WHY IS ART SO IMPORTANT?

February 20, 2023

Art making has been around longer than the art establishment. Mankind  has been motivated to create art for 70,000 years. The first cave paintings were done by someone…unnamed. He or she did it because he had to. The designation of art as self-expression or fine art is a contemporary idea.  Artists do not have a lot to shore them up in today’s world. At one time there was the church and patrons who kept art alive…today, the artist is essentially on his own to create and support the creating.

There is an assumption today that art is based on talent…something you either have or don’t have. This assumption is fatalistic and offers no useful encouragement to those who would make art. While talent, fate, luck, and tragedy all play into human destiny, they are not tools for advancing your own art on a day-to-day basis. The danger is in identifying yourself with your art so that if you create flawed art you are a flawed person.  It is healthier to accept a path to successful art making and do it because you have to. It makes you whole. It makes you happy.

Making art is difficult. Often the work in our minds  seems more real than the work we have actually done. So, the questions are: How does art get done? Why, often, does it not get done? And, what is the nature of the difficulties that stop so many who start? With this series of articles, I would like to share the wisdom of many people who have studied the processes of creativity.  I will be giving techniques to help the artist (writer, painter, dancer, musician, actor) maintain the skills that allow the art to be created.  To find out about the truths about creativity, Click on the button below to get, THREE TRUTHS ABOUT CREATIVITY.