December 2, 2002
The artist as scientist Comments Off
Lately, various people have commented to me that it’s odd that someone who is very creative would also be a, well, “techie”. I never saw much odd with getting to know the innards of my computer (and hey, look – it’s another marketable skill!) while at the same time using it to create art, but now I’ve been thinking about the science of art.
Once upon a time, artists had to be as much scientists as creators. A painter had to understand what chemicals created what pigments, and how those pigments would interact with linseed oil, or gum arabic, or whatever other medium they were using. A sculptor had to know the specific properties of different stones , or the expansion/contraction variables of different woods, or the correct purity of clay so that their work would survive the creation process and last more than a few years. Every photographer had to be as much chemist as artist; ditto for potters, who not only had to know the exact compositions of different glazes, but also what glazes would produce what effects in combination with different clays, under different temperatures and times, and what effects and chemicals would not only produce the nicest looking finishes, but which would then be safe to eat off of and which would be safe only for display.
Most artists practicing today have a choice – they don’t have to create all their materials from scratch if they don’t want to. (though some still do) Art stores are common enough that even little one horse towns can boast one. (My small town did – a little mom and pop place.) Even if you couldn’t get to an art store, mail order catalogs like Pearl, Windsor & Newton, and Utrecht filled the bill. (I used to go through my grandparent’s art catalogs and make up wish lists)
Time was, there wasn’t a whole industry devoted to making art supplies. Painters would grind their own pigments from locally occuring minerals, and mix them on their own according to formulas passed down from teacher to student. Potters gathered and purified their own clay, sculptors made deals with local quarries for stone.
And this brings me back to my point (because I really do have one) – why shouldn’t I understand my artistic medium as well as any painter of yore understood his or her pigments? The computer and printer are my pigments and canvas, and if I don’t know them inside and out, how am I going to be able to produce decent work?