Art from Your Core

This book guides artists through the discovery anddevelopment of the art that they alone were bornto create. Through real-life examples andexercises, we tear down the cultural, educational,and psychological obstacles to finding authenticvisual voice, stripping away years of assumptions,external and self-imposed limiting parameters. Welearn how to listen to the Universe and get out ofthe way when work wants to come through us. Weconstruct a core foundation, unique to each artist,one that will grow along with them in their artistic practice. Artists will discover their own singularvisual vocabulary by mining their personal history,psyche, and world view to reveal new creativedirections, and learn how to intensify and developtheir core ideas to make them more resonant andcomplex. We explore methodologies to tap into thesubconscious, cultivate breakthroughs, createenvironments to maximize the gestation of ideas,instill bravery, and do meaningful research toproduce deeply layered works of art. Whiledesigned for college students, professional artistswill also find it allows them to get to that illusive "next level" in their work; the one that calls tothem, haunts them in their dreams, yet remainsunarticulated in their practice. In addition to helping undergraduate and graduate students who are looking to identify, articulate, and hone their vocabulary, it can serve as a tool for more established artists to step up or refresh their practice. It is the kind of book that artists will keep on the studio shelf, to pick up time and time again, as their responses to the exercises will change throughout the course of their career. There are extensive lists, exercises, and questionnaires, anecdotes of art-historically significant artists and detailed descriptions of the methodologies they employ to tap into the subconscious, various types of research on creative breakthroughs (and how to apply it to your own process), helpful suggestions to create an environment / lifestyle to maximize the gestation of ideas, and how to do meaningful research to produce deeply layered works of art. While the tone of the book is often earnest and spiritual (in an "art is religion" kind of way), Kretz is aiming for a straightforward, accessible, kind-but-no-nonsense tenor, with some humor, and nurturing "tough love" when needed, to say some of the things that artists need to hear, but few people have the guts to tell them.