Posts Tagged ‘Kindergarten’
When Did You Stop Being An Artist?
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
“Art, at least as I define it, is the intentional act of using your humanity to create change in another person.” – Seth Godin
Last week Seth Godin gave a talk in New York City to promote his new book, Linchpin: Are you Indispensable? From the moment he stepped on stage he gave examples of how our work has been informed by being told what to do and how that is all changing. Every day there is a chance to do your art or not. As Godin says, “Art is the new work that none of us were taught to do.”
Godin posts a blog every day. He says even after all these years and posts, he still cringes when he hits the send button. Will anyone read it? Will anyone care what he has to say? He even thought of saying he’s done with writing. Then right after he says he’s done, a strange thing happens – he starts to write.
Ask yourself – when did you stop writing, dancing, singing, painting, creating? How old were you? Did someone tell you that you would never make it as an artist? We lose a part of ourselves every time we don’t create our art. Imagine the amazing feelings artists give the world. They generously share their work, receive a fee (sometimes), and then people get to share it, and the art gets better with each experience.
The photo in this blog was done in Kindergarten. The teacher could have told me to use standard colors – use black, brown, or yellow for hair. Instead, she just said, draw your happy self. Apparently my happy self had green hair and purple eyes. All of us were told how beautiful our pictures were and to celebrate them. I have hung this self-portrait plate in every place I have lived. It hangs proudly on the wall for all to see the art of me.
Give the gift of experiences – share your art for the entire world to see. Maybe you stopped being an artist because you were scared, unsure, rejected, or embarrassed. But that’s the point of art – to do it anyway. As Scott Adams once said, “Creativity is allowing you to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
The art inside of you is waiting to come out. What will you do with your chance to create? I’m taking my art smock out again. Will you join me?
Here’s to creating a world with more art.
~Mary Anne