On Framing

Just to be clear, to start off, I'm not a great carpenter, and I would never actually create a real frame for a work of art. This is a metaphor I am building here, so stick with me.

As I look back on my artistic life, I find the times I do my best work, are the times when I am not doing the painting, but when I'm building the frame. My art is expressed by responding someone else's concept, adding to it, and providing a way to hang it on the wall. In theatre, I am most proud of my work in sound design. In sound design I take a writer's script and a director's vision, and provide a soundscape harmonious with these concepts, but informed by my own understanding of the piece as a whole.

This kind of framing art is distinct from strictly technical work. There is an art within the labor of a skilled technician, but the end result is wholly ruled by another person and not self-expressive in its end result.

I often work as a technician, which I enjoy, but not as much the times I can respond and add to the art. Currently, I enjoy mixing sound at Central Vineyard. Mixing is a beautiful, and mysterious art. I add no sound of any kind to the source, but I control entirely the way it is received by the audience. By manipulating the volume and equalization, I can build a vastly different effect, which I do LIVE, at the same time as the music is being produced.

My point is this. I acknowledge that many artists want to create on their own. They have vision, and passion, and technique. They want to speak with their own voice. But I would submit that we framing artists are not second-hand citizens. Our work can bring other's works a sense of, fullness, clarity, and intensity they may not have otherwise had. And by working together, we can provide a new voice, that is neither one person or another, but the voice of a community.

This is not a call to give up on doing your own thing, but just an invitation to collaborate and a reminder to you framers out there, that you are artists as well. You don't have to try to create art on your own, and you don't have to settle for being just a technician. You can be a partner in community with other artists. I would suggest becoming a part of an arts organization. (for example...Wild Goose Creative)

Well, that's all for now, sorry if this was pedantic or hard to read, like I said, creating the source art is not my thing, I probably should have collaborated with someone on this :)