Making Work
Where to begin? How do you start developing your creative ideas? How do you know if your ideas are any good? What are the important things to think about when developing your work and how do you get feedback on your work?
This section outlines a few approaches to developing your creative practice and understand your work in the context of a broader community.
Every artist has their own way of developing their work and ideas. This section will give you some insight into how others think about their work. Bear in mind that these are only tips and suggestions: it is important to find your own creative process and understand what works for you and why.
How do you develop new work?
There is no fixed way of creating a new work, otherwise, a composer would be writing the same piece over and over again. For me, the starting inspiration usually comes to me randomly – I could be listening to a piece of music, looking at a painting or artwork in a gallery, watching the news, in the theatre, or even walking down the street.
– Raymond Yiu, Composer
Research and process are core elements of my practice, and as an artist, research and process are my lifeline; they are fundamental to creating ideas and work, and to my continuance as a practising artist. Throughout my career I have invested a substantial amount of time and energy in developing rigorous research and development strategies, as a survival method really. I am constantly crafting, refining and testing my methodologies and drawing on a variety of resources and facilities to aid my research and the development of my practice.
– Helena Hunter, Artist
You need to think about context, ie. where, who, and how much? Who has invited me and who it is going to be for? Think of the parameters. The core must be sound. I’m a visual artist, so I make things. I use everyday technologies, old technologies and things you can buy – affordable things. You can buy 1600 transmitters for a hundred quid. So I can see what potential I have in that cheap technology. I don’t try and buy expensive things and highbrow stuff. I try to do anything I can on my own.
– Janek Schaefer, Artist