Art from Your Core
Art from Your Core (Book)
A Holistic Guide to Visual Voice
A holistic guide to finding and cultivating the art that you alone were born to make. Through a series of exercises, artists peel away the cultural and psychological obstacles to building a resonant life, and dig deeply into their own unique identities and experiences to unearth and intensify their idiosyncratic visual voice. 22 b&w illus.
Listen to Kate Kretz' 'Beyond Cheap Tricks' here.
Check out Art and Cakes's Artist Spotlight on Kate Kretz here.
Artist Spotlight: additional work from Kate Kretz
Edition
This book guides artists through the discovery and development of the art that they alone were born to create. Through real-life examples and exercises, we tear down the cultural, educational, and psychological obstacles to finding authentic visual voice, stripping away years of assumptions, external and self-imposed limiting parameters.
We learn how to listen to the Universe and get out of the way when work wants to come through us. We construct a core foundation, unique to each artist, one that will grow along with them in their artistic
practice. Artists will discover their own singular visual vocabulary by mining their personal history, psyche, and world view to reveal new creative directions, and learn how to intensify and develop their core ideas to make them more resonant and complex. We explore methodologies to tap into the subconscious, cultivate breakthroughs, create environments to maximize the gestation of ideas, instill bravery, and do meaningful research to produce deeply layered works of art.
While designed for college students, professional artists will also find it allows them to get to that illusive
“next level” in their work; the one that calls to them, haunts them in their dreams, yet remains unarticulated in their practice.
In addition to helping undergraduate and graduate students who are looking to identify, articulate, and hone their vocabulary, it can serve as a tool for more established artists to step up or refresh their practice. It is the kind of book that artists will keep on the studio shelf, to pick up time and time again, as their responses to the exercises will change throughout the course of their career.
There are extensive lists, exercises, and questionnaires, anecdotes of art-historically significant artists and detailed descriptions of the methodologies they employ to tap into the subconscious, various types of research on creative breakthroughs (and how to apply it to your own process), helpful suggestions to create an environment / lifestyle to maximize the gestation of ideas, and how to do meaningful research to produce deeply layered works of art. While the tone of the book is often earnest and spiritual (in an “art is religion” kind of way), Kretz is aiming for a straightforward, accessible, kind-but-no-nonsense tenor, with some humor, and nurturing “tough love” when needed, to say some of the things that artists need to hear, but few people have the guts to tell them.
Kate Kretz is a Fulbright Specialist, an Associate Professor and former BFA Director with 30 years of teaching experience. She has received several distinguished artist awards for her internationally-exhibited-and-reviewed work that spans many disciplines.
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
FUNDAMENTALS OF VOICE
- The Art You Were Born to Make
- How to Listen to the Universe
CLEAR THE OBSTACLES
- The Art World and the Art Life
- Who Do Think You Are?
- The Crisis of Meaning
- Needless Constraints
- The Approval of Others
- Intention, Execution, and the Gap in Between
- Money and Other Earthly Concerns
- The Noise
- What to Do with the Darkness
BUILD THE CORE
- Mine Your Life
- Mind’s Eye Memoir
- Distillation
- Conscious Creating
INTENSIFY THE VISION
- Go Deeper
- Feed Your Head
- Follow the Threads
- Stand in the Fire
- Highly Impractical Generosity
- Onward
Bibliography
'The art world is full of static. In the art market, there's the buzz of money and the fear of failure. In social media, there's the continuous jostling for scraps of praise. In art criticism, there's the fear of a bad review. In academia, there's the pressure of learning, the guilt of not producing, the competition for jobs. In the gallery scene, there's the expectation that your work will be consistent and on schedule. It's disempowering and distracting, and the result is thousands of artists who produce what they think the world wants. This book is like a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. It will let you concentrate on what you desire, who you are, what art does for you, what you need to make. So go back to your studio, shut down your social media, and clear out your library. This is the only book you need.'
‘Art from Your Core’ provides a poignant reminder to artists that living and expressing their truth through art is fundamentally important, and ever more so in a world where authenticity and the value of lived experience are under constant assault. Kretz draws upon decades of expertise in teaching and making art to offer this invaluable resource that supports the artist-creatively, psychologically, and professionally. This is a must-read for artists and art students at any stage in their career.'
'Like the layers of an onion, Kate Kretz peels back the levels of art and art making through an invasive and comprehensive dissection. Not unlike a scientist searching for the core of discovery, she unwraps and peels back those layers of thoughts, considerations, opportunities and conundrums that artists face making art from the core. Part guide, part philosophical musing, and part “how to” she makes real and understandable the complex and complicated world of the contemporary artist.'
'Kate Kretz is your erudite, generous guide to “cultivating the core” of every creative soul. Art From Your Core is filled with amazing insights and exercises—useful for beginners and experts alike, no matter the medium—that will encourage you to look differently at the world, into yourself, and find your voice as an artist. With wisdom gleaned from thinkers and makers ranging from Seneca to Sontag to El Anatsui, this book is a precious toolbox to help you uncover the unique, genuinely felt art that only you were meant to make.'
