{"id":2964,"date":"2017-04-20T18:53:04","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T18:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/?p=2964"},"modified":"2017-04-20T18:53:04","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T18:53:04","slug":"be-careful-how-much-you-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/be-careful-how-much-you-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Careful How Much You Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Design is a way out of confusion”<\/em>
\n– Platon, photographer<\/p>\n

This past week I finished the NETFLIX series Abstract: The Art of Design<\/a>\u00a0which delves into the minds and careers of eight top designers who practice within different branches of the field. Covering a myriad of ideas, each program highlights and demystifies a leader who has reached the pinnacle of her\/his discipline, one step at a time. Listening as these\u00a0artists\/designers discuss in their\u00a0own words the generation and evolution of their ideas\u00a0makes the series especially inspiring. In fact, even the episodes that center on a discipline I wouldn’t ordinarily care much about (such as car design), had me hanging on every world.<\/p>\n

\"Pick-Me-Up\"

Pick-Me-Up<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a92017 Elizabeth Fram \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Stitched-Resist Dyeing with Stitching on Silk, 12×16 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

In mulling over some of the takeaway lessons afterward, I was particularly moved by the sentiments of the photographer Platon<\/a>. His portraits, of both the powerful and powerless alike, lean on simplicity, boldness, and clarity to convey the story and essence of each subject, rather than extraneous details or elaborate backdrops.<\/p>\n

Growing up\u00a0with extreme dyslexia, Platon found the world unmanageably complicated and had trouble coping with what, to him, was a\u00a0cacophony of stimulation. Design became a means of making sense of that complexity. By capturing the core of a subject and condensing information to only what is necessary, he found a key to interpreting his surroundings. That inclination toward self-editing has, in turn, become the foundation of his artistic success while modeling\u00a0an important lesson for any of us.<\/p>\n

\"Two

Two Cups<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a92017 Elizabeth Fram<\/p><\/div>\n

With practice, I am beginning to better understand\u00a0the wisdom that what you omit\u00a0via editing is just as important as what you let remain. It’s understandable that we tend\u00a0to be protective of favorite\u00a0passages as we work, but we have to fight that instinct. Being\u00a0of\u00a0a mind to vigilantly cull out the unnecessary, in deference to\u00a0clarity and conciseness, is much more valuable for longterm growth and development. Admittedly, such self-control\u00a0is much more challenging\u00a0to accomplish in the moment while drawing with\u00a0ink, than over numerous drafts while typing on the computer. But regardless of medium, the importance of editing\u00a0is inarguably one of the best tools available.<\/p>\n

It’s not so much what you say, it’s what you leave out that makes a piece soar.<\/p>\n

\u2756<\/span><\/h1>\n

This short post<\/a>\u00a0by Clint Watson<\/a> on Fine Art Views<\/em>, makes the crucial point that judicious editing is another level of communication, showing your viewer not just what<\/em> you are making, but more importantly, why<\/em> you are going to the effort.<\/p>\n

And on a lighter note: are you familiar with the band Darlingside<\/a>? If not, check out this video<\/a>, or you can find their music on Spotify. While chatting up the audience at a recent concert they mentioned that they get a lot of questions about their name. Explaining that they had a teacher who counseled the adage that you have to “kill your darlings” for successful writing, a name was born. Choosing to steer clear of the intonation of death inferred in “Darlingc<\/span>ide”, they opted for Darlings<\/span>ide as a more acceptable name. Either way, another nod to the multilayered benefits of editing.<\/p>\n

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“Design is a way out of confusion” – Platon, photographer This past week I finished the NETFLIX series Abstract: The Art of Design\u00a0which delves into the minds and careers of eight top designers who practice within different branches of the field. Covering a myriad of ideas, each program highlights and demystifies a leader who has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21],"tags":[497,501,500,498,499,502,496],"class_list":["post-2964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion","tag-abstract","tag-clint-watson","tag-darlingside","tag-design","tag-editing","tag-fine-art-views","tag-platon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5kO5z-LO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2964"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2998,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964\/revisions\/2998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}