Primary Research Questionnaires - Research, Evidence & Evaluation

Interview 1 - 

Interviewer: When creating work to what extent do you see yourself as the author? So, do you feel like the audience plays a role in authorship? do you create work for yourself or the audience or as a combination?

Artist: in the first instance I guess I would create it myself because it’s nice look back on it and see that yeah that was created by me.

Interviewer: So you believe you create your work for your own pleasure?

Artist: well yes, however I do feel if people don’t like it I do kind of feel personally attacked, especially when I spent so much time on something that I really feel strongly about. When it actually takes a long time to create something it can be quite hurtful when it’s not received a positive way. I guess in some ways you make your work to please people subconsciously

Interviewer: do you do see the audience as necessary to the completion of your work?

Artist: I think the audience is necessary for if your wanting show off as you can’t show your work off if you have no audience. But I guess no matter what it’s always going to be necessary as there is no point showing your work without an audience, I would personally describe an artwork without an audience something of a personal dialogue… Sketchbook/prototype may be.

Interviewer: So you mentioned how you want your work to be received positively

Artist: well yeah you naturally want people to receive your work positively and for them to be impressed as it personally builds up confidence

Interviewer: and if they feel negatively how does that make you feel?

Artist: like personally attacked. Although it is just their personal and constructive criticism

Interviewer: do you see the audience as the finalisation of your work?

Artist: yeah as I feel like performing drilled into this idea that making things practical use and sales stuff but within fine art is more of a show thing like more conceptual and doesn’t necessarily have a physical practical use apart from senses to your mentality how you feel. So yeah I guess in fine art terms it is necessary that it is only complete when this is shown and seen by an audience.

Interviewer: do you think when an audience gives you feedback does this influence your creative process in the future? Did you feel like people’s opinions influence your work?

Artist: family yes it’s nice to know that I have reassurance. Obviously not everyone wants to hear what you can do better but the same time it does really really help. Like I said subconsciously you do care about what other people think and some peoples frame of mind might be in a different place to yours may be at that current time. You can receive feedback that may have been a completely different intention to your work originally but this can subconsciously influence you to create work in a certain way in future.

Interviewer: talking about intentions do you create a work with some kind of intentions in mind? Do you want the audience to have the same kind of intentions and vision that you have do you kind of take what they want from your work?

Artist: I want all of my audience to have mixed opinions and feel something different. If they look at the peace one day and feel something and the next day they looked again feel something different that’s okay with me. I want them to take their own experiences from my work. You you are not entirely focused on how they feel just as long as the work somehow keeps them looking at it for more than a couple of seconds.

Interview 2 -

Interviewer: to what extent do you see yourself as the author of your work. Do you feel like your work is a collaboration between artist and audience?

Artist: I see myself as kind of the author, I guess. But also, it is a joint authorship, I feel without the audience my work wouldn’t be complete with no-one to view it, so I guess without them my work is just a thing created for myself.

Interviewer: so you say your work wouldn’t be complete without an audience?

Artist: no of course, I need the audience to question my work and really think about why I’ve done certain things. Obviously, I’m creating a piece of work for myself, but I want to know whether the audience is questioning the same things that I’m questioning. It could also be said that there is an abundance of audiences that would be ever-changing as a new audience views a work so then that could suggest that no work is ever categorised as such.

Interviewer: you mentioned it briefly, but do you think the audience is necessary to your work?

Artist: most certainly not only do I need an audience to view my work at the finishing process but having audience gives new meaning to each piece. Each audience member having their own interpretation on the artwork results in endless meaning which I find really interesting.

Interviewer: you talk about how your audience is very important in the end stages but do you consider the audience in the creative process or is it solely for yourself at the early stages of a piece?

Artist: I guess at the design stages I’m creating the work because I want to question something, I want to investigate this further and it’s something that intrigues me. I do also consider the audience slightly, but I would say that it’s more towards the end of the design process more of an evaluation as to how others would perceive my work rather than making it solely for them.

Interviewer: so how important is it that your work is received positively?

Artist: I suppose it’s nice to get positive feedback but still even if there is some negative, which there always will be, it’s more about them questioning the work rather than appreciation.

Interviewer: so does the feedback you receive from the audience influential future work in anyway?

Artist: Like I said positive and negative feedback does it really impact my work as such, but I guess it’s hard to avoid receiving positive feedback to a piece of work and not creating something similar. To me this is something that comes naturally and isn’t quite intended. 

Interview/Questionnaire 3 -

Question: to what extent do you see yourself as the author of your work?

Artist: The being of the author of my work differs in appearance sometimes it is necessary to take ownership, in some circumstances, it can be solely how the audience views the work through their own perception. Context provides the joining together with artist/audience working cohesively.

Question: to what extent do you consider your audience and you create work is it solely for your pleasure for the pleasure of others?

Artist: With my work audience it is considered through place and space because it is unusual in the public realm, pleasure comes from seeing how the audience perceive each particular work.

Question: do you think the audience is necessary to your work?

Artist: The audience is necessary, without the audience the work would only have the literal meaning, they provide different layers of understanding and context.

Question: to what extent is important that your work receives positive reviews?

Artist: to be honest it doesn’t matter to me whether someone likes or dislikes my work, what matters is what it stands for and if it is making a change?

Question: is the audience the ‘end’ of your work?

Artist: rather than the audience being the end of the work it could be said is viewing the work the end for the audience? They may remember the work or simply forget, there will always be another audience.

Question: to what extent does audience feedback influence your creative process?

Artist: feedback is always good and could spark new ideas but doesn’t particularly change much. If someone says “I like your work” it is good to be acknowledged but inevitably it doesn’t hinder or spur anything, it acts as an active statement.

Evaluation 

Looking back at the interviews i have conducted so far, some have coinciding points to that of my theorists and may be potentially beneficial to use for my dissertation. However looking at the information collected is varied which may be a result of artists only being in the early stages of their carer or simply that their work takes on different meanings. Its also clear that not all interviews are coherent and actually contradict themselves making it hard to pinpoint their opinions.  I don't specifically feel like the information is that strong to use within my dissertation, i have collect more detailed information from interviews, documentaries, books etc that have a much clearer understanding on the subject. Rather than carry on doing more interviews i feel like this process would be time consuming and be no more beneficial then the information sourced second hand. I would of liked to use primary research as a key part of my dissertation however i want to avoid filling my essay with weak statements