Annlee Head (H02) - Why does art matter? (final draft)

The essay I chose to report on is “A Cog in the Machine of Creation” by Wes Studi (The many roles involved in producing a film rule out the notion of a single, indispensable artist) in the “Why does art matter?” section of Question Everything.

Wes Studi begins his essay by describing how art is a product of three components…

The mind - where the initial ideas are conceived through inspiration, whether that’s inner or outer. This is the beginning of any creative thought.

The heart - reveals to us how we feel about the idea. This is how the idea develops into a more complex concept, and how we can begin to create it.

Our past experiences - help us weigh the personal significance of the creation. This is important when debating whether to put the idea into fruition– whether it is worthy to be created.

The major question that needs to be answered before fully committing to an idea, Studi says, is “will it serve a purpose beyond our own need to create?” Will this creation be something that is just an excuse to keep creating, or will it serve a purpose and cause other people to also be inspired? Will it spark an idea into the viewer? The essay then transitions to Studi wondering if acting is a true art form. He states, “Is an actor merely an interpreter of an idea created in a screenplay, script, or play?” Studi then answers the question in this context; The writer is the artist, or creator, while the actor interprets the plan, but there still is more than just writer and actor. After adding the rest of the cast and crew in, the actor is not the main performer and instead becomes a cog in the larger machine of creation. 

When questioning whether the actor is a creator or an interpreter, you have to realize the writer first has to create the story in order to find an actor worthy of performing it. The actor’s job is to fit the situation and portray the story that had been written before. Studi explains that filmmaking is extremely collaborative and the actors need to be very trained and engaged in their roles. With personal experience and knowledge, the actors can have empathy towards the characters they are portraying. He discusses how his experience as a Native American actor and his knowledge of the wars against native populations have assisted him in the Native American roles he has been placed into. Incl. the Apache character Geronimo and helping craft the language of the Na’vi in Avatar (which you can learn at https://learnnavi.org/ if you'd like.)

Studi then goes on to compare being an actor to a sculptor, as actors need to add and build onto other people’s ideas to create the perfect character. As a sculptor, one needs to remove substance instead of adding it on, transforming a blank stone into something abnormal of the original shape that can be identified by any person.  Creating something unique, whether it is from many outside forces adding onto one creative thought, or deconstructing a creative thought to reveal the true motive behind it, are the ways to create something unique. Both of these methods allow the creator to control the process while continuing to give them freedom of choice. 

All creative pieces need to have some sort of meaning behind them, as Studi references his book The Adventures of Billy Bean, a children’s book he wrote in both English and Cherokee. The book was meant to preach an uplifting message about life for young people transitioning to adulthood. Studi concludes the essay stating “With minds, hearts, and pasts, we all commit acts of creation.” Anyone can be a creator, whether you are a sculptor, writer, actor, all three, or none of the above. Knowing that “art is truly an act of creation, and creation is an act of art,” it is shown that nearly anyone can create something and give it meaning.

As both a budding filmmaker and a long-time artist, I can view both sides of the creation process that Studi discussed in his essay.  As I begin to delve into my major and work on more projects, I realize how minimal my role can be as the camera operator. With the projects I have worked on, there is always some sort of script present that we follow, but it is always open to change and revision. Studi describes this as “adding and building on another’s idea,” and I believe it fits perfectly. When shooting music videos, there is always room to alter shots to make them more effective, and anyone on set is open to making critiques on how something’s shot.

(unreleased stills from Caroline Bowling's visualizer for "Garden Variety," where specific scenes had many different options for how to portray them. inspired by the editing style of Auburn's "Need 2" visualizer, further showing the importance of collaboration.)

On the other hand, my paintings and art exhibits have all come from a combination of my own experience and outside influence, and I use that as Studi used the carvings - “transforming it from its original form into something familiar and pleasing to the eye.” The carvings can be directly correlated to the first painting I did in a live setting, where I went from a blank canvas to a portrait within three hours.

(photos taken near the beginning and end of the live painting process.)

This “sculpting” of a painting with no outside input let me dive into the creation of the face, “shaping and carving” the appearance of an enraged face in order to portray the emotion from one of Frank Iero’s songs. As Studi also relates to sculpting, the painting process under pressure allowed me to control and time the process while still being able to form the specific expression I was aiming for. As he also describes in his book writing, the portrait can also carry a message for those who understand the song, and the emotions that artist is trying to portray through it can shine through the painting. 

I hope Studi’s perception of creation is eye-opening to anyone who claims they are not creative, because I believe that anyone can be the maker of something. Even if these small acts seem like they are not enough to name one as creative, it still proves that acts of creation can still happen in everyone, something that is naturally human.