Hey Elle!
(HAPPY NEW YEAR!! It's been a long time, but LOVE this thread & had to add my 2 cents.)
To answer the question at hand, I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.
I posted this back when I was more active on BELLA, but felt it was pertinent to this thread - so for the curious, the following quote with the lighter font is the quoted post from 06. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A few years ago, for a women's art event, I made a series of over 50 small handbuilt clay vessels. Over-working the clay and intentionally working in air pockets and etc.
Knowing what the lion's-share of the outcome would be, I let them dry for quite a number of weeks. Eventually planned and did a very primative pit firing of them for a day and a night.
As the fire heated up, the explosions were in a word, spectacular! ! I used the shards, halved, cracked and the remaining three that survived the explosive firing as one of my exhibits.....
Although far from a safe enterprise, it was the journey toward the explosions and the ACT of the firing that was the art....the shards and cracked pieces were merely the aftermath. Proof that something had happened.
I still love that art.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There are times that the experience of destruction can move you
lightyears forward in your creative process...destruction, distressing, staining/aging something with paint/dye, bleaching/patinating with chemicals, leaving something to decay/rust/degrade - all of those means of change can make for many many 'Eureka' moments and those glorious 'happy accidents'.
I have found that if, in creating a piece, a method of creative change - in medium, destruction to one degree or another, differelt levels of distress or etc. crosses my consciousness, I try to do at least a small sample just to see where it will lead me.
It's
soooooo worth it!
Keep Creating!!!
