I have changed the name of the blog from “A Year in Art” to “Coloured Mud” because the “Year” turned to two and now three so I felt “Coloured Mud” was a more fun and long term name. I often refer to paint as “Coloured Mud” (basically what it is) and the french spelling of Color is just a little bit too fun to pass up. It still contains the same great new and old articles so enjoy!
OK, I’ll introduce myself. My name is Jason Brockert and I am a fine art painter and teacher living here in Providence, RI. I’ve been carving out a living at this career for the past 15 years since I graduated from the Illustration department at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. It’s a challenging road but one that I am happy to be traveling and over the years I’ve had enough successes and failures to feel qualified to Blog about life as an artist, which brings us to the beginning of this project “A Year in Art.”
The idea for this project germinated a few years ago when I read Anne Truitts “Daybook.” In it she details the travails and triumphs of her life as an artist, a mother and a woman of her contemporary world in a most poetic and thoughtful way. I can only claim the artist label for myself, I’m male, with a wife and without kids but I do have a life (hooray!) and it’s been dedicated so far to making art, mostly paintings in my case. At issue in the idea of making an introspective journal is that I see a constant struggle as artists to explain the what, how and why we do what we do. Partly, we’re not always sure for ourselves and partly there’s a disconnect with the wider world outside of our insulated studios in finding common ground for dialogue and connection.
I don’t hold myself to be either an exemplar or a dabbler but as someone who strives every day to carve a niche while doing something I (most of the time) love to be doing; making art. My intention is to be honest and to bring issues to the surface that may help dispel some of the stereotypes surrounding artists. Are we really starving? Do we hate human contact? Are whisky and cigarettes the norm? What I envision unfolding is not intended to be a collection of “this is what I did on Thursday…” essays, nor do I see a bunch of “this is art at its existential best/worst…” I think an echo of both of those possibilities will resonate throughout the year but at the core I hope the accumulation of these essays will in essence become a portrait of a kind. If the accumulation is a little entertaining, a little thoughtful and a little enlightening then I’ll call it a success.
Most of the essays are not “time sensitive,” meaning that their relevance will live on past when they were written. I am writing most of them with the hope of touching on more universal aspects of each subject so feel free to look through past essays. I hope to deviate from the normal blog format in this way.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts for granting me funding so I could get this project off the ground. They run a great ship over there and help make Rhode Island a very artist friendly little state.
I hope you enjoy what I have to offer and I invite feedback or debate through email or comments on the web log. Enjoy!
Click here to see my website and my paintings.
