What do I ponder before I start to make something. . .

So I was asked this the other day and thought I might as well put it here.

1. Is it relevant?
Will anyone care if I make this thing? Generally it is going to take a lot of time and effort on my part - will anyone actually give a shit if I bother? This has a lot to do with what is going on in our society at the moment. A lot of people don't care about something that happened a long time ago unless you can relate it to something that is happening to them today. I hate to say it but most people jus do not know their history.

2. Can I do anything exciting with the materials that I am thinking of using?
In fiber we tend to get a bad reputation as being ultra-crafty makers of crap. I am not against craft. I feel there is amazing craft out there and create it myself (designing sweaters and such) however, when it is art we need to go a bit further. I like to do this with using non-traditional materials a lot of the time. When I do use traditional materials I like to use them in ways that make them appear in a contemporary manner. This is just me - some of my fav artists are working completely using traditional material and technique.

3. Conceptually what kind of reaction am I looking for from my viewer?
I don't want to make something that someone is going to ho-hum and then walk away from. Even if it makes someone angry (as some of my grad school work did) at least it is creating a response.

4. If they don't immediately get my concept - as some don't with my more formal abstracted work - is it at least aesthetically pleasing enough to hold the viewer's attention and make them go read my artist's statement?
Tons of silly little sketches and at least one prototype when it is an installation. If it doesn't look good to me, despite how much effort I may have into it, I don't show it. This is depressing when you have spent a ton of time on something but is better then having a horrid critique of work that you don't feel strongly about yourself!

5. Research!
I really don't want to reinvent the wheel. I may think I have the most unique idea in the universe - until I see someone else has beat me to it. In which case why should I go there. People will work with the same concepts as you - you just need to put your own unique spin on it. You never want to see something that looks like your work in a magazine. It will just be assumed that you copied it from the magazine because you can't come up with your own idea. And you know what they say about assume. . .

                                           But I have three dogs! Mixed Media, 2011