Recently this piece was purchased, and it now adorns a dining room where a fine young family gathers. Their selection was carefully deliberative between this and other imagery. I was not asked about this piece’s conceptual intention. I was content to stay mum about particulars, while appreciating that somehow this visual spoke without words. They are pleased and so am I.

And so I use this also as a prompt for some further thinking about an artist’s intended impulse and how it might dovetail (or not) with the freedom of the receiver to respond. Partly this is curious to me because friends came to see my work in an exhibition recently and were so more able to appreciate the imagery once they heard my extended words about it. I guess the visual work itself only speaks dimly? Does it need more words? Then too, my husband has been researching Robert Frost’s poem about two roads diverging. That poem and some other ideas were the impetus behind my monotype here displayed. What he discovered, surprising to both of us, is that the typical understanding of that poem is very different from Frost’s intended meaning. Is that a failure on the part of the poet? Maybe not. But is the world’s love of a different idea than what the artist intended a different kind of fail? Or is it just silently informative. I’m throwing these questions out there because I‘m wondering.

To put it more simply: Is it the artist’s obligation to be explicit or rather to invite? What holds more value: directing to any certain idea, or allowing the viewer the freedom to reflect? And if a viewer’s conclusion is incorrect from the intention of the maker, is that conclusion valid? Is it just as valid?

I make work to communicate. But at the same time, I really dislike “being told” much about anything until I want/need to hear it. Are you the same way? Maybe that’s why my imagery is semi-abstract. Like poetry, it’s a tease; it’s an invitation into the arena of consideration. And the risk is always there that the world will type my visuals as different ideas altogether. This is why I put words down on this blog. Words explain more about intention, and may be informative to those who are interested. But your freedom to read — whether words or imagery — is even more valuable. This is where I end and you get to begin.