Octopus
By Tristan Smith
Dandy Dots set
Communication
I have come to understand that although it is too
vague; it is also quite true to say that life is communication. Any time I, or
someone else, can perceive anything from or about myself, I am communicating. Interestingly
by prestigiously associating every element of communication listed here all to
one thing such as a hobby, I will prove how dynamic a process communication is.
My art is usually nonverbal communication, and I also verbally communicate in
different ways about my art. When I, a twenty four year old white female, brag
about having a torch in my living room, for instance, I typically get a baffled
response. When I introduce my knitting hobby by first saying that “I am a proud
little old lady in the making,” I then add more depth to who I am communicating
myself to be, perhaps both independent and old fashioned.
Green Graffiti
Noise
Consider the roles of everything, including situations, beliefs, habits, key
terms, sound, and the like “anything”, and how what of these roles relates to
all involved. Any combinations of these things take on the role of noise when
they alter how a message is being sent or received. When I complain, in fact, I
am usually giving names to the noise that has recently affected my life.
Thankfully I feel more optimistic about noise right now because as it relates
to my art hobbies, I am in the near completion stage of silencing the majority
of it. I am currently waiting to move into a larger apartment, where I can set
up an art studio with better ventilation, so I can make all the glass beads
time allows. Once this comes into fruition, what I want to create will be
limited to what an apartment sized torch and kiln can safely produce out of
soft glass; though, I dream of a separate building and the G-TTT Phantom torch
capable of working soft glass like Morretti
as well as hard glass like Borosilicate.
Not to mention, the most intense and adjustable flame with a more even heat
distribution than I can imagine. These limitations to what I can make are all
sources of noise.
Noise most hindered my glass bead
making hobby when what all I had was really not much of a camera at all; then, I
won what could have very well been the greatest deal on a high end professional
cannon 35mm that just so happened to be accompanied by the second or third most
perfect macro lens for focusing in on
the detail of my beads. Just last night on eBay I won an even better camera
that is not only digital but so good that film cannot handle that capacity. On
the popular television show, Myth Busters, they frequently show something
explode frame by frame, it takes an extremely fast and detailed camera to
capture this. That is what I won for sixty dollars; so for me, that and the thirteen
dollar 35.mm Godsend was the opposite of noise. The higher the quality of
photography I use for my online store, the better I communicate to others what kinds
of art I like to make and sell.
Lizard
Intrapersonal Communication
Intrapersonal communication is also affected by noise
as captured by the phrase “it is so loud in here that I can’t even hear
myself think.” Thinking is intrapersonal communication, and “hearing yourself think” would be a
characteristic of effective intrapersonal communication. I have a friend who is
researching the affects of positive and negative self-talk among women, another
name for intrapersonal communication. Since she shared the importance of
this topic with me, I strive to be especially mindful of this when making art or
listing and item for sale. Intrapersonal communication is vital, and it is what
allows me an opinion from which to create an identity or perception, or changes
to my identity first within, so that I then have something to outwardly
express.
Snail Set
Perception
Perception rightfully varies from one person to the next. My perception is a process of what I choose to notice, how I categorize it, and what I gather from it. “It” could be anything, like art for example. My art in some way communicates my perceptions to others. Some people may look at the bead I made with the octopus on it, and all the obviously hand-crafted inconsistencies, as measures of a unique character and high quality; or, they may see unwanted mistakes. An experienced lamp worker might perceive that I have a small torch by the red spots in my blue glass; this is due to uneven heating and overworking. Perception also changes over time, like art work that “grows on you,” that can be indicating gradually changing perceptions.
Eyes from the Deep
Self-serving Bias
I think everyone, at least in my culture, is familiar
with the self-serving bias, but they may not have a named it yet. “Sometimes I guess I make mistakes…” it’s
all about attitude, “goofs I would rather
call them because it sounds better.” Picture those who act like they can do
no wrong, “besides, I shouldn’t have to
take the blame anyway, I don’t know who they are but I know they are not doing
their jobs, and I suffer after paying for it. The self-serving bias is when
I blame other people or forces for my shortcomings, “Those outrageously priced tools and supplies with faulty designs making
them dysfunctional. The door to the kiln wants to close on its own right as I
am putting the bead gently through the opening. Sometimes I find burnt spots
and bubbles or pitting in the rods once I get them in a flame…” but I
exaggerate my skills, “If the torch was
big enough to work my own glass, and if I could afford custom tools, then there
wouldn’t be all these mistakes because I would self-sufficient,” and then
collect as much credit for power and prestige as I can, “The key word is sufficient and since I am a perfectionist that means
something! When I no longer have to gamble my quality on that of the
workmanship someone else put into my supplies for me already, then I will
produce wonderfully and fearfully made, beautifully annealed contributions to
the world of art. People will thank me!” Truthfully, I have a clumsy hand when putting
my beads into the kiln. I also have not yet figured out how to work all the
colors of glass that I have. The slate gray bead with the octopus is supposed
to be transparent pink, and the blue octopus should not have the red blotches.
The different colors are all different minerals mixed into the glass just so,
and some are more delicate than the glass itself and can be easily burned. Some
colors come out best in the end if I work them fast, some slow, close or even
far out in the flame, etc. Although when I react to a situation with the
self-serving bias I make myself look, and others feel awful, it is a form of
face-saving behavior.
Frogs set
Social Comparison
I usually favor social comparison over asking for another’s opinion of myself. I compare my style and the initial creativity of my art subject to my own opinion of others’ designs. It is sometimes difficult not to go hard on myself, especially after seeing a more glorious piece of glass than any of my own, or a hand knit fisherman sweater that is actually shaped like a human being. Positive self-talk enhances the efficiency and accuracy of new ideas I muster from circumstances like this. Then I remember that my torch just does not produce the means of such fine work, and it is okay that I still have room for improvement. It is a way of bouncing my reality off the outside wall of someone else’s reality, even without their awareness of the interaction.
Hopeful Heart set
Values
My values are the rules I have adopted and formed for depicting
what I think is right from wrong, meaningful from despicable, and so on. I never
sacrifice my values for the sake of art. In fact, my absolute strongest and
most important value is designed to identify and deal with inappropriate
entertainment and art. My values inspire me to refuse to even call such things
art. I have strong Christian beliefs about what is appropriate and what is not
appropriate, and I feel angry when I see about how much society is desensitized
to accept inappropriate things. Some people believe dysfunction is functional,
I try not to. I am anti-violence and very anti-pornography; I believe that
pornography is a silent killer of all kinds of relationships, goals, and
dreams. It is one of the most common forms of violence against women today; even
the trace and sometimes not so trace amounts in family and child programs
remind me of my values. Society starts attempting to desensitize us to things
like this very early on, while we are just starting to learn for ourselves what
is violent, and what it means for us to be a certain gender. It is no wonder so
many women are desensitized to tolerate or participate in it in some way, even
without getting any of the money that this immense industry irrepressibly makes
each year. Sometimes it causes severe turmoil to couples, families, and to friends
as well.
I communicate my values through art by producing only the
forms expressing femininity in positive, appropriate ways. I communicate my
perceptions through color and form in ways nonviolent to all ages, not just
children. It is my opinion that the society of North America lives in the
shadow of pornography, and a lot of it is disguised as some sort of a generally
acceptable art form. I argued with a seller at a yard sale for local charity who
was selling a box of outdated and very inappropriate magazines, they called it art.
I saw this last summer, and in my mind the charity might as well have been
dealing with drug money as far as I am concerned. Anything commonly seen on a
painting can certainly be seen on a bead. As for knitting, when pattern hunting
I once found a group of exotic dancers online who preferred to knit their own
threads to wear. This is one of those things that are everywhere, so I do a lot
of boycotting. This is a value to me, not just some insecurity. I have heard
many others stereotypically label “large girls” such as myself by insisting
that I suffer from jealousy. I attribute that to the fact that young adults
witness plenty of situations in which to be tested for their open mindedness of
taboo things, and some proudly claim their accomplishments of conformity by
passing on the expectations, that can eventually become scripts.