Blog Post #4: Reflection on class with Todd Mrozinski

Photos by Royal Brevväxling for OnMilwaukee.

Four big takeaways from Todd:

1. Art can be about your life
2. Allow inspiration/passion to flow out of you (share what you’re experiencing when you’re inspired with your audience in your writing)
3. Allow your interest/inspiration to lead your work
4. Listen to yourself, listen to the inspiration, and listen with a calm mind
 


If you could meet/curate any one artist/person, who would it be?
Frida Kahlo – I wish I could know more about her chronic pain, and how she persevered and still created masterpieces, even while bedridden. I’m astounded by how someone so unlucky, with life’s cards stacked against them, can still have the motivation to produce. I also look up to her because she was not afraid to express herself, and always seemed to stick to her guns.
Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh (& Charles Rennie Mackintosh!) – She was constantly artistically collaborating with her husband Charles Rennie Mackintosh, in a partnership that never produced children (publicly, at least- nearly unheard of in their time). I would love to know more about their working relationship, as I believe they were a true OG artist power couple.
 


Further Questioning: Does telling the story of art/how the art came to be, beyond its face value, add value?

“Oh, they’re just clouds.” To, “Oh, they are panted with fingers. They were painted nearly every day as a part of a series, and inspired other series by the same artist.”
“Cool portraits, love the colors and markmaking!” to finding out the artist wanted to remember his father through a portrait, having it not turn out quite right, taking a break, and eventually tracing a cast shadow of a tree to represent him instead. This ended up meaning more to the artist than an actual portrait – eventually leading to an entire shadow portrait series.
In terms of value, I’m not necessarily talking about money value, but more value to the viewer, from the storyteller. I don’t know if this is just an artist-to-artist phenomenon, but knowing the journey and inspiration behind art is so valuable. It gives it personal context that we don’t always hear- and I think that rareness – or being able to see how something is made, inspired, etc. - is what makes it valuable.