Artist Story: Tamasha Williamson

MAKING WORK

How can art-making impact social and political issues?

One of the wonderful things about the study, creation and investment in the field of Art is its malleability. There is a ‘freedom’ in the study of Art to incorporate and explore so many other ideas: sociological, mathematical, historical, visual, cultural, etc., through the lens of a particular artist’s interest and creation process. An artist’s ability to incorporate and explore such a variety of other topics is in many ways unique to the field of Art.

I frequently use the process of art-making as a way of exploring socio-political issues because at this time, this is where my interest resides within my own art-making practice. I find however, there is a delicate line between the exploration of the politics of a society and creating a product forwarding one’s own social or political agenda. I don’t believe it an absolute that an artist maintains neutrality in the message conveyed by the creation of a work, but the artist must be aware of that creation moving outside the field of art and into propaganda. In my work, an exploration of cultural and societal issues manifests itself through a visual and textual vocabulary. My goal is to present a work as the impetus of an idea for discussion. If I look at something I’ve made and the first (and even worse, only) thing that leaps out at me is “Feminism Rocks!” that to me indicates that what I’ve created is not necessarily a work of Art, but an advertisement perhaps more suitable for my graphic design process.

Art, like most any event is capable of, can have an impact on social and political thinking. At its most powerful, perhaps prompting a ‘Butterfly Effect’ - be it the artist just adding their proverbial ‘two-cents’ - art can inspire an idea that inspires a movement which prompts an impetus for real change.

EDUCATION

What's the best thing that happened to you in art school?

The best thing that happened for me in art school…well, art school changed me in several positive ways, I think, in terms of my Art practice.

In undergrad I learned: the skills necessary to draw – render and interpret what my eye sees; to paint – developing a comfort with and understanding of materials typically associated with the creative visual process; and to think about things I make, when applicable, in 3-dimensions.

I learned that just because I draw it, paint it, or snap a photo of it doesn’t make the product I made ‘Art’. This is important. I learned that there is a difference between ‘Art’ and ‘Craft’. It is unfortunate that the process of Craft has been delegated as secondary in many ways, to Art. Learning a Craft requires an extraordinary development of skill and process and in my opinion, the ‘Craft’ object deserves just as much respect as the ‘Art’ object, but in a different venue.

In grad school I learned: the importance of knowing who and what has come before (and beside) you: an understanding of the History of Art - from cave paintings to contemporary art history…and hey, what are your peers making? No one makes work in a vacuum; we use what we see and have seen consciously or unconsciously in our creative processes. I believe it of immense importance to study the history of Art purposely and fastidiously. If I hadn’t, I might think that pulling a urinal off the wall and presenting it on a pedestal in an art space is going to turn the art world on its ear. And it did, in 1917.

And last, but most certainly not least, I learned to separate myself from my work. When I put up a painting for display or critique, it is not my heart hanging on that wall. It is something that I made to be studied (hopefully) and to communicate an idea. And sometimes, we make stuff that doesn’t quite do what we’d hoped it would and in my opinion, there’s nothing like 3-hour critique by your peers 2 or 3 times in a semester to help you understand that. Not everyone is going to like what you do, not everyone that looks at it is going to understand what you’re trying to convey and that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a crap artist. It might just mean that you’ve got some more work to do.

Tamasha Williamson was born and raised in Chicago. She received a BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned her MFA at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. She has studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and Art History in Firenze, Italy.