Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
When these "thought provoking" missives are written, please don't mistake them for self-indulgence. It's my way to try to give back to the knife community and point out things that many have not considered.
Grew up poor. Foodstamp poor, wanting for a bunch of stuff, three pairs of shoes(workboots, athletic shoes, dress shoes) poor.
For the area my father and I lived in, the Mohawk Valley(called "Little Appalachia" with sniggers by city folks), was raised well-to-do.
Always had a full belly and didn't have to quit school to help out with bills.
This informs my desires as a no-longer-poor adult. Learned early that good products are often more expensive than lesser quality, and that they are almost always worth the extra money....and learned to do without until the better quality could be had.
As an early teen prone to trouble in school, my father was informed by teachers that my art skills were decent enough to be encouraged and might help keep me out of trouble, which was sort of true.
My art teachers from 6th grade on spent a lot of time working with me, and by the time I was 15, was taking adult art classes at an art institute. Still life, landscape, nudes(one time, my friend who studied at the same place, and I were surprised by the model being his older brother. We made jokes that 16 year old kids do and almost got literally killed by his brother when we got home from our studies....good times!)
Tattooed professionally for 10 years between Seattle, WA and Socal, stopping in 1998. After that went to design fabric patterns for a motorcycle apparel company for almost 8 years....so maybe the art teachers knew something.
This paisley was created around 2000. It is completely original, and has sold over 250,000 pieces to date.
Not a masterwork.....am an "ok" artist, but never stop trying to improve my skills or my eye.
How do I do this? Simple.... I study the masters, and try to emulate their techniques.
Unless you are a master yourself in whatever medium you work in, study of mastery is necessary, and to do otherwise, "in my opinion" demonstrates arrogance or ignorance.
True masters are so far out of the realm of normal humans that their muses are the air and sun and the music that they listen to in their heads is the Voice of God. Known some true masters in different disciplines and they are often simultaneously their own greatest fans and worst critics, but more than anything else, they all love a challenge in that discipline, or in many other things as well. By all measures of music, Prince Rogers Nelson was a genius, but he also liked to play basketball. Since he was 5"2", not likely the NBA was gonna come calling, but didn't keep him from playing the game for love of a challenge.
You find the master's work of your choice and style and you try to copy every line down to the signature. You keep trying until you get it or you give up out of despair.
The exercise teaches you how to see what the master saw, and to try and emulate it, NOT interpret it. That comes later. There will be a lot of mistakes in the process, but you will learn.
When l learned to tattoo, did a true and full apprenticeship.....working for no money, and it was decidedly hard. Mixing inks, drawing flash line art, spit shading, making tattoo machines, soldering up needles, cleaning the shop, taking out the trash and learning every minute. Would not trade that for anything in the world, because I learned my craft and to this day, am a solid journeyman tattoo artist, but nobody will confuse me as being a master.
I see knife making as very similar, and experience so much pushback about the attitude of emulating the masters as being somehow beneath the maker that it is almost laughable.
Try copying, line for line, one piece by Larry Fuegen, Wolfe Loerchner, Loveless, or Michael Walker. See if your technique in general does not improve. See if the way you see does not improve.
For the journeyman artist, after copying and learning to see comes expert interpretation and then ownership of style.
I see too many makers trying to skip vital steps and it ultimately results in a product that may be good, but is much less well produced than it would have been if emulation had been employed.
Because of that, the value is not there to me(see explanation about value above), and I take a pass on that maker's work.
With factories taking very good build and construction cues from the custom sector(they are learning how to see too), the competition for that disposable income is getting geometrically greater each day.
Do you see what I see?
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
Grew up poor. Foodstamp poor, wanting for a bunch of stuff, three pairs of shoes(workboots, athletic shoes, dress shoes) poor.
For the area my father and I lived in, the Mohawk Valley(called "Little Appalachia" with sniggers by city folks), was raised well-to-do.
Always had a full belly and didn't have to quit school to help out with bills.
This informs my desires as a no-longer-poor adult. Learned early that good products are often more expensive than lesser quality, and that they are almost always worth the extra money....and learned to do without until the better quality could be had.
As an early teen prone to trouble in school, my father was informed by teachers that my art skills were decent enough to be encouraged and might help keep me out of trouble, which was sort of true.
My art teachers from 6th grade on spent a lot of time working with me, and by the time I was 15, was taking adult art classes at an art institute. Still life, landscape, nudes(one time, my friend who studied at the same place, and I were surprised by the model being his older brother. We made jokes that 16 year old kids do and almost got literally killed by his brother when we got home from our studies....good times!)
Tattooed professionally for 10 years between Seattle, WA and Socal, stopping in 1998. After that went to design fabric patterns for a motorcycle apparel company for almost 8 years....so maybe the art teachers knew something.
This paisley was created around 2000. It is completely original, and has sold over 250,000 pieces to date.
Not a masterwork.....am an "ok" artist, but never stop trying to improve my skills or my eye.
How do I do this? Simple.... I study the masters, and try to emulate their techniques.
Unless you are a master yourself in whatever medium you work in, study of mastery is necessary, and to do otherwise, "in my opinion" demonstrates arrogance or ignorance.
True masters are so far out of the realm of normal humans that their muses are the air and sun and the music that they listen to in their heads is the Voice of God. Known some true masters in different disciplines and they are often simultaneously their own greatest fans and worst critics, but more than anything else, they all love a challenge in that discipline, or in many other things as well. By all measures of music, Prince Rogers Nelson was a genius, but he also liked to play basketball. Since he was 5"2", not likely the NBA was gonna come calling, but didn't keep him from playing the game for love of a challenge.
You find the master's work of your choice and style and you try to copy every line down to the signature. You keep trying until you get it or you give up out of despair.
The exercise teaches you how to see what the master saw, and to try and emulate it, NOT interpret it. That comes later. There will be a lot of mistakes in the process, but you will learn.
When l learned to tattoo, did a true and full apprenticeship.....working for no money, and it was decidedly hard. Mixing inks, drawing flash line art, spit shading, making tattoo machines, soldering up needles, cleaning the shop, taking out the trash and learning every minute. Would not trade that for anything in the world, because I learned my craft and to this day, am a solid journeyman tattoo artist, but nobody will confuse me as being a master.
I see knife making as very similar, and experience so much pushback about the attitude of emulating the masters as being somehow beneath the maker that it is almost laughable.
Try copying, line for line, one piece by Larry Fuegen, Wolfe Loerchner, Loveless, or Michael Walker. See if your technique in general does not improve. See if the way you see does not improve.
For the journeyman artist, after copying and learning to see comes expert interpretation and then ownership of style.
I see too many makers trying to skip vital steps and it ultimately results in a product that may be good, but is much less well produced than it would have been if emulation had been employed.
Because of that, the value is not there to me(see explanation about value above), and I take a pass on that maker's work.
With factories taking very good build and construction cues from the custom sector(they are learning how to see too), the competition for that disposable income is getting geometrically greater each day.
Do you see what I see?
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
)
