I Let My Emotions Form My Titles
I love titles. When looking at another artist's work, sometimes a particular piece isn't of much interest to me until I see the title. If an artist chooses the right words, it reveals so much of what emotional experience went into making the work. For a while I viewed titles in my own work as an afterthought. I felt strained to come up with the right words and impatient when they didn’t come. I don't sit down to plan what I want to convey when I begin a print, I just let what I'm feeling come out on the page. However recently I've gotten into naming my prints more consciously. I don't know what a particular print will be called while I'm drawing, carving or even printing. But on the morning I photograph the print and list it on my website I sit quietly and calmly in front of the work and try to give words to what I was feeling when I formed the image. That is to say, the feeling is there from the beginning, but the words arrive a bit later. This has become a kind of meditation for me that I thoroughly enjoy. I no longer strain to come up with the correct title, but by getting quiet my emotions form words.
