The other day it was a very busy day. I met an artist, though, and realized something about myself. When a student brought the artist to my office and introduced us to each other, we realized we were wearing necklaces designed and made by the same person. Mine had a bird on it, and I had bought it at Silver in the City. Hers had a plus sign on it, and she had bought it in Delaware. We started talking--she wondered if she might come by my class to ask the students to select their favorite words from a list as feedback for a project she was working on. I asked her what kind of work she did, and she said she liked to go around to old farms and abandoned barns and take pictures of what was there--just as I did in Tennessee last month. I told her about my project, and she said, "You know, you should probably display in more than one place--I'll bet there are lots of spaces that would be interested in that kind of work." The thought that snuck into my brain at that moment surprised me: 'Oh, but they wouldn't want my work. I'm not an artist.'
So I'm just letting that marinate a bit, that "I'm not an artist" thought. I'll let you know what comes of it, if anything.
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Maybe there's an artistic spectrum. You're on the spectrum. What we do and how we see both make us artists. C wouldn't consider himself an artist for a minute, but as I watch him collecting and pressing plants for a local botanical inventory, I see the artist arranging the plants. I know a teacher that doesn't draw or make things, but the way she orchestrates her classroom makes me think "art" every time I see her do it. I have yet another friend whose perspective on life doesn't allow her to stop being an artist, even when she's not creating. It's like she's living in a poem all the time.
ReplyDeletePlus, I've always thought of you as an artist. There's always been that core to you. Sometimes certain acts of creation take priority. Some creations get more "respect" as art. Sometimes we get the time, space and opportunity to express what is true or sublime just for the sake of the expression, and that's the kind of art that I think most people recognize. The act of creating, using skills and craft to distill life experience into a concentrated elixir of essentials, to speak to an audience, and then to find that audience seem like important parts of the definition. I really have no idea what I'm talking about. I've been struggling with this concept of "artist" for a while too.
Seems like a dangerous idea to get stuck in your head: "I'm not an artist." Maybe you can accept your artist label when you're in the act of creating... in your studio, at the wheel, taking pictures, or planning as you get a quiet minute in the car.
Thanks for that, Molly:).
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