User:Tyson Goudsmits

Tyson Goudsmits tysongoudsmits@gmail.com

Why am I a maker?

My mother influenced me creatively and my father taught me practical thinking

When I was young I was directly influenced by my mother who always had a motivation to create things. She made paintings, drawing, she even made our clothes and cut our hair in weird shapes, also she made an ugly angel hanging from the sealing colored gold (the frustration). Even tough she was always making, she never approached it seriously except for the one year she studied fashion in Utrecht, but then she got pregnant and the whole plan was scrapped form the book. These days my mother is still creating, she is doing a ceramics workshop and is making ceramic flowers and dinner set’s for at home.

Not only did she influenced me creatively but also she supported me to do what I like most unlike a lot of people saying art can hardly be a source of income. Like my dad for instants, he doesn’t seem to see the point in creating unless it’s practical. But I still think he was a big influence because of his practical point of view. He is a mechanic who has a passion for motorbikes and really trucks, he also managed to build his own house form scratch with the help of a couple relatives who are in that business, so most of the day at work and at home he

is crafting. I think helping him for instants with replanting a tree in the garden 

taught me to think practical.

While I’m writing this I actually realize that my mother influenced me with creativity and my father taught me practical thinking, I think those are the most important factors to be a maker.

I enjoy watching and observing, and reuse what I see

Also I think a maker is often occupied with observing, not only to observe and reflect on his own work but also to observe and reflect on his environment to gather inspiration on purpose or not. But I also find myself often observing obsessively trying to unravel how things are made. When I am observing I’m passively trying to figure out how it could be made, but mostly there is no conclusion or an answer because its uncommon for products or structure to unravel its mystery, for instance the inside of a car or the screws in your chair. So, with most of the things especially concerning technologies its impossible to know anything about its component without taking it apart.

But that doesn’t mean it is pointless to stare at a chair for minutes. Deconstructing these things in your mind has a great impact on your ability to apply visual and practical techniques. So when I am working I’m actually reflecting on things I have seen.

Learn form the material

Another reason why I am a maker is my interest in material, its not that I am especially interested in the substance of the materials, it’s the curiosity on how materials react on certain things. For instant when I was working with caramel and cement I wondered what would happen if I pour them together, how would it solidify? The answer was quite disappointed when I found out that they both did not solidify at al. Often it’s a big risk when you attempt to add something to your work when your not sure how it will turn out, but not knowing what eventually could happen I think is worst. Only in this way you can really find new insights on your work preventing it to become a staged or composed project form beginning to end. Although this is an pretty practical example it also happens while painting for instants I wonder what would it be looking like when I turn the background from black to yellow, and this is a big change so again this is a risk but I think your work is open to experiments until you feel some kind of satisfaction and if that

doesn’t come just make it an experiment and not a work.

Often observing and learning form the material happens at the same time. But I think this refers mainly to visual aspect of life. By watching how materials interact I learn form the visual characteristics of the material, this is how I know how to draw hair underwater water, or the movement of smoke without having research it.

Creating problems witch I can solve

One of my greatest gifts is creating problems, it may even be a hobby. I’m not talking about getting kicked off of school and getting into jail type of problems but rather problems I can solve with intuition.

Often when I decide to go to a legal graffiti spot to make a big artwork I often come unprepared, mainly because I decide very impulsively what I want to do. So when I get the idea to go paint I don’t want to waste my time on making a sketch and getting art supplies although I know that its very important to come prepared.

File:Work proces cement.jpg

Normally cement is only used to bond between stone (mostly bricks), but when it is used to make concrete you can pore it into any shape. unfortunately I didn't prepare well enough, I forgot buy the right sand to mix it with so I had to pull it of with only cement and water. As you can see I used a plastic cup to make a mold, in this way I could remove the mold carefully by cutting it open because the dry cement can be very fragile.

Final shape

For the second assignment I used lego. I combined two different techniques to bond material that is plastic. Lego itself off course has a bonding ability, but it also is made to easily take it apart and rebuild something new. But when you combine this with clue it becomes a strong structure. Also I think its very nice to see the color grid without directly associating it with lego because we are used to see lego in the typical block form

1. My mother influenced me creativity and my gather taught me practical thinking

2. I like watching and observing, and reuse wat I see to

3. playing

4. learn form the material

5. creating problems witch you can solve

When I was young I was directly influenced by my mother who always had a
motivation to create things. She made paintings, drawing, she even made our
clothes and cut our hair in weird shapes, also she made an ugly angel hanging form
the sealing colored gold (the frustration).

Even tough she was always making, she never approached it seriously except for
the one year she studied fashion in Utrecht, but then she got pregnant and the
whole plan was scrapped form the book. These days my mother is still creating,
she is doing a ceramics workshop and is making ceramic flowers and dinner set’s
for at home.

Not only did she influenced me creatively but also she supported me to do what I
like most unlike a lot of people saying art can hardly be a source of income. Like
my dad for instants, he doesn’t seem to see the point in creating unless it’s
practical. But I still think he was a big influence because of his practical point of
view.

He is a mechanic who has a passion for motorbikes and really trucks, he also
managed to build his own house form scratch with the help of a couple relatives
who are in that business, so most of the day at work and at home he is crafting.
I think helping him for instants with replanting a tree in the garden taught me to
think practical.

While I’m writing this I actually realize that my mother influenced me with
creativity and my father taught me practical thinking, I think those are the most
important factors to be a maker.