Issue 003 Editor's Letter

Photo courtesy of Caroline Japal

While working on the last issue of Art Concept Magazine I realized just how fascinated I had become with how artists work and what specific methods and techniques they use to create their art pieces. While I have always been interested in what drives artists to create their art, I’ve never really asked how they do it.’ Art-making is a very intricate and detailed process. New processes and methods are being created every day. There are so many ways to use materials to create art. From the traditional arts to new experimental forms of art; artists everywhere are coming up with their processes to create the magic that inspires us all.

In this issue of ACM we get to get in the heads of some of the people I’ve gotten the chance to meet during my time at university and in my hometown of Birmingham, but also some that are based elsewhere like Nashville, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston.

While brainstorming on what to do as a centerpiece for this issue, I spent quite some time reflecting on my work and what would best represent the artist’s process. For me, the artist’s process is very personal to each individual but also tells of their desires, personal aesthetics, and motives. I have chosen a set of images that I shot as a human figure study with model Brooke Bednarz. The images took multiple days in the studio, working on getting the perfect exposure and movement combinations. Plus, we wanted to add mixed color lights with all the other chaos of strobes and poses. Working on this project stretched me as a photographer, as I was not too familiar with studio lighting at the time. After shooting, I fell in love with the images I had created with the layers of limbs and details that could get lost in the overall form of the human body. It was only weeks later, after I was revisiting the image that I decided to add more depth and layer them in Photoshop with different blend modes applied to them. This is what made this issue come to life with the simple, yet eye-catching cover and centerpiece. The cover/centerpiece was one of process and trial and error. 

Sometimes I can find myself getting more caught up in the process than the actual work itself. I hope all of you reading this can take a second look and what you're actually doing to create your work rather than just seeing what is produced at the end. It can be a very fun process to be more invested in the process than the end product sometimes and also can push you to create something you never imagined before.

Caroline Japal
Editor-in-Chief, Art Concept Magazine