Grayson Perry, Reith Lectures/Playing to the Gallery

In 2013, Grayson Perry delivered the BBC Reith Lectures as a series of talks entitled Playing to the Gallery, since made available in book form.

Here are some quotes (taken from the book) that made sense to me in the context of process…

To begin with:

[Art’s] most important role is to make meaning. [p111]

So is what you’re doing meaningful to you?

As an artist, the ability to resist peer pressure, to trust one’s own judgement, is vital but it can be a lonely and anxiety-inducing procedure. [p18]

You can work ideas…

It’s … a great joy to learn a technique, because as soon as you learn it, you start thinking in it. When I learn a new technique my imaginative possibilities have expanded. Skills are really important to learn; the better you get at a skill, the more you have confidence and fluency. [p122]

Artists have historically worked technology…

In the past artists were the real innovators of technology. [p100]

…but can we work technology, as art?

The metaphor that best describes what it’s like for my practice as an artist is that of a refuge, a place inside my head where I can go on my own and process the world and its complexities. It’s an inner shed in which I can lose myself. [p131]

I said the final farewell to a good friend and great social technology innovator, Ches Lincoln, who died on Christmas Eve, last week. In one project we worked together on, an online learning space, we created a forum called “The Shed” for the those learners who wanted to get really geeky and techie in their questions and discussions, and whose conversations risked scaring off the majority.

And finally…

The sound a box of Lego makes is the noise of a child’s mind working, looking for the right piece. [p116]

Perfect…