Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

The title is accurate: this is a meditation (an “observation”) about making art. It’s not a practical book, it’s just a series of thoughts about the struggle of people who make at to do it in spite of their fears.

This is the source of the anecdote about two groups in a pottery class that were directed to make (1) good works, and (2) a lot of works. The anecdote says that the group who were told to simply make as many pots as they could, ended up making better pots than the group that was supposed to concentrate on quality. The message being that just doing it a lot results in getting better work overall.

I bought the book just for that, because I’m trying to find the source of that story. Alas, it is unsourced. I highly suspect it’s simply a fabricated legend, no matter how good it makes us feel.

An okay book. A short read. If you struggle with art, it’s worth reading.