• January Turning Challenge: Thin-Stemmed Something! (click here for details)
  • Conversations are now Direct Messages (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Scott Gordon for "Orb Ligneus" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 20, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

What's in a name?

Richard Avram

Richard Avram

Joined
Oct 14, 2012
Messages
93
Likes
74
Location
Michigan
I recently entered this piece in an art competition and it took third but aside from that, my question is how important can a title be? I originally had the piece named something else but the more I thought about it, I changed the name to Yin and Yang. I had purposely tried to draw a contrast between the delicate and ornate base with the more rustic globe. I left the bark on the globe and even whitewashed it just a little to give it a more rustic appearance. Some of the piercings have a little bit of a rough edge but I left them that way for the same reasons. When the judge was critiquing she picked up on just about all of these things which was very satisfying but here is my question, would she have picked up on those things if the name had been different or did the name lead her to thinking that way? Kind of like, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
 

Attachments

  • P1010024.JPG
    P1010024.JPG
    221.6 KB · Views: 66
The only time I have ever used a title was on a kinetic piece that I did. It was a mass of tear shaped drops, and I wanted to let the viewer know the piece represented the display of human emotions in the different colors of tears. Other than that type of case, I feel that naming a wood turning is silly. It seems to me that the turner is trying too hard to make the viewer think it is art. It's either something pleasant to look at, or it's not. A title won't make the form any better.
 
we have a mixed media event in the spring called Expressions......judge (single) is from out of town.....entrees are grouped by classification.....ie water-color/drawing/oil/mixed/3 d/etc.....while the painting is much more divided into classes and therefore more prizes that is the way it is run.....the judge is not given the title or artist......having a single judge brings in what the judge likes but you know that when u enter.....one year my entry was titled
"Dowels in Blue"....it is amazing how many artist have titled stuff "_____ in blue"......that was the focus of the piece......the judge liked it but I never met the judge.....they do not come to the openings
P4170004.JPG
 
charlie knighton said:
we have a mixed media event in the spring called Expressions......judge (single) is from out of town.....entrees are grouped by classification.....ie water-color/drawing/oil/mixed/3 d/etc.....while the painting is much more divided into classes and therefore more prizes that is the way it is run.....the judge is not given the title or artist......having a single judge brings in what the judge likes but you know that when u enter.....one year my entry was titled
"Dowels in Blue"....it is amazing how many artist have titled stuff "_____ in blue"......that was the focus of the piece......the judge liked it but I never met the judge.....they do not come to the openings
View attachment 20341
Click to expand...
We are fortunate enough that the judge is going to come to the artist's reception. She was given the title of each piece but naturally not the artist's name.
 
Richard Avram said:
We are fortunate enough that the judge is going to come to the artist's reception. She was given the title of each piece but naturally not the artist's name.
Click to expand...
was this one artist for the show???????

our expressions usually has 150 to 200 artist.....each artist can enter 2 pieces.......its a lot of fun weather u win or not
 
charlie knighton said:
was this one artist for the show???????

our expressions usually has 150 to 200 artist.....each artist can enter 2 pieces.......its a lot of fun weather u win or not
Click to expand...
LOL, I had the apostrophe in the wrong place, should have been after the "s" indicating plural. My daughter is an English teacher and she would have been proud of you. 😀
 
I am interested to know what the alternate title is. "Yin and Yang" is (in my opinion) a rather pedestrian name for such a beautiful piece of art.😀 I'm a child of the 60's (not quite a hippy, but close) and Yin/Yang was everywhere back then!
 
Jamie Straw said:
I am interested to know what the alternate title is. "Yin and Yang" is (in my opinion) a rather pedestrian name for such a beautiful piece of art.😀 I'm a child of the 60's (not quite a hippy, but close) and Yin/Yang was everywhere back then!
Click to expand...
I originally had it named "Majesty"
 
I remember filling out an application to demo for an AAW Symposium. I posted some pictures with it and they wanted titles... Mine were 'bowl', another bowl, hollow form..... My brain just doesn't function that way....

robo hippy
 
robo hippy said:
I remember filling out an application to demo for an AAW Symposium. I posted some pictures with it and they wanted titles... Mine were 'bowl', another bowl, hollow form..... My brain just doesn't function that way....

robo hippy
Click to expand...
LOL Don't feel bad, my other two pieces in the competition were "cherry burl teapot" and "hickory vase".
 
Richard I feel the name of an art piece is an important aspect of the artist's expression of that piece. It causes the viewer to think and that is a good thing. It adds depth or helps to convey the message the artist wishes. If you spend time to perfect a finish then I feel a name should at least be as important to the total piece as some of the other aspects. In other words the name is important to guide the viewer toward your intended expression or meaning.
 
Breck Whitworth said:
Richard I feel the name of an art piece is an important aspect of the artist's expression of that piece. It causes the viewer to think and that is a good thing. It adds depth or helps to convey the message the artist wishes. If you spend time to perfect a finish then I feel a name should at least be as important to the total piece as some of the other aspects. In other words the name is important to guide the viewer toward your intended expression or meaning.
Click to expand...

Breck, I think you make a good point, in particular about the guidance aspect of the name. The name can convey intent, and as you said, provoke thought or provide a framework upon which to perceive the piece.

although it's not necessary, and I don't always name things, I do for some pieces. When I was painting and (rarely) selling my work, the name was an expectation and often the first the the buyer would ask.
 
Breck, If I need to convey a message, an artist statement does a lot better job than a title. A sale of a kinetic piece I did, took a two fold approach. The wife loved the art piece, the husband loved the artist statement. The art piece was about the expression of human emotion, and I tied that back into an early learning experience with my mother. The statement mirrored what the husband had experienced. A title would likely not have sold the piece.
 
Richard Coers said:
Breck, If I need to convey a message, an artist statement does a lot better job than a title. A sale of a kinetic piece I did, took a two fold approach. The wife loved the art piece, the husband loved the artist statement. The art piece was about the expression of human emotion, and I tied that back into an early learning experience with my mother. The statement mirrored what the husband had experienced. A title would likely not have sold the piece.
Click to expand...

Richard, that's also hard to disagree with. Not that I want to. Can't get a lot of depth or detail in a title, especially with a complex concept. 🙂
 
Richard Coers said:
Breck, If I need to convey a message, an artist statement does a lot better job than a title. A sale of a kinetic piece I did, took a two fold approach. The wife loved the art piece, the husband loved the artist statement. The art piece was about the expression of human emotion, and I tied that back into an early learning experience with my mother. The statement mirrored what the husband had experienced. A title would likely not have sold the piece.
Click to expand...
well, I believe it is the viewers experience and appreciation that determines wheatear a title is needed.......five viewers standing side by side walking around the piece are most likely to have different appreciation's depending on their experience and artist outlook.....sort of like its a bowl, its a vas'e, its......
 
I think that is true, Charlie. And the degree to which the creator wants the five viewers to have a shared experience or understanding of the work may have some impact on that decision too. Like the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Everyone perceives differently and so, while the artist statement will certainly provide the granularity that some need, a title may be all that someone else needs. 🙂

Lots of room for different opinions here.
 
A title isn't always necessary, but it can be a benefit and I think it's rarely a detriment. If you can have a title that serves as the knot that ties the piece to an artist statement of inspiration then I see that as a positive thing. A title can be a simple description or a mood or inspiration. A fellow woodturner asked me what I was going to title a piece. I said that I didn't know, but I told him how frustrated and exhausted I felt by the time that I had finished it. He said, "I think that you ought to call it Tranquility". At first I thought that he was kidding, but then I realized that was the emotion that it conveyed and it was how I felt about the final product.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top