Reinventing Wheels

“There’s no such thing as a new idea.  Everything you could possibly think of or do has already been thought of or done before.  Don’t worry about having new ideas; instead, think about how you can apply those ideas to your own work.”

That piece of advice was given to my class by John Pearson, an art professor at Oberlin College.  He might have been partially kidding, but I took it to heart, and think about it on a fairly regular basis.


I don't worry about having new ideas.  The wheel was already invented, so I just worry about how I can use its sleek, rolling roundness to my advantage.

So if wheel-invention has been taken care of, why do I often feel like I have to invent it again?

See, I get these ideas about how I can apply different ideas to the way I think about things.  I figure, a little bit of research to pull everything together, and WHAMMO!  I can analyze and synthesize. 

Incorrect!

Despite the glory that is the internet and the wonder that is a library, I can never friggen find the things I want to know.

Last semester, I wanted to analyze textile production methods.  Apparently, no one had really thought to pull all of those different things together, so I spent days in tears trying to find something  that I could analyze.

This semester, I'm developing a business structure for myself.  Being an artist, art makes sense, so I thought, "Gee whiz, I'll apply art movements and theories to business!"

As it turns out, in the thousands of years that art has been around, no one put the information into a nice, accessible spreadsheet.  Don't even tell me Leonardo didn't get a kick out of spreadsheets.  I'll bet Salvador Dali dreamed of spreadsheets.

Okay, so maybe I didn't expect a spreadsheet, but an outline?  Bulleted list?  Something not spread out in bunches of books and websites?

So here's the thing:
Instead of spending a little time gathering information and reading books on the effects of art, I've spent three weeks compiling a twenty page spreadsheet of [most of] the major art movements, founders, et cetera.

Think twenty pages is a lot?  It started out 60, but I reduced the font size to 7.

The damned thing isn't even close to being complete, and I've only touched the surface in regards to analysis.

Doing all of this makes me wonder... how many others have gone through the same struggle?  So, if you know anyone who needs a spreadsheet of art movements, or a description of various textile production methods and their effects, please have email me, and I'll send it right on over to them.  Heck, once I get a website going, I'll post them on there.


Wheel: round  

(Check!)

...and on with the rest of my life.

Sometimes I hate knowing stuff.