The Art of Serendipity

There’s an ancient Persian fairy tale featuring three Princes whose father, the great and wise King Giaffer, being a good father and a good king. Wanted his sons to become educated and endowed with wisdom, knowledge and all the virtues a prince should possess. The king summoned the best tutors from across the lands to entrust his sons with the knowledge of the universe. In Science, Maths and History the three princes study and became knowledgeable and the king was pleased. But concerned his sons weren’t gaining experience in the world just knowledge of it, he decided to fake anger with his sons and sent them away, off into the world.

So the three princes of the kingdom of Serendip went off  into the world and had many adventures and solved many mysteries (notable one to do with a three-legged camel) and generally experienced life and become wise and worldly in their views and of coursed lived happily ever after. The tale of the three Princes of Serendip has been called the world first detective story because the princes use analytical methods to disciver and solve clues whilst on their adventures. Its also the origins of the word “Serendipity” because the Princes made their discoveries and had their adventures by accident and without understanding of the quest of experience their father had sent them on. The word was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754 as meaning a discovery by good fortune or luck. The notion of “luck” or “chance” is a familiar one and common occurrence in history such as the accidental discovery of Penicillin or the invention of the microwave and even the creation of the post-it note.

What these examples share with the Princes journey is that it was not just by luck they made their discoveries but because they held an open mind for opportunities, they were open to new ideas and looking for new chances and so discovered them. It is not just through chance we discover and find new things but when we are ready and searching with open minds, thats when Serendipity plays its hand.

I find being an artist is very much like being one of the three princes of Serendip, you are on a quest with which you don’t necessarily understand or even know you are on, sometimes you feel somewhat banished from society, you think you can discover these things by looking and thinking and attempting to work out a process and by developing an understanding of your surroundings but really it doesn’t truly come together without a bit of luck. Without being/seeing/talking or just doing the right thing at the right time, it can be the thin red line between it working and it not. Also like the princes the understanding starts often with a basic insight into history and knowledge through books, tapes, exhibitions and information. Tennyson once said

“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers”

Its with our knowledge we eventually become wise enough to know what on earth we are going on about. Its with these two arms of information and experience we learn to move forward and create new things. Picasso didn’t just randomly create Cubism one fine day in spring, Cubism came from the inspiration Picasso saw in traditional African tribal masks and conversations and experiments with other artists which had the end result of Cubism.

Its with a mixture of this knowledge, experience and serendipity that we travel through this world. So the secret to creating and staying off that evil terror known as “artist block” is keeping an open mind set, like Picasso or the chap who discovered Penicillin or created the post-it note, they weren’t planning on changing the world but they held an open mind so when serendipity presented them with an opportunity they saw it and developed it into something amazing (especially true of post-age notes, saved my arm from me using it as a notepad many a time).

The good news is there is quite a lot you can do as an artist in Cardiff to look for these Serendipity moments, there are of course a host of very friendly gallery and amazing folks to chat too. Or volunteer at one of the many great places, Chapter, Ffotogallery, Made in Roath or WARP to name four. Plus helpful publications such as the Cardiff Art map, the monthly WARP bulletin or just keep an eye on social media and turn up at an event or art opening. The wonderful thing about the Cardiff art scene is its very close. I’m sure you are aware of the theory of 6 degrees of separation. Where you are connected to anyone through 6 people? Cardiff its more like 2 …. 3 at most….. maybe 3 and a half if you haven’t been around for a while but kinda know that guy you nod to and say “Alright” too but don’t actually know his name and its been nine months of nodding and saying hi so its kinda gone on a bit too far to inquire, so you just end up calling him “mate” all the time and hope someone will mention his name or one of you will add the other on Facebook, I think it might be Mike, or Mark, Im not too sure…. anyway I digress. It’s a very friendly, very open and welcoming community.

But the best thing to do is just to get out there and see some art, drink some tea and meet and chat to other artists. John Donne wrote

“No one is an island, Entire of itself, every one is a piece of the continent”

I’ve always thought that true of society and certainly of the arts, it’s a wide but close community that we all share and make up and in it we inspire and create together to produce our own individuals art practises.

And yea you do get stuck in a rut and question everything and the purpose of it all occasionally but again it’s the community that helps to get you back on the road and if you keep going, you find those wonderful serendipitous moments. Thanks for reading, have a good day.

Out of Doors 2015

 There are many unsolved and unanswerable questions in this universe. What is the meaning of life? What existed before time began? What is actually in a black hole? And why, oh why are 99 ice creams called 99’s?

   I’ve asked around, typed it into Google, consulted a wise man with a white beard in a cave near Merthyr and it turns out no one knows. Early in my days I thought it was the original cost, 99p for a 99. Nice and simple but apparently not, they were created in the 1930s when nothing cost 99p because it was pre-decimalisation. One theory I’ve read is that its named after a shop address, another states it’s in honour of the last generation to go to the first world war born in 1899. On the Cadbury website it mentions the name came from the guard of the Italian king which consisted of 99 men and "subsequently anything really special or first class was known as 99.” But this is a myth and refers to the Vatican's Swiss Guard, who traditionally have 105 members.  

   So who knows. Lots of theories but no one knows for sure. One thing I do know is that it is indeed a law of the universe that you simply have to partake in a 99 when walking around Roath Park boating lake. It’s an unquestionable dictation of fact, such as having afternoon tea when in the Ritz, the finest of wines is a must when visiting Paris and Chips and Cheese is a necessity when on Barry Island. 

 So as I munched a 99 ice cream, strolling around Roath Park lake in the late light of a Saturday I found myself gazing at the one’s and zeros atop of the Captain Scott memorial lighthouse in the calm waters of the lake. The digit series spelling out “IF” in binary code. They say there are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those you don’t (sorry just a binary joke hehe).  The binary “IF” created by artist Nicola Dale for Made in Roath first Autumn festival “Out of Doors” is just one example of the many subtle art interventions placed around the tranquil and beautiful surroundings of the park. 

  Underneath a tree on one of many park paths you will find a secret flower and fairy land created by Lauren Foulkes. A fairy scene reminiscent of the Cottingley Fairy photographs. Or along another path you can scan the QR codes of artist Nia Metcalfe placed along the park benches. Another work only comes alive as the evening light fades and darkness consumes the earth, when the more noisey people wandering around the park might stumble under the tree of Mothmusic created by artist Stefhan Caddick. This work of flickering and dazzling noise reacting light dances in the night to the surrounding hum of the city.  

   These as well as the other art works combined with the workshops that were held over the weekend have given the “Out of Doors” festival a colourful and diverse lineup. The overall feeling of the festival is not of some bold statement but a quiet and dignified graceful placement into the natural and attractive surroundings of the park. The two harmonising with each other, giving the visitor an enjoyable experience of art work and nature’s natural wonders.

     As I finished my 99 I found myself thinking more of the binary “IF” atop the Captain Scott lighthouse. It seems a fitting placement. That word is so much about trying. Evoking thoughts of Rudyard Kipling’s epic poem of upholding your ideals through life tests and trails which is what Captain Scott and the other members of the Terror Nova were doing. If you can reach the South Pole. If you can cross the snow filled land. If you can be the first person to ever do this. For the Edwardians reaching the South Pole was like a mission to Mars is for us. But to return to “IF”, as artists we all live by and know the “IF” well. If we can make this work. If we can present it. If we can just be artists. It’s that power of dreams that drives us forward and onwards to create. The feeling of “IF” is something Made in Roath does rather well. If we can do this. If we can try this. If we can put on a community art festival.

 It would be fitting to close now by simply recalling the words of Kipling in his poem “IF” but I find myself thinking of some other words, some which I think is more suitable for all artists, the words of “The Man in the Arena” by another Edwardian, Theodore Roosevelt. The arena of which Roosevelt’s talks is I think rather apt to all artists and people who create. We are all at some point in the arena presenting our thoughts and creations, we all know the feeling of the sand as we stand showcasing our creations and it is not in the final outcome of the work that the value comes but in the act of creating and just trying to be an artist is what all artists should be praised for. As an art student I was terrified when my lecturer told us “95%” of all art students upon graduating never pick up a paint brush again. So if you are still making work after art school and are part of that 5% then you should be praised, regardless of your work you’re doing, its great just that your doing it and the chances are you have experienced that arena yourself. So with that, to all in the arena

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”