Finding Meaning in Making

Self-taught artists are a cornerstone of Mingei's mission and collection. They represent the Museum's core belief that people should be celebrated for their creativity and deserve an opportunity to express themselves through making. Coinciding with the recent opening of an installation dedicated to self-taught artists in the Taylor Gallery, artist, writer and Mingei’s Development Assistant, Christine Tilton reflects on these ideas in her essay below.

Humans have an innate ability to create. Everyone has imagination and the ability to tap into a drive to make their environments their own. The objects we make or surround ourselves with to use and enjoy serve their purpose and add meaning to our lives.

Making Something Out of Nothing

A thread connecting all the artists in the Taylor Gallery’s installation is the use of found and natural materials. If you look close enough, you can see glimpses of recognizable objects. A tiny wheelbarrow made of animal bone. Bottle caps transformed into rattlesnake scales. A camera lens repurposed as the front of a toy car featuring the glinting letters KODAK. When seen altogether as a complete work of art, you often forget that these objects were made with excess construction materials and painted with spices and minerals mixed with oil in a kitchen, but it's important to remind yourself to imagine the stick and straw armatures below the packed painted mud clay.

Making Memories

Many of the objects in the Taylor Gallery were made out of love between parent and child. The artists, Sonabai Rajawar and Alice Hudson were driven to create toys and worlds of wonder and play for their children from humble materials they found around them. Alice continued her work on Procession for her daughter Elizabeth for over 25 years. Its creation was an act of love, and Elizabeth was able to collaborate with her mom and learn the art of crafting with scraps to make something beautiful late into her mother’s life.

Making for You

Creativity and the need to make can often come from unusual places. Felipe Archuleta worked as a carpenter and was used to making with his hands. At the age of 54 and in a moment of unemployment he had a vision to carve. He used his carpentry skills and the materials he had always used, in a more utilitarian sense, to start making animals and sculptures. He found inspiration in the animals of the desert around him in New Mexico but also in books and magazines creating three-dimensional versions of animals he only saw in pictures.

Every artist has their own distinct style. The magic of craft is that we are all individuals and will make varying works of art depending on the lives we live, the materials around us and how we express ourselves. Finding an outlet for creativity is an important cathartic ritual of human life, one we may not even realize we do. As you walk around the Taylor Gallery, wandering from object to object, remember these works of art are a window into the creativity of people who could be very similar to you.