Why Do We Buy Art?

        Motivation is a typical subject for folks in the arts. We often hear, “Where did you get the inspiration for that painting?” There is another side of inspiration to consider, what motivates the buyer of art.

First we buy - that landscape, then another - and before we are aware of it we have a full blown obsession.           We have become art collectors or more precisely, collectors of art that we must have to complete that feeling of something deep inside us, something that makes us feel really good. Art collector is a term that implies collecting more for investment than affection.

        What motivates collecting art is a topic way beyond my understanding. My close brush with collecting art came a few years ago when we were in an antique shop and spotted a beautiful etching of a winter scene. I just had to have it and so I paid the asking price of about ten dollars. It was mine, all mine.  I was so happy until I went to another shop and found the same print. Two prints of the same subject?  Of course, it’s a print. Seeing the second print wasn’t as much fun as finding the first. That’s when I realized that maybe collecting is because we like the thrill of the discovery and the stories of the conquests.

Spring Gold 16x20 oil on linen

       About the same time as the great winter scene find, we were collecting/rescuing old art pieces found in unusual places like roadside trash day pickups, yard sales and second hand stores. We felt rather noble about our mounting collection. It “mounted” in the back of closets and under beds, to be alternately placed on a wall designated for found art. We received great joy and pleasure from our efforts. Some art treasures could be that lost piece from Vincent or Pablo, but for us, the humble lovers of the arts, we had the fun and adventure of the discovery and the tales of the conquest (plus the burden of the stuffed closest and attic).

       If you too collect art, have fun and if searching for that special piece that makes you say, “Wow, remember when…” then the pleasure of real art and the stories behind the painting on the walls can be motive enough for the prestigious title … art collector. 
       Happy hunting,
Joel   

Summer Celebration 20x30 acrylic on canvas

Randall Wallace, Mozart - What Makes Us Feel

     Screenwriter, Randall Wallace (Secretariat), recently shared advice from his father who was a salesman:  

        “People will almost never remember what you say, and just a little of what you do, but they will remember how you make them feel.” 

  

   Wow… that is some powerful wisdom and why do I bring it up for us to ponder? As artists we make unique contacts with our viewers as we try to reach their inner being.

      Our art is communication be it words, visual or auditory. We are dealing with the senses and that is a big responsibility. The grand propagandists know how to evoke and tap into these emotions. As artists, we are trying to reach this inner human level ourselves and sometimes we are successful. The feeling of success may be when we finish a piece and we step back to see and exclaim, wow that is powerful. 

Quest   40x30  acrylic on canvas

     

     It may be that we have a responsibility to reach for that wisdom of the salesman by keeping the audience in mind and not take this too lightly. After all we are trying to communicate with that sense of feeling in our audience. 

     The last composition Mozart created before his death was Clarinet Concerto in A Major. This is a familiar piece of music that will calm your soul. Clear your mind for just a few minutes, close your eyes and just listen to this wonderful gift. Mozart left us with a masterpiece. We do not think about how he wrote this piece, or what he said about it, we think only of how it makes us feel.

Please check the website, www.joelellisart.com for latest activity on my work.

Best wishes, 

Joel

Where Are the Butterflies

       The fourth of July has come and gone with all of its boom booms and summer comfort foods. The art show we have been planning has also made its debut at the Arts Council of Greater Lansing (ACGL). These art exhibitions take more time than the casual viewer may realize. For this show we selected a dozen paintings that we thought would be compatible within a concept of contemporary works. We then gave a title to the idea that explained the grouping vision of paintings - Color, Form and Possibilities. Each label also has a one-line explanation of its inspiration. The display will be exhibited weekdays from 8 to 5 in the ACGL offices in charming Old Town Lansing through the month of

Autumn Dune Grasses 16x20

August. Please check the Arts Council of Greater Lansing for location, www.lansingarts.org .

       After seeing the show in an open house setting and talking to visitors the title and concept seemed to work. Interested visitors did take an in depth interest in the back story of how each piece came to be created. Comments from visitors were encouraging.

Bold Beach 16x20

       We live on this beautiful planet with all its interactions which makes interesting subject matter for artists. Monarch butterflies are one of those interesting and mysterious creatures on this spaceship earth. For the complete story of this magnificent creature please go to Wikipedia and marvel at this inspiring true superhero. We like to go to Michigan’s sand dunes in late summer as hundreds of these creatures drift along the water’s edge. We stand in awe at their golden dance gently fluttering over the dune.

       This year - no monarch butterflies.  So we Googled and tried to make sense of this great loss to the natural mix of earthly events. Every day we walk past a nice stand of milkweed, a favorite site for Monarchs, and check for larva of the butterfly or at best any sign of their presence. So far none.

Homage to the Butterfly 20x16 acrylic on linen

       Today I went into the studio with butterflies on my mind and painted monarchs. Another painting, another backstory. A hopeful gesture that this awe inspiring creature will return to us all.

Wishing you a colorful and inspiring summer.

Joel 

www.joelellisart.com

Alyson Shotz at The Broad Art Museum

       I am sitting at my computer looking at a new painting, well not new in the sense that it was just completed, but a painting that we rescued from a slow but sure demise. We like to go to estate and yard sales and sometimes buy interesting art that moves us. Today’s find was old, so old the sale manager guessed that it was over a hundred years. It is in very rough shape with over a hundred years of grime on the surface. Yet, the artist’s bowl of white roses is still shining, lo after all these many years.

       This experience dovetails nicely with an experience we had a few days ago. The Broad Art Museum had an evening meeting with one of the fine artists who had built an enormous wall installation that was over a hundred feet long. The beautiful string and nail drawing would be coming down in a few days. Though the art community enjoyed and marveled at the artistic endeavor, there is a sad sense about the loss of an art object so much respected and visited so many times in its short life in the museum.

Close up of Shotz string drawing, White Wave

       The artist, Alyson Shotz and her string drawing, White Wave (2013), became a conduit for heated discussions about the permanence of the art object that we all marvel over. We first think about the sincerity and beauty of the Buddhist mandala sand art that takes days to create but lasts for such a short time. In contrast, on the boulevard near the Broad stands a bronze dancing female figure. She will be dancing for many centuries to come because of the permanent materials used.

Portion of White Wave (2013), Alyson Shotz string drawing at the Broad

        The question of ephemeral art is very thought provoking. I lean toward more long-lived art. A few weeks ago a young artist asked me how he could get started in oil painting. That is a life time journey but the short answer I gave was use the very best materials you can afford and hopefully you will create meaningful art that you will be able to visit in the years to come. I said this based on my own history of many student art projects that we so loved, but are now dust in some forgotten closet.

       And yes there are those messages from the distance past left on the stone walls all over the world. Some are in caves while others are on rock surfaces just above the water line of Lake Superior. We can only imagine the early artist sending greeting messages from another time.

       And what about the white roses on the deteriorating canvas?  In the sun light we found a few faint red roses hidden in the decades of grime. We create because, well excuse the cliché, we have to. The artists from the past even the distant past were moved to communicate with present and future peoples. We’ll try to help The Roses to live a few more years to bring us beauty. Maybe some restoration will help us to appreciate the artist’s touch from the past and help us see our own world in better light. 

Joel

Blue Nautilus, Joel Ellis 24x24 acrylic on canvas

 www.joelellisart.com

  

Something About Flowers, Joel Ellis  20x24 acrylic on linen

Henry James - Three Big Questions

Purple Pair

Today we had the opportunity to meet a young recent M S U grad at the new Broad Art Museum. She will be starting her teaching career teaching science and art. What a great subject marriage. Her enthusiasm for both subjects will carry her far in her new beginning. 

We discussed the lack of foresight by the cash strapped school districts and how the arts programs are the first programs to be downgraded or outright cut. Just to confirm our gut feeling I looked up- the value of art- and let Google gather the evidence. The Google survey shows that most citizens, too, have a gut feeling about the loss of arts in public education and backed up the evidence with some very substantial citations confirming this point. There are measurable outcomes which the art community has known and supported for years, ARTS BELONG IN THE SCHOOLS.

The writer Henry James proposed three questions to help define the artist work …1, what was the artist trying to achieve…2. Did they succeed ... 3. Was the effort worth doing?  In researching the merits of the arts programs in schools we must look at the findings that are very conclusive and I invite you to also take the few minutes and Google this topic. It’s affirmimg to find support for your point of view and pass the word along to those hard working and often misunderstood public servants who manage our schools.  

Descending Day

We can use James’ art analyses by replacing artists with art patrons to help us grade our efforts and stay on track in keeping the arts alive and enriching lives for the generations to come. If we get an A+ for our efforts, we can say we presented the best positive aspects of our culture to our children, our future replacements.

Traverse Morning

And to the first year teacher and her grand adventure in teaching, keep your enthusiasm and remember the arts community is counting on you for the next great link from past to future. Remember James’s third question? Was the effort worth doing? Think of the lives this new teacher will touch. Let’s all keep the cultural beacon shining. 

Joel

www.joelellisart.com

 

A Lesson in Mastery: 10,000 hours practice

       Spring is here and the outdoor art shows begin in the northern states. We have a very good show coming up May 18-19, the East Lansing Art Show. I always remember asking an artist at the show how long he had been painting. The day was hot and near the end of the two day event so his remark was rather terse and had a bite to it. Not looking at me, he said, “acres and acres of canvas.” I thought I got the message, but year’s later after reading, Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, the art fair comment made more sense, acres and acres, that’s a lot painting.

Summer Sunset 12x16 acrylic, mixed media 

      Gladwell gives examples of people who have mastered their chosen endeavor and are recognized for their accomplishments. The one common element they all have going to reach the top in their field is 10,000 hours of practice, think of it 10,000 hours. That is a lot of time at the piano or at an easel. Even Mozart was very good at a young age but the more he composed the better he became until he reached his 10,000 hours later in his life.

Summer Fusion 20x24 acrylic on canvas

      The Beatles, too, had to perform eight hours straight on stage for weeks at a time perfecting that special Beatles sound. We see the practice/ achievement connection as a baby starts to walk. It takes a lot of tumbles to get the skills worked out.  We marvel at the major events in our lives as we too put in those 10,000 hours to reach the goals we set for ourselves.

Coffee at the Beach 11x14 oil on linen board

      When we go to the outdoor art shows this summer, remember the artists are hot, tired and wanting to get back to their studio to put more time on the art, valued time toward 10,000 hours to mastery. Enjoy the outdoor art scene and remember to support the arts as we enjoy this beautiful summer.

Joel

  www.joelellisart.com  

Children and Art

       A few weeks ago we got a call from my daughter saying my five-year-old grandson wanted to paint with me. After a gulp and a vision of a paint smeared chubby hand settled, I realized he was many miles away and he must have something else going on in his very active mind. “We can paint at the same time,” he said. What a pleasant thought, the two of us painting at the same time.

Grandson's first Abstract

       Then a few days ago he made the trip to my studio. After a quick check of the studio he asked, “Can we paint again?”  “Yes,” I said, and did we have fun! His eager hands were receptive to tips and suggestions. Before his first masterpiece piece was completed, he was on to his first advanced technique: the eye dropper for that single water drop that traveled down his painting. He squealed with the thrill of excitement.

       Next, the drinking straw. His little boy puff of air sent paint in exciting shapes and patterns. Each puff of air brought a cheer and a growing sense of pride in his creation.  As his paintings were drying in color patterns on counters, he looked up to me and said, “This is the best day of my life.” That was also one of the best days of my life, dear grandson. 

Hoping you enjoy all the art around you,

Joel  www.joelellisart.com