By coincidence I had two experiences today which could be regarded as echoes of each other. I had to drive over to Leeds to return a (very) overdue book to the library at Leeds Beckett University, and on the way I was listening to the radio. The item consisted of a conversation with members of the ensemble The Academy of Ancient Music, in which members of the group commented on the experience of playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It was really interesting to hear them explaining the room that existed for subtle technical differences in the way their instruments were played, contributing to the collective artistic interpretation for which they were striving. One of the things that really caught my attention was their comments on the room for personal interpretation on the part of musicians, which made the performance seem rather like a jazz session. The exploration of the relationship between technique and personal creativity was wonderful.
Then, having returned by library book (and having raided the local art materials shop) I met a friend for coffee. He is a calligrapher, and he too began to talk about the question of the balance and interaction between the discipline of learning the correct pen-strokes required to produce the Japanese characters, and the interpretation which the calligrapher brings to the task. (He has since emailed me a sample of his work, to make the point.)
Having spent some time recently exploring the requirements of ikon painting, I found that both of today’s encounters resonated very clearly with my own experience. There is the need to master the discipline of the medium, and to become familiar with the standard conventions of iconography, but these “constraints” actually open the way to individual creative expression rather than closing it off. Paradoxically, discipline opens the way to artistic freedom, and this would seem to be true in any area of the arts.