Celebrating Failure

Astro Teller's TED Talk reminded me a lot of another TED Talk that I was assigned to watch in one of my other classes titled "Embrace the Shake" by Phil Hansen.  In Teller's talk, he describes that seeking failure in their projects helps his team divert their ideas to new, more useful projects.  By encouraging failure, the members of his team are not afraid to attempt every possibility, maximizing their ability to solve problems.  I find this concept to occur often in art, but rather than intentionally, it is often by accident.  In "Embrace the Shake," Phil Hansen found that nerve damage caused his hand to shake, accidentally ruining his style of artwork; however, once his embraced the shake and discovered new ways to use it to his advantage in making art, he purposefully set certain limitations that some artists would view as failures to create the most unique pieces.

In relation to my own art, I believe it to be important to celebrate your failures as they usually lead you to bigger and better ideas.  The birds that are the background image on the home page of this blog, for instance, were initially supposed to be completely black ink drawings.  This is how I envisioned them, so when the drawings came out so dark that their contour was indistinguishible and they started to appear as gelatinous blobs, I considered it a failure and wanted to discontinue the project.  When I showed my work to one of my professors, my failure led me to a new direction.  As a concept, my professor liked the work but agreed that I should change the medium.  We then determined, to keep my idea and reference the history of bird illustration, I would change the birds to a combination of black ink and watercolor.  Through my mistake, I found a new solution that worked for me. 

When it comes to students, I am aware that art is a subject where people are afraid to fail.  If art teachers encouraged their students to try making pieces where they purposefully test out "failures," like Teller suggested in his video, then I believe that students would become much more comfortable in their own creativity.  Students should be encouraged to add their own unique spin on topics, whether it be art or any other discipline.  School systems should not teach students to become upset at their "failures," or their deviations from the norm, but should encourage them to shine their own unique light as no two students should ever be the same.  

Endangered Birds of America (full image)