Magic is in the air. I've watched THE ILLUSIONIST and THE PRESTIGE, two intriguing movies with of themes mystery and illusion. I started reading Christopher Priest's book, THE PRESTIGE, upon which the movie is based.
As I read, I see once again how magic and art are closely related.
The book makes a stronger case for the professional differences between the two magicians. Angier is good at showmanship and technique, yet has no real "head" for magic. He admits he cannot even fathom how a trick is done unless it is pointed out for him. Borden, though rough and unprepossessing, has a true magician's heart. He instinctively understands the fundamental dynamics of the trick. More than that, he perceives the real role of a magician.
It is to let people believe, against all better judgment, that true magic and mystery exist, if only for a few precious hours.
In fact, Borden understands that though people will clamor for the "secret" to a given trick, once they are told, there is a disappointment.
Something is lost when the glamour is dispelled.
I marked a section in Priest's book, where Borden says:
"...'Magicians protect their secrets not because the secrets are large and important, but because they are so small and trivial. The wonderful effects created on stage are often the result of a secret so absurd that the magician would be embarrassed to admit that that was how it was done.'
There, in a nutshell, is the paradox of the stage magician.
The fact that a trick is 'spoiled' if its secret is revealed is widely understood, not only by the magicians but by the audiences they entertain. Most people enjoy the sense of mystery created by the performance, and do not want to ruin it, no matter how curious they feel about what they seem to have witnessed."
I've written before on why I don't teach my techniques, and why I don't elaborate endlessly on how I achieve certain effects in my artwork. I've even compared it to a magician sharing his stage secrets. Priest/Borden calls this concept The Pact.
It is understood, by the performer AND HIS AUDIENCE that the magic act is just that--an act. In fact, Edward Norton as Eisenheim in THE ILLUSIONIST insists throughout the movie that everything we see is indeed a simple sleight of hand.
The source of its power is not how it's done, but the joy and wonder it generates in our hearts. We welcome the little escape, the "vacation", from our mundane world.
The Pact is the promise that this joy and wonder will not be lightly violated by revealing the trick so easily to others.
As an artist, I came to the same realization about my work years ago. I quit talking so much on the HOW of my work, and focused on the WHY.
Oh, I am happy to point out the many, many hours that go into producing my artifacts and my fiber collages. I know the value of my time, and the skill and aesthetic I've developed over the years.
But if I insist that the ONLY difference between my work, and the work of someone who copies my techniques, is that my technique is superior, then I am truly naming myself a craftsman. And doing a disservice to myself as an artist.
That is also why, as I explained to a friend recently, I don't call myself a polymer clay artist.
If anything, I am a storyteller. I use polymer clay as just another material to tell a story.
I tell my stories through my artwork, just as a novelist tells her through a book, or a director through a movie.
I use certain sewing and clay techniques to produce my art, just as a novelist uses the craft of writing, and a sculptor uses carving to produce theirs.
We have our little tricks and shortcuts, refined techniques and steady practice, which hopefully sets our work apart from others.
But that is not who we are. And ultimately, it is not what defines us.
At the end of the day, I don't want to be "that polymer clay artist who does great faux ivory work", or even "that artist who makes horses/bears/bones." Any more than Anna Sewell "wrote about a horse" or Anne Lamotte "writes about drinking", or an ancient artist "painted some animals on a stone wall."
I want to be "that artist" whose works takes a viewer to another place, perhaps even another world. The artist whose work reaches out and transforms a moment for someone. Perhaps, someday, the artist who inspired others to their own transformation, to set someone on a wonderful, whole new path in life.
And the techniques I want to teach are how others can aspire to do the same in THEIR creative efforts, whether they do it with flowers, with pen and paper, with a loaf of bread or a song.
Good art works a change in its audience, however ephemeral.
It takes us to another place, another time, and makes us see the world in a new way.
It can promote empathy and compassion by letting us look into another person's heart. It can make our world bigger. Or make our understanding of it, better.
It can help us understand OURSELVES better.
What we do is a mystery. But that mystery is not about the physical things we transform, nor how we do that.
The ultimate "trick" is the transformation of the human heart.
