I am in Sayulita, Mexico teaching a workshop in the beautiful hillside retreat hideaway called Haramara. Our days begin with making Art outside in an open air “shala” and close with the sun slipping behind the sea. It is a short walk down the hill to the candle lit tree house-like-dining area where dinner is served. There is no electricity, nowhere really to go, nor reason to leave so our dinners are long. Conversations wind around all manner of subjects. However, the other night, we wound up, for a good portion of the evening, trying to answer a single question.
It related to the feelings of self-indulgence that sometimes arise around making one’s Art. After all, what exactly are we doing except pleasing ourselves? No one really is benefiting from our indulgence, except maybe the art store. It is not like we are saving some small part of the world, or helping to eradicate some virus somewhere. Might there be more something a little more beneficial to be doing with our time?
At times I have wondered this as well. But in no short time my answer comes back solidly in favor of pursuing one’s art. I feel it is tremendously valuable.
There are three primary reasons why.
Making Your Art brings you Alive.
I don’t know of any other activity that so powerfully chronicles an individual’s journey of becoming more like themselves than their Art. I believe this life we have been blessed with is to be lived fully. We are supposed to figure out what brings us alive. There are many obstacles in our way, of course, but Art isn’t one of them. Making Art is the telltale sign that we are on the right path. Our path. It offers us visual evidence of who we are and more importantly who we are becoming. It is simply a thoroughly, worthwhile undertaking. It takes courage, discipline and a degree of optimism to continue making Art. It is our own personal story of coming alive.
Making Your Art creates Abundance.
Following what truly your heart asks of you is a tremendous act of self-love. For many people, the siren song of their art must be answered. If it can be, there often follows a tremendous lift and a spiritual prosperity. Our Art fills our life and quenches us in a way that few things in life can. It literally completes us. This, in turn, catalyzes a new generosity of spirit that overflows to those around us. Happiness and well-being tend to spread. Finding joy in what you spend your time doing is just the first step towards serving others. This can take many forms but I see again and again that when someone is personally fulfilled they then naturally turn towards giving back. I know first hand how my own art making has given me boundless energy to help others with theirs. This is just my way, but there are countless others. When you answer your Art it creates a spirit of abundance not just for yourself but others as well.
Making Your Art gives others Permission.
Making your Art is not a solitary endeavor. It only seems that way because often there is no one to follow. Your work is, in the end, your work. The path in front of you is never clear. It is just not well worn because no one has walked there before. However, behind you is a different story. Your actions serve as inspiration for people in your life. If you can do this then so can they. Your art serves as a permission slip for others to possibly pursue their desires too. The tremendous value of your efforts, your courageousness is sometimes easy to overlook, but it is vitally important for the creative development for others around you.
In the end, your art might, at fist blush, seem entirely for yourself. But make no mistake, this small pebble of creative effort, once dropped into the still waters of your life radiates far, farther out than you can possibly imagine.
What has your journey been with Art making? Why do you make your Art?
With gratitude, Nicholas
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Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.
“Message from Martha Graham : It is not your business to determine how
good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the
channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.
You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you.
Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no
satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine
dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us
more alive than the others.”
I cam across the above quote the other day and it really hit home. My journey with art is I am driven to make it. Designs call to me, images beg me to photograph them, songs long to be written it is not by chance or choice that I am an artist, it’s something much more esoteric.
Unexplainable really.
I remember one morning I work up was flipping through the beautiful art on ETSY and all of a sudden I got this tremendous urge to finish a painting that was curing in my art shack. It was one I was stuck on for awhile. But in that moment I knew exactly what to do. it took me all of 15 minutes to finish it. I knew I was done because a little voice inside me said, STOP – You are done.
I took it to the Sundance Harvest Market in UT. and a couple from Kansas City, MO purchased it. She said there was something mystical and magical about and she just had to have it.
I disagree with Ms. Graham in that I find immense satisfaction when I have a breakthrough after being stuck on a piece for awhile. And the cherry on top is when it catches a buyers heart.
But I do agree that there is a “blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us
more alive than the others.”
“Message from Martha Graham : It is not your business to determine how
good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the
channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.
You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you.
Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no
satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine
dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us
more alive than the others.”
I came across the above quote the other day and it really hit home. My journey with art is I am driven to make it. Designs call to me, images beg me to photograph them, songs long to be written it is not by chance or choice that I am an artist, it’s something much more esoteric.
Unexplainable really.
I remember one morning I work up was flipping through the beautiful art on ETSY and all of a sudden I got this tremendous urge to finish a painting that was curing in my art shack. It was one I was stuck on for awhile. But in that moment I knew exactly what to do. it took me all of 15 minutes to finish it. I knew I was done because a little voice inside me said, STOP – You are done.
I took it to the Sundance Harvest Market in UT. and a couple from Kansas City, MO purchased it. She said there was something mystical and magical about and she just had to have it.
I disagree with Ms. Graham when she speaks of that there is no satisfaction when creating as quite often I find immense satisfaction. Especially when I have a breakthrough after being stuck on a piece for awhile. And the cherry on top is when it catches a buyers heart.
But I do agree that there is a “blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us
more alive than the others.”
I make art because sometimes there is something deep inside me that wants a creative outlet. When I listen to that and give it form, I feel at my very best. It’s a process for me, though, and it often times leaves me restless and wrangling. When I haven’t been able to marry my inner soul’s desire and vision with the skill and output that it’s hungry for, it can be a time of great discontent. It takes a lot discipline and courage to keep trying.
Sometimes when things aren’t going so well for me in my art making, it’s really easy for me to get negative and listen to other reasons why I shouldn’t keep going–reasons like, there is already too much stuff in the world anyways, why add to the stuff? And it’s a valid point. But, as you also stated, making art brings a lot of joy and when we are truly happy, then that energy goes out into the world too and helps counteract the darkness. This is important too.
Enjoy beautiful, sunny Sayulita. We’re getting pounded with heavy rains and wind here in Marin…
I am enjoying your posts very much, Nicholas and they speak directly to my own experience as a maker of Art for over forty years. That desire and need to create came to me. It sought me out and pulled me to it as a twenty-two year old Canadian student of French and History who had the good fortune to find himself in Aix-en-Provence, south of France. It was the hometown of Paul Cezanne and at the time Picasso was still alive and still creating in a town not far away from where I went to classes.
At the time, I was strictly an “amateur” of Art, that is, I appreciated it and looked and admired it but did not make it.
That all changed as I was surrounded and immersed in that golden Mediterranean light and centuries of art making and art history.
Before my experience as a foreign student ended I began to draw rather spontaneously . The more I looked at the vast collections of Art in Europe, the more I felt that ithis was something I too might attempt to do.
I was astounded at what I could do without any mentoring. It seemed to be something already inside me that was waiting to be released. I was also fascinated seeing what my eyes could see and then how my hand and fingers could translate that into visual language. Maybe it was connected to my learning a second language as an Anglophone. Maybe it was being outside my usual comfort zone. Perhaps it was being in such unfamiliar light and places.
Whatever it was, my life changed forever and has been richer and more delightful ever since!
http://www.brianmiddletonart.ca
Great points, as always! I used to think making art was self indulgent but once you start to share it with others you see that other people appreciate what you take for granted.
I also first starting exhibiting because I met someone who said she was an artist, and although I was already painting I hadn’t had the nerve to submit anything. Permission indeed, and good to look back too. We are always being encourages to look forward but I find that can be too daunting with art. Just one painting at a time, and soon you have a history to look back at. Thank you.
Hello Nicholas—–a friend forwarded your observations and it gave me reason to pause. I’m one of those unfortunate artists that didn’t survive the early 80’s, got married and began a family. It pained me, but felt I did everything I could to earn a living, but eventually had let it go to support my young family.
Fast forward 34 years and I’m having coffee with my eldest son. He had just purchased a new condo and lamented over the fact he had nothing of mine to put in it. I apologized and explained that part of my life was essentially dead. The following Christmas he gave me a present of one semester at a local community college that had a damn fine ceramics department. I threw a few pots, did Raku, and began to think about the next piece. I was reborn. My son saved me!
I sought out a studio suitable for my sculptures and spend nearly all my time working there. When posed with the question of why do I create art I found it odd I’d never asked myself that question before. It’s CRAZY! I’m still not sure your observations apply to me as I seem to thrive on my own pain. I see every unwanted undulation, break in contour and line, flaws, and glazing miscues seemingly unnoticed by those that view my work. This self-flagellation causes me to destroy more work than I save for public view puzzling many around me.
I love the idea that I could be influencing others by my work, and love the idea of being altruistic giving back to others, but I don’t really believe that. Creating art is cathartic so I do it for me! Not so much for attention, rather I just need to bring what’s in my head out as a 3D replica.
Thank you for posting the quote from Martha Graham, Traci. I love the part about …keeping your channels open… To me, this means that art is an important form of communication that we deny the world this voice if we shut it down. I believe art comes from a higher place which transcends self and others.