Tweet by Jack Kornfield (b. 07-15-1945; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kornfield) that struck me as significant. He said, “Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.”
            The image I created uses the spirals in front, on top, beside or around each other, faded in background (time), yet glowing, not sad, light and not dark. Peaceful. Sizes vary as do lives, events, thoughts—from brief and transitory to lengthy or long-lived.
 
•••• Color Study Series: “Blue Is,”  “Green Is,”  “Purple Is,”  “Red Is.”
               Color studies are a great way to spot interactions and range within a hue. Also, in these works, it highlights the different expressions available through mixed media. I used pigment markers, gel and Micron pens, Derwent Intense watercolor pencil, colored pencil and graphite. For me, this color study points to the idea that no color clashes with itself.
           Differences in hue present a distinct feeling and activity when paired or alongside or on a similar trajectory.
           Studies can be done or viewed by anyone to learn about color and increase sensitivity. Basically these make a celebratory statement. I love color.
 
• “A Certain Integrity.” I’ve been intrigued by the concept of integrity with the coming of the new administration in government. Encarta defines the word as “1. Possession of firm principles … 2. Completeness … 3. Wholeness.” That excites a whole range of images. My earlier 2017 work, “A Lack of Integrity,” features lines and forms that interrupt each other, abruptly change direction, discontinuations in colors that sometimes abrade.
               “A Certain Integrity” focuses on a calmer interpretation, concentrating on a harmonious wholeness. The prevailing form (circle and lines generated by its roundness) establish a simple foundation. Lines outside its sphere are generated from an interior standardized matrix. Colors are primary. I had intended to do much more with this statement, yet it told me to stop at this point. It makes a minimalist and harmonious whole.
 
P.S. Have a topic you’d like to see discussed? Tell me and I’ll see what I can do with it. Also, your comments at this blog are totally appreciated! Thank you.