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No two people see alike. The mechanics of seeing are the same for everyone but the interpretations of what we are looking at remain both polar opposites and everything in between. The reasons are as unique as each of us.
Before middle age allowed me to wear glasses, I had exemplary vision measured at 20/15 or as stated by an optometrist to my son, "Your Mother has the eyes of a hawk." The famous test pilot Chuck Yeager was also known to have had 20/15 vision which probably saved his life a few times. Being neither a hawk or a test pilot, does the ability of seeing 5 feet farther than most people give me an advantage in other areas?
I know that I am a visual learner. Forget the directions, give me the diagram every time. Words and numbers are a visual for me that either occupy a space or conjure up images that are consistently unique as I am. Sight is one of the five human senses and all five are translated into perceptions as a function of the brain. Perceptions can be learned, experienced, enhanced, and unfortunately exploited, but are some hardwired? One perception phenomenon is synesthesia where two or more senses combine to form perceptions. I am a synesthete and did not learn it was even a thing until I collaborated with the music teacher for an art lesson entitled 'do you hear art?' or 'do you see music?' Kids loved leaning to see and hear from a different point of view and I learned that my visual learning skills were actually a form of synesthesia. My spatial-sequence synesthesia, the placing of numbers, months of the year, and days of the week in precise locations in space (some edged in color) or in a three-dimensional map is not as common as I previously believed. Have I been hardwired to veer towards the visual arts with eyes like a hawk and three dimensional spatial vision?
Perhaps these super powers simply aided my visual understanding of the world. If I could see it, I could better understand it. A camera records what it sees, but without human perception and direction that image means much less if anything. The diagram directions for assembly assures success and fewer left over parts. The extra distance vision means being first to collect distant prizes or first to flee the coming danger. Art is the pinnacle of an artist's unique perception and seeing like an artist may actually be a thing.
Along with those reading glasses coming with age, the awareness of visualizing the senses became easier and easier to see but harder to understand why others can't see it the same way. I felt like I cracked a secret code for a higher understanding while at the same time realizing this is a self realized solo lesson in a universe of visual perceptions. My newly realized super powers came together in a search through the woods to recreate the serenity of nature paradigm as subjects of my colored pencil still life artworks. In the woods, all five senses clarify a serenity of nature vision through unique perceptions discovered, learned, experienced, and practiced.
Perceptions, like artworks, are not right or wrong but can share individual artworks for others to appreciate as well. I strive to share an acute awareness of natural serenity in my artworks that many people may never experience for themselves but they understand the paradigm. The extraordinary world of nature is a sensory banquet for an artist with aging hawk eyes plus expanding synesthesia. Do you see what I see, no but I will share it with you.

Thanks for reading,

Pamela Clements 2/22

"Except for the sassafras trees and a few minor shrubs, there is little fall color out your windows today. Most of the trees around here are oaks whose leaves just turn brown and fall off," said our train conductor and tour guide on our first ever 'pumpkin train' ride through the Hoosier valley landscape. Just turn brown, did I hear that correctly? Do people really misunderstand the color brown so much as to deem it just so ordinary, not important, to be set aside or worst yet, just ignored all together? According to public opinion surveys in Europe and the United States, brown is the least favorite color having negative associations with plainness, poverty, dirt and decay. Living in the mid-west state of Indiana, getting bright white snow on Christmas morning is a very big wish for most kids while the real and more common brown ground alternative means disappointments. My sister refers to the lack of snow on the holiday as a 'Brown Christmas' and no one has ever written a song about it or would even think of celebrating it. The brown color is seen widely in nature, wood, soil, human hair color, eye color and skin pigmentation so a it's pretty common color. Since the name brown is given to cover a wide color range of our visible world, a closer look at what exactly is the color brown, where it can be found, and how it is made should reveal brown as anything but ordinary with so many varieties.
Brown is the name of the first families of color that literally comes from the earth. Raw umber and burnt umber are two of the oldest pigments used by man. Umber is a brown clay, containing a large amount of iron oxide and between five and twenty percents manganese oxide, which makes the color. Burnt umber is the same pigment a bit darker and redder after being roasted originally from the Italian region of Umbria. Raw sienna and burnt sienna are also clay pigments used by artists during the Renaissance from Tuscany. Van Dyck brown is another natural earth pigment composed of mostly decayed vegetal matter know as Cologne earth or Cassel earth used by the artists Rembrandt, Rubens and Anthony van Dyck from the Renaissance through the 19th century. The same names of earth colors are still used today but most of the modern pigment ingredients are synthetic rather than their unstable natural beginnings. As the original earth color, brown should be everyone's favorite color and since I have never heard anyone actually say it there must be more to it.
As an art teacher, I witnessed many students absolutely enthralled by the results of mixing colors with paints, crayons, pencils and pastels. Color is an art element with properties of hue, brightness, saturation, and temperature so interesting things happen when you mix them and it was impossible to keep those basic primary colors pure for very long in the classroom. I ended up with a lot of browns because when all three primaries are combined, you get a brown. How could brown ever be dull when it's made from all three primaries? Red, yellow, and blue beginnings could define brown as the rainbow of the earth rather than the least favorite color of it's inhabitants. Yellow, orange, and red browns are used for light and warmth, while blues, greens and purple browns are used for cooler shadows and depth yet all are browns. Seems a pretty powerful color and for proof, look around you or even in a mirror. Brown is everywhere both in nature and our man-made habitats.
Brown color names are often not very precise, consistent, or even sensical. When is the last time you went shopping in your local hardware store for a paint color and asked the attendant for the color 'brown'. Puzzled looks would surely follow as many more follow up questions or actual physical color samples are needed to refine the desired choice as colors are perceived differently in environments and by individuals. While waiting for your chosen paint to be mixed, you can browse different paint manufacturer's paint chips which are numerous. I love reading the names of them wondering who comes up with them. They are a library of literary claritive adjectives for paint colors including brown or better named 'mocha mist' or even 'donkey brown'. My youngest son once had ambitions of being the author of paint names but I'm happy to say it didn't last long. If brown is the least popular color in all of humanity, why is there so many paint color names echoing both the nature around us and the inside of our own habitats.
I see the color brown as a very rich earth color that needs some rebranding. Nothing is 'just brown' as our conductor stated but it is a nuanced combination of all three primaries that I love to dissect as an artist. My artworks are inspired by the natural still life discoveries I find walking through the woods, parks, and sometimes even in the back yard. Colors of the earth are reassuring, nuanced, and natural which helps create a serenity that can not be made up. That 'just brown' oak leaf that fell to the ground through my eyes is now part of an artwork consisting of organic lines, shapes, and compositions completed with natural browns. The earthen rainbow browns that allow for nuanced lights, shadows, and temperatures of all three primary colors which makes brown a very extraordinary color indeed. I still can't say that brown is my favorite color but I would say it's definitely nature's favorite and I'm still learning to see it too.

Thanks for reading,

Pamela Clements cpsa

1/22

Living in the mid-west, I grew up with agriculture as a backdrop just outside the small town I am from. The fields of mostly corn and soybeans mark the passage of the season with the growth progress of the crops, the work being done by the presence of large farm equipment moving back and forth across to the horizon, and the yield of abundance with planted, grown, and harvested from the earth. This is an annual growing cycle that is comforting in both the bountiful years and the not so much years, and is a cycle that is reliably dependable culminating with the autumnal harvest that is now ongoing.
Having just returned from a visit to see my family, I was thinking how much my art parallels the four season cycle of agriculture that lines both sides of the familiar roads all the way home. I prefer the leaves and natural compositions I find in the nearby woodlands as the subject matter for my colored pencil artworks, but it is the very visible cycle of fields that guide me there. The fields are the step between the town and the woods where the town is built by man and the woods is built by nature. I know that the presence of large farm machinery working day and night means the colorful fall foliage has elevated every aspect of the woods from ordinary to extraordinary and it is time to harvest.
Each season in the mid-western states brings changes creating cycles of living for the town, the field, and the woods. I live in the town, drive field lined roads, and walk through the woods to discover these seasonal changes as inspiration for my still life artworks. One harbinger of change is the leaf which is year round. A leaf grows to maturity, moves with time and weather, and is present in the town, the field, and the woods. When the harvest begins, the colorful leaves are falling to spotlight the woods. The town rakes them up to be removed, the field harvests by picking them clean, but the woods allows the leaves to spread their beauty all the way to the ground. Like the harvest some years are better than others but there is always color.
This is my harvest. I visit the parks more often and take more photos in the woods as everything has been touched by autumn’s palette. Hundred’s of photos later, I still feel it’s not quite peak color and that there’s a good weather day still out there waiting to reveal that one time special glimpse into nature’s wonder, beauty, and the extraordinary. It may be tomorrow or the next day.
I do try to walk the woods year round and living in a four season climate can make it difficult or impossible in winter. Like the town, I am more inside in winter and like the field, I am resting and readying for next years new crop, and like the woods, I still stand inspired by nature of every season and my purple leaf. With my photo reference file expanded, the town will soon look like the woods, at least on my drawing board for right now.
Thanks for reading,
Pamela Clements

The verdict is in, my artwork has been selected to be included in an art exhibit titled 'Untitled 2' taking place in my home town in Indiana. This means a qualified art judge juried two of my artworks worthy enough to attract visitors and potential sales to their small town gallery from a larger pool of artists, artworks, and media. Good news for any artist is acceptance and is even sweeter because we have all experienced rejection and understand it's part of the process as well. Acceptance doesn't mean anything if everyone gets chosen, earning an exclusive right to be recognized as an artist is praise indeed. If I get included in a juried exhibition, I want it to be from stiff, nail-biting competition so I know that I have earned it as an artist.

I don't envy the role of an art judge, juror, or curator. How could you possibly decide who is included and based on what criteria? As a former art teacher I looked for artistic effort but artworks entered on the exhibit level would all pass with flying colors. I taught different media and understand their individual basic principles but to put one above another is near impossible and naturally biased if you are an experienced artist. I studied art history and recognize good or novel ideas and their reference points or expansion potential. As a practicing artist, I appreciate the skill of execution probably the most. Artistic skills are both admirable and beautiful in all media basically because someone took the time to draw, paint, or sculpt something they care about or deemed important. I've studied themes and ideas for my artwork subjects and know that expertise comes from study, dedication, practice, plus getting selected and thereby noticed from juried exhibition entries.

Through an artist's hands, their heart is revealed. I created artworks for awhile until I felt comfortable in my media of colored pencils to actually enter pieces in exhibitions and I got my share of rejections. I didn't blame the judge, other artists, or the venue but disappointment still came and a renewed assessment of defining my artwork followed. With each rejection, I learned, practiced, refined, and just kept going. I focused on what I wanted to say from my heart through my hands to the viewer. If I didn't feel it, how could others appreciate it? If I truly loved what I was doing, it showed and not only showed, it glowed! In most disciplines this principle applies, if your heart is in it, it's love.

I now have a list of exhibitions that are on my yearly schedule and it keeps expanding. I choose some from my chosen media of colored pencil and have earned status of CPSA after my name. I enter other exhibits for my chosen subject of natural still life artworks of botanicals in woodlands and parks. Another exhibition criteria came from location in my home state of Indiana and this latest one from my home town. Having a juried entry in an exhibition is praise for the artist and their artwork in a very competitive field and I am happy to be a part of it.

Thanks for reading,

Pamela Clements 8/25/21

What or where is your reference point? Mine begins where it started, at home in the woods where both nature and my family reside, reveal, restore, and rejoice.
Several times a year I travel downstate to restore my roots of where I came and visit my Mom where even my accent reverts to it’s earlier southern twang. The familiar surroundings of the family woods offer unlimited opportunities to study, discover, define, and redefine my rapidly growing reference file of photographic images used in my colored pencil natural still life artworks.
There is no complete reference point without the family connection as my mother is a successful self taught oil painter and we share the love and creation of art plus the woods where she lives. The visual problems we work out and solve together in our different media are both reassuring and encouraging. Often times our conversations would solve the world’s problems if only anyone else would listen.
Three weeks ago I noticed a slight change in the leaves, particularly the ones in the shallow creek. Early color was starting to show at the end of July and unless I decided to get wet, these few early full color specimens were just beyond reach of my camera from dry land and doomed to be carried downstream and out of my sight. A few days ago I returned from yet another trip with over 300 images on my photo card because, this time my feet got wet. Middle of August is when those first brightly colored gems flutter through the air and merrily float down the creek but not before I captured some of them to fatten the reference file.
Visiting the same place in different seasons, different weather conditions, different times of the day, and from different points of view is the inspiring mission to convey the meaning of serenity of nature in my artworks and why I grow my hikes and photo references in the first place.
Frank Lloyd Wright said it best: “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” Those wet walks through the creek, up and down the valleys, through the briars and burrs, and even with wildlife sightings are always better after with my Mom’s sugar cream pie which is another reason to visit and visit often.
I have a number of places that I go to for references but there’s no place like home where the roots are strong and one reason is that they are well fed.
Thanks for reading,
Pamela Clements

Online art exhibits offer an additional venue for artists to show their work. Without shipping or framing costs, I can get added exposure for just the bargain price of an entry fee.
Following the 'Call for Artists' subject matter but when 'The Waters' hit my email I had to think if I had work that would qualify since my subject of choice is natural still lifes featuring leaves, not water. Through this lens, the presence of water in some of my artworks was not surprising but the amount of water and the range of water effects that I had were. There are several artists who have skills I admire greatly while creating their beautiful artworks and I will admit that water is a big reason why as there can not be another life element so influential in the visual arts. Water has it all being a true element of life along with earth, fire, air, and spirit. Water is the element of emotion and the unconscious, and is one of two elements that have a physical existence which interacts with all of the senses. There is nothing more beautiful than a well created water drop and the numerous tutorials for artists on that very subject agree. Beautiful sunsets over water are awe inspiring and is a subject I used often in teaching kids to paint. The lines of water's movements in currents and flows, the shapes of fallen rain drops and their combining into small water pools, and the glistening smooth water surface that can both reflect and refract a complete rainbow above while revealing the murky depths below are more than enough reasons water alone is the inspirational subject of many artworks. Water has the added super power of transformation from eerie misty fog to a furiously blinding blizzard with every nuanced step between adding psychological drama deriding from a wide spectrum of emotions for the artist to draw upon.
We have all watched the mesmerizing coming of storm clouds, enjoyed the pleasant sound of rain on the roof, relished the smell of the earth after a rain, and understood the old saying, 'right as rain'. We recognize the rhythmic sound of waves while respecting their potential roaring power, we run from the loud warning and painful sound of hail, and we still wonder at the near silent falling of the first snow each and every winter season. We appreciate the calming affects of moving water and understand the peace and serenity that emanates from just being around a body of this most influential element of any size. Water can reflect the world around it while prompting an inward reflection that cleanses the soul.
I found not one or two artworks in my portfolio that could relate to the subject of water but twelve! I still have not decided which two pieces to enter in 'The Waters' online competition but just thinking about it has given me new perspective on the power of water in artworks past, present, and future.
Thanks for reading,
Pamela Clements

An argument to support the importance of teaching fine art in schools is to define Fine Art as the universal language, a language that needs no translation, a language that conveys time both past and present, and a language that inspires. After numerous classes in French as a student, the best I ever got was a critique pointing to my innate southern accent inserted into my elementary level conversational French which reinforced why oral and written language remains a barrier across cultures and geographical areas.
One of the areas that have distinguished Man from animals is his ability to create art. With early tools we have a record of civilization, drawn and painted on walls of caves, homes, and monuments through today. These images occurred world wide before oral and written languages were developed with help from these visuals. I still don't think there is a country, state, or even a county where my textbook, southern Indiana accented, basic French would be understood but I can speak visually.
To study art is to study history. Art is visual record of history that needs no translation, illustrates the answers of who, what, when, why, and how while teaching the latest techniques and tools used to create that visual history. Proof is on the wall of any large art museum, natural history museum, and decorate iconic architecture around the world. This remained true until the modern art era and the universal language of Fine Art went rogue for many reasons and I think part of it is stuck in a rut.
The industrial revolution parallels the modern era of art evolving in the direction of technology with the invention and use of the camera, the expansion of pigments in paint allowing brighter and more numerous color choices, improvements in affordable printmaking of artworks, the actual processes of creating art being examined, and theories of art for art's sake were being explored. Generations of art knowledge and art skills veered off course from an universal language towards a scientific study of perception, process, and psychology. These are all important studies of Fine Art and some are visually amazing but fall short of the communication effectiveness accomplished by the universal language standards of the past. The artist and the art critic are now the translator of this new art language which like my southern Indiana French accent touches a much smaller audience. Shouldn't the goal of an artist be to expand the communication power of the visual domain? How can you communicate anything when you don't know the language or change the language?
In college I took two art history courses that clarified this idea for me. First was the 19th century landscape artists throughout the world as a logical continuation and a deeper dive into the art history that I had previously completed plus my professor was a published expert in this field. Second was Modern art because I simply did not understand any of the who, what, where, or why of it if Fine Art is indeed an universal language. I tried to learn the new language and what I discovered personally is a lack of realism, a skill deficit, and a communication confusion in many of these artworks. I saw splattered paint as an experiment in gravity and movement. I saw the art elements as subjects of artworks instead of tools to be used for production and perfection of artworks. The 19th century landscape artists created artworks that document the discovery and settling of this country in real time with some of the most breathtaking scenes I have ever seen and previously did not know existed. Some of these magnificent landscapes were used to lobby congress to create our National Park system to conserve these areas for future generations. How can these masterpieces be deemed less important than Modern Art is beyond me yet some say realism is no longer needed because it is un-creative while a large monochrome canvas merits the title of being creative. I still believe that artists communicate through ideas, thoughts, beliefs, events, and human experiences but to effectively communicate means using realism as the universal language which has never gone away only pushed aside for the shock and awe of art for art's sake.
I did have a couple of good instructors that helped improve my skills but mostly I was taught that everyone can draw realistically and it is a dead end as far as an artistic pursuit. I was always confused by that Modern art philosophy, that art elements make Fine Art subjects, that cameras replaced realism, that realism has only one interpretation and that one interpretation has already been done, and that you need a translator to decipher Modern Art. After all of that I still continue to be drawn to realism as it's a challenge with frustrations and rewards.
I feel that most aspects of the Modern art philosophy are just tools of the universal language which help to expand the communication effectiveness but are not more important than the actual visual communication of our time from where we came, where we are, and where we are going. In deciding to become an artist, my goal is to get better at interpreting nature by improving my art skills, my art knowledge, and my art experiences with the goal of sharing the expanded meaning of the serenity of nature. The fact that I can use today's tools such as a digital camera, walk through an age old patch of woods, find a new perspective on a familiar and recognizable subject, use the knowledge of art elements to enhance it, and create a serenity of nature that the viewer, in all languages, will understand today and tomorrow still excites me.

Thanks for reading,

Pamela Clements

Ever wonder why, how, or who helped you get where you are today? Help, advice, guidance, and encouragement were there all along if you choose to hear it.

With encouraging words about my early art skills, I was labeled the class 'artist' by my third grade peers. Chosen to draw the artwork for our open house class project that year, a large mystical rabbit with mathematical super powers as evidenced by wearing a magic hat, I realized then that others were dependent on my drawing skills to make us all look good and I was determined not to let them down. I found something I wanted to be the best at thanks to those early words of encouragement.
Drawing is a discipline and like all disciplines, it takes dedication, hard work, and lots of practice to improve.Talent, most often defined by ability, comes from dedication to a discipline, can be perfected, can be learned, and does not come easy . The Bugs Bunny animator Chuck Jones said it best, "Every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out." Hard work plus encouraging words were needed to stay on that path and my peers never let me down through out school. I was actually summoned out of an academic class with a hall pass from the office to draw a pep rally sign while my classmates who were in their study hall period were readying to paint right behind me. Only with teacher approval would that have been possible so I can add many teachers to my encouragement list.
Family was always there for encouragement and I was able to continue study art in college as long as I was practical about it thanks to them. From my first college peer group of all artists, I was proud and extremely surprised by the encouraging words received from my professors early on. This encouraged me to continue on the Chuck Jones path of thousands of bad drawings and to continue to 'draw them out' while secretly hoping that he was off on his number count.
The practical side of my art education came with a graphic design course and it expanded my art world exponentially and eventually defined part of my career. According to advice from a professor and TA, I demonstrated an eye for design and was encouraged to continue studying in the design program where learned skills could lead to a job and a paycheck. Sorry Mom, I'm choosing graphic design and commercial art problems over creating educational lesson plans but it's still a practical career choice. Upon graduation I was an artist with two skill-sets, which I advertised as a graphic designer who could draw.
It was encouraging words that kept me working, with bonuses, career jumps, and references before starting a family. It was encouraging words that guided me to teach art as an alternative return to the work force while raising school aged children. I had been doing research for age based art history lessons and my peer group, this time pre-schoolers, were a very enthusiastic crowd reminding me how fun art can be at all levels. As an art teacher, I still received encouraging words from what talents I could contribute both in and outside of the classroom. I also remembered how important those early words of encouragement were in shaping my own career choices and I understood the smiles of appreciation when I payed it forward to the next generation. 
Today it's my art I'm working on. I have successfully solved visual problems of a large list of clients, I have taught a generation the artistic skills and processes they will need to solve any visual problems around them, and now I work to solve visual problems of my own making. Encouraging words from social media, acceptance in juried exhibits, and my growing base of family, friends, and fans helped get me here. Today's words of encouragement are still appreciated, very welcomed, and make me smile. I listened and am thankful to all those who spoke up. I am here because of you, thank you!
Thanks for reading,
Pamela Clements CPSA

"Congratulations, your artwork has been selected..." are words an artist never tires of hearing or reading. Whether a juried exhibit, a contest entry, or publication selection, "congratulations, your artwork has been selected" is the ultimate acceptance of an artist's work.

Awhile back I received a congratulatory email saying one of my artworks has been selected to be included in an online art exhibit. A new venue outside of my usual colored pencil support family felt really good to be recognized in the all inclusive art arena. When the exhibit was opened and I could officially boast about it, I could not find one of my entries posted. Increasingly disappointed, I checked, double checked, and even checked for possible mistakes in spelling or labeling but still none of my entries were in the exhibit. Could the congratulatory email be the mistake? I searched again and found my artwork in the photography section. There it was, art competing among other photographs, but good enough to be included in the photography exhibit? As an artist who works realistically, how do you take that? Is it a complement, were my other entries considered photographs too? The exhibit was up already, what's the right way to point this out?

The curators of the exhibit were extremely nice and happily moved me into the correct category and yes I took it as a complement that my artwork looks like a photograph but I still shouldn't complete with photography. The end results may look similar at a quick glance but with a closer look the differences are huge and require two different skill sets, materials, and processes.

As an artist, I use my camera and photography as a tool, not the end product. I search the woods for my natural compositions and the viewfinder is an indispensable part of that quest, but it is only the start of my artistic process. I decide and choose which reality makes it into the final artwork whether subject, color, or composition and it's that altered reality that is believable, therefore like a conventional photograph at first glance. Realism is not the same as copying which is an ongoing debate of the fine art critics since the formation of Kodak by George Eastman in 1888. The artist's choices are numerous in every step of their process and since I work mostly in colored pencil, every colored layer is both carefully planned out and a total crap shoot once the composition of the subject has been determined.

A couple of years ago I honed my artistic focus to something that I dearly love. I know now that I have discovered natural masterpieces at my feet with every walk or hike I take through the woods. If a driver were to stop along the side of the road at a designated 'scenic overlook' to take photographs, I would think that is great but it took a sign to point out the 'scenic' for them. If that same person chose to hike and photograph the entire nature trail that discovered that 'scenic overlook', their story, experience, and perception of the same locale would be totally different. That's the difference I want to depict in my artworks, even in the smaller scenic 'overlooked'.

I love good photographs, admire photographers who know their craft, and make artistic photographs. We both use the same tools to create but the process is different. I still love to receive congratulatory words about my art and take 'it looks like a photograph' as a badge of honor as I am positive a photographer would proudly accept congratulatory words of 'it looks like fine art' attached to their work. I think we both would agree that we are separate branches of creativity and while I was complemented about successfully competing with the photographs, it was a categorical mistake not a congratulatory mistake.
Thanks for reading,
Pamela Clements

Confidence and strength of character are required to repeatedly submit your artwork into the public forum for a formal critique. A critique is a meticulous evaluation or review by a knowledgeable professional that could both hurt and help advance your artistic career. This gives the art critic, whether he's an art professor responsible for allowing an artist to further his/hers study, an appointed jurist responsible for selecting exhibit entrants, or an art collector looking to expand a collection a lot of power and influence in the art field but not all of it.
Criticism is no fun especially when baring your heart and soul to the public for critical judgement. Anxiety creeps in waiting for the final review both good and bad. Elation comes with approval or acceptance and revaluation comes with rejection. Yet we artists continue, wouldn't want it any other way, and actually require criticism to grow.

Finals week in college was my first real exposure to the potential power of art critics in the form of my professors. Every semester seemed to be a 'weed out' process with fewer and fewer students allowed to continue and we all knew what the stakes were. If you got a grade of a C you better start looking at alternative classes or even an entire career change as it was not encouraged to continue in that line of study. I started with a group of 60 students and graduated with a group of 12. I learned never to miss lectures in my other classes because during finals week I had no extra time to study other than a quick review since I pretty much lived in the fine arts building readying for the final critique which would actually determine my career path. The semester between my junior and senior years was one such defining point. I felt lost in my junior year being taught by two TAs instead of a professor, two TAs with different approaches, and two TAs with increasingly questionable purposeless projects or lessons. My final critique had me wearing a bandana to cover my unwashed hair, my latest artwork hung around the room while my critics entered, examined, and verbally critiqued in my presence. One TA was negative, one was neutral, and before my professor chimed in I took a turn and started critiquing back. Seems lack of sleep and a semester of undefined directions had given me an uncharacteristic voice that I could not stop once I started. I stated my prospective of what I had not learned, what impractical nonsense had been taught, and what valuable time had been lost with only one year left in my artistic education. I didn't regret this reaction of mine, probably enhanced from lack of sleep, but if I was going down I felt it important to defend my hard work that reflecting exactly what I had been taught. I now believe my career was saved at that moment because the immediate reaction of my unsuspecting critique back was an affirmative nod and laughter both from one TA and my professor. The other TA walked out and the remaining critique time was spent discussing the curriculum, future changes, and alternatives. I got a B- for that 'lost' semester but I got to continue and know that I did make a small difference going forward because I gave voice to the criticism and one critic.

Criticism never gets easier to take but you always learn from it whether it's being made aware of artistic weaknesses to work on or the awareness of weak ones making the critique. I know the job of a critic is not easy either since they must defend their decisions as well. Either way each time I enter the public forum for a critique by a critic I still brace for the criticism or rejection. Elation, revaluation, and continuation in the program remain the important issues so the real critic is me. That doesn't mean that I don't still do the happy dance when the criticism is complimentary, or I have been selected to be a part of an exhibition, or the likes, comments, and hearts pile up on social media, or a collector proudly displays my artwork in their environment. Take a look and like what you see, I do!

Thanks for reading,

Pamela Clements