Artist Story: Mindy Rose Schwartz

Mindy Rose Schwartz, 'Pushing Up the Daisies', detail, 2006, Mixed Media

It has been very important for me to update my skills on an ongoing basis for a number of different reasons. I have had to seek out new skills to be able to produce just about everything I ever have ever made. The idea I have for a piece drives the materials, processes and techniques I use. Often the work, although conceptually similar with other work I’ve made, will bear little physical resemblance. The process of gaining the knowledge and skills to make the piece becomes part of the work itself.

Aside from independent research, finding the experts and discovering different approaches for making things and materials to make them with, gets me out of my studio. It also exposes me to people in different communities and subcultures of specialization.

Over the years I’ve consulted with knitters, welders, mold makers, librarians, mushroom farmers, paper makers, scroll restorers, bathing cap manufacturers, photographers, book binders, carpenters, gardeners, model builders, taxidermists, flower distributors, candy makers, weathermen, sound, video and computer pros, and a slew of other friends, family, students and colleagues to help me figure stuff out. I have been lucky.

Whether for hire, course credit, or just to share information—with few exceptions—these experts have been extremely generous with information, good teachers, patient, and interested in how their skills can inform what I want to do.

There is an aesthetic style and sensibility that becomes embedded in materials when you bring inexperience to bear on them. This look happens to appeal to me. When I am first learning something I am very focused on it. I am concentrating really hard and trying to channel an idea through unfamiliar means. There is a type of determination and directness that I have then, that is different after I have had a lot of experience with a process. With a lot of practice I tend not to take as many risks or be as direct or inventive, repeating a past solution instead of coming up with something new.

For a long time now, I have been curious about why I have the skills I do and how I came to possess them. The skills I learned in my “formative years” are very gender, class, and culturally specific. That I can make a really good lanyard key chain, weave a fancy pot holder, or crochet a skull cap with my Hebrew name in it, says something about who I am and how I grew up. I have been interested in making art that uses these skills that feel most authentic to me, and then finding out the rest along the way.

On the flip-side, I unfortunately have been unable to parlay any of the skills I am really good at and enjoy like: sleeping, watching TV, driving around, complaining, and eating junk food into any kind of a long lasting art practice, although, believe me, I’ve tried. This has forced me to actually learn new skills, which I advise you to try and avoid at all cost. Learning new things is frightening and hard. You might fail. If you do take the time, stress, and expense to learn something new remember not to get too good at it. Nobody likes a show off. Also, it will definitely cut into your ability to make things the hard way and you will miss out on paying other people to do things for you.

Not learning new skills has its advantages. Think about what you already know how to make. Perhaps you have a skill that you learned from a time when you had no choice in the matter and the wrinkles of knowledge were first forming in your brain. Well use that skill for everything it’s worth and when you absolutely can’t exploit it for anything more, then move on to the next thing that you already know how to do. Doing the same thing over and over again can scratch a really good obsessive compulsive itch, become a pleasant and familiar ritual, be trance like, reassuring, relaxing, and demonstrate sincerity and commitment.

Never be a snob about any skill or process no matter how antiquated or high tech because you never know when you might need to say something very specific that only, for example, using a manual typewriter, carving stone, or writing a blog, can express. Don’t rule out the obsolete because the minute something becomes that is also when it gains other unique qualities and is viable again.

Doing things the wrong way, winging it, making it up as you go along, and inventing your own skills all are strategies I recommend that will add surprising and unanticipated levels of meaning to your work. Unlearn what you already know and try to get worse at it. There is also nothing wrong with getting really good at something and becoming the expert yourself. Just be careful that your technique doesn’t overwhelm your content, or you will put everyone to sleep.

In general, the idea of skills, what they are and what they mean within different contexts and to different people over time, is constantly changing. It has been challenging and interesting for me to try and keep up.

This year I learned to weld. I’ve been thinking a lot about objects that are a hybrid of different materials, forms, and references. I needed to figure out a way to combine and connect many disparate elements into a sculpture installation. I haven’t used metal much in my work. As an art material, it didn’t really hold that much meaning for me. But then I started to think that it would be the perfect solution for my project. I realized that I did like metal, and there were some very particular things it could communicate about display, decoration, interior architecture and craft. I started out taking a class and got some experience with oxy acetylene welding but was really horrible at it. Then a miracle happened and some great folks taught me to use a mig welder. It took a long time, but eventually I made what I had in mind. The whole experience was really fun. My teachers were so knowledgeable, helpful and kind; and the gear (the leather gloves, the flame resistant jacket, the face shield) was great.

Mindy Rose Schwartz is currently a faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She earned her BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1985, and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1996. Schwartz also earned a teaching certification from SAIC. She has exhibited at venues including the Renaissance Society, Joymore Gallery, WhiteWalls Art Fair, Stray Show, Gallery 400, Hyde Park Art Center and Gallery 312. She has been named a Visiting Artist at Illinois State University and has also been awarded a CAAP grant.