Where do we jest?

This test piece I made while studying caused a big argument on campus and ended up with a meeting about “respecting others in the studio”.

While studying I liked to make simple sculptures using what I found. In this case, the studio had been empty all day, so I took all the chairs and made this sculpture. I was happy with it, took a photo, and went off to the library to do something else.

Unfortunately, this made someone angry. Given a bad back, she’d had “her” table and chair to do some nonsense sculpture. Tutors were involved, and hence the meeting to discuss the “proper use of shared spaces & equipment”.

This was my biggest fascination and frustration with studying art, but also with creativity in general. It’s oft shown in a spontaneous, free, and experimental light. And yet, reactions were just as they were elsewhere. Foolishly, I’d gone to art school assuming everyone else was a jester like me, and I had outed myself. If we can’t be jesters here, then where?

I can imagine an office clerk bemoaning me using all his paper in a similar tone.