Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/13
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kitmc@acmefoto.com (Kit McChesney | acmefoto)3/13/03
>But there are also people who may create music
>never
>having heard it. And it could be very compelling to hear, don't you
>think?
If we leave the topics of blind visual artists and deaf musicians behind and
begin to discuss the human need to creatively express themselves musically,
visually and verbally - ABSOLUTELY YES. I would never consider myself a
musician, however I must and do make a sort of music (I arrange notes in time)
with harmonicas, recorders, native american flutes and simple hand drums. Good
for the soul. Need it like food and water. Some folks have occasionally even
expressed appreciation for my expressions. If I lost my hearing I can't imagine
doing anything but the drumming - for the rest I play by (as they say) ear. I
don't read musical scores except in the most rudimentary way. I can't really
look at a score and mentally hear the music. Therefore I couldn't write a score
with any seriousness.
>The same for someone who has never "seen." They may create images that
>are equally compelling to view.
I would suggest that a very, very, very few may create photographic images which
display consistently compelling vision. Idiosyncratic more often perhaps.
Interesting to some - sure.
Now if we added very tactile qualities available in drawing and painting -
perhaps the feedback would allow for more thoughtful and interactive work.
>My point is only that let's not decide that
>a
>creation by a person who cannot perceive the end result in the same way
>that
>anyone else can perceive it should be discounted as serious work.
I don't discount the possibility and the example that your pointed us to
certainly appears to be amazingingly beautiful work. Although I've not spent
enough time at the site to understand exactly how he accomplishes his results.
For me it appears extremely exceptional work from an extremely exceptional human
being.
>It
>is,
>for the most part, and most creative people agree, mysterious.
Some would argue, however I enjoy the mysteries of the creative process and
products.
>But again, there are writers who have
>written marvelous work who do not revise; I don't believe we can always
>predicate the "success" of an artist's work upon whether he or she
>needed
>critiques to learn to "improve," to get "better."
True enough for the exceptional. However the vast majority of writers (who've I
talked with or read) agree that their work comes alive in the labor of rewrites.
Prodigies will always inspire jaw dropping awe.
>Sometimes a beautifully
>formed image springs out of the blue.
For prodigies; or after the talented have learned their craft and paid their
dues. Sometimes from beginner's luck.
>I think
>that if we are tuning ourselves to the spheres and to our intuition, we
>are
>graced with the gift of a creation that astounds us. I'm sure we've all
>experienced that ... looking at a drawing we've made, or a sentence
>written,
>a picture in the developing tray, and said, "Who did that?" That is
>actually
>one of the most ecstatic moments of creation, I think, to realize that
>we
>are getting help from somewhere, because we are open to it.
I totally agree. However the "tuning" has some basic requirements for most of
us. I find it difficult to imagine the blind photographer, if alone in the
darkroom, having a "who did that?" moment as the print emerges in the developing
tray. In fact I find difficult to imagine how s/he focused the enlarger or
decided on the crop.
> Artists and
>musicians often report that they don't know where the images or songs
>they
>sing come from ... that they feel they are channels for something
>higher.
>The Creative Force that drives all? I'd bet my Leica on it.
And I wouldn't take the bet. I agree. I teach classes called Creative Encounters
at The Center for Creative Learning which address this specific point. And my
blind young friend has participated. However while others work with purely
visual media along with tactile media, he works only with tactile media and
their arrangement, or with dance or music.
>As for how images are created, not every visual image is created based
>upon
>an interaction between the eyes and something else visual.
Here I can't agree with you. I would have to say that every serious attempt at
visual image making is created based upon an interaction between the eyes and
the visual creation. Minute exceptions accepted.
>Many artists
>find
>their inspiration for visual creations in purely non-visual sources,
>like
>music, for example.
Agreed. Inspiration can come from many sources and need not be visual sources.
>"Are the differences between media all that significant?"
Significant in what ways? In my Visual Design course I love to use music
metaphors for visual ideas - rhythm, movement, notes in time vs marks in space,
tone, volume, sure - as metaphor or analogies.
>always push ourselves to expand beyond
>the
>limits of where we think we can go, what we think we can do, what we
>believe
>we can see. That's all I'm trying to say.
Absolutely. While my biggest fear is losing my sight. I enjoyed the mind puzzle
of imagining myself continuing to create visual work if hypothetically blind;
and I can imagine ways of doing it - seriously.
Fond regards,
G e o r g e L o t t e r m o s e r, imagist
<>Peace<> <>Harmony<> <>Stewardship<>
Presenting effective messages in beautiful ways
since 1975
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