"So You Want To Be An Artist........."
“So you want to be an artist........“As in a starving artist........”You really aren’t that good you know........”Nice hobby........"You make a living doing this?”........“What exactly are you going to do with an art diploma?”.........“Why are you wasting your time - go outside and get some exercise!”.........“You should really stop wasting your life and go into High Tech.”........“You need to take a couple years and find your voice.”...........and my personal favourite from a dealer in Toronto: “You really should go back to school and learn to paint.”
WOW! When I think back on all the naysaying over the years, its amazing that I still paint. What is even scarier is that these comments are from people I know....well!
It reminds me of the old Harry Chapin tune where a child who paints flowers all the colours of the rainbow only to have his/her creativity driven out of them by a well-meaning teacher. German art theorist Rudolph Arnheim once stated that “every child entering grade school in this country embarks on a twelve to twenty year aesthetic alienation.” We drive the creativity out. We rationalize that these are frivolous children's activities and there is no place for them in our rational society.
I would say the same holds true today. The first programs cut in schools under the guise of fiscal restraint are art and music programs. The number of liberal arts universities and visual arts schools in particular, have dropped significantly in North America over the last two decades only to be replaced with Science and Engineering based programs - all to address global competitiveness and economic concerns . The remaining fine arts programs are becoming more technology based to cater to new industry sectors - CGI and the gaming industries immediately come to mind. I am not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, there is some very cool sh*t out there. I am simply pointing out that it is becoming more and more difficult to study the traditional fine art of hands-on drawing painting and sculpture. Even in my career in Architecture, the craft of drawing has pretty much disappeared. The ability of young graduates, with a Masters level degree, to actually draw, is quickly going the way of the Dodo. The technology has replaced the art. Laser scanning has replaced traditional mapping out and drawing. The computer takes care of all issues to do with perspective. There is not a single drafting table in the office that I am currently working and you very seldom actually see Architects (with the exception of us older farts) sketching any more. I really miss that hands on creative energy that came with drawing as you design.
So what does all this have to do with the comments at the top? EVERYTHING!
Every artist will tell you that their art is in their blood. Whether it is drawing, painting, sculpture, music or whatever, their art or craft makes up their very essence. Being an artist however requires a really thick skin and amazing staying power. There is no end to the line of well meaning critics out there that will pass on their opinion and usurp your passion. Societally we have become more conservative at the expense of the liberal and fine arts. Our cultural institutions are hemorrhaging. It is increasingly difficult to gain access to traditional galleries. All of these factors makes it extremely challenging for artists. It makes one wonder why anyone would want to be an artist in this day and age.
That being said, on the flip side, it is not all doom and gloom out there. Yes it does seem that we artists were on a bit of a sinking ship but there is this wonderful thing out there called the internet. A new frontier has opened up - one that is hugely exciting for artists. With every door that closes, there is a new opportunity that presents itself, and there are a lot of artists taking note.
My observations of the new (well not that new) phenomena of blogs and online websites are that the traditional fine arts actually have a new home. There are some absolutely amazing things going on in the virtual art world, right now, that we all can participate. There are some very cool online projects out there with participation by artists world wide. The two that I have actively participated and I highly recommend you check out are the following sites - sketchbookproject.com and sketchcrawl.com. These are two sites dedicated to the tradition of drawing and sketching where thousands of artists worldwide participate in a specific art project.
Sketchcrawl.com is a call to artists worldwide to go out and urban sketch on site and on the same day. The artists then post their results to a blog for all to see. The sketchbook project is the brainchild of a few artists in Brooklyn NY where they send out thousands of sketchbooks to artists worldwide to fill and return to an art library in Brooklyn. These are truly awesome concepts. I have discovered that there are thousands of like minded people out there that absolutely love art as much as I do.
So when someone asks me if I want to be an artist, my answer is Hell Ya! I love to draw and paint. Thats what I do. If I had listened to all the negative speak over the years I would have packed it in long ago. I don’t make much money through my art, but I do make some. What I love the most is the thrill I get when someone drops me a note asking me why I missed posting a new painting - that they missed it. Or when I am asked when my next drawing class will be held - because they enjoyed my last one. Or when I am totally stressed out at work and I stop at a local coffee shop and sketch in my pocket sketchbook (I carry it everywhere) and people want to know if I am writing or sketching - they want to see. Or when I see my sketchbook is traveling through six cities in the USA and Canada as part of the SketchBook Project and will find it’s permanent home in a art library in Brooklyn. This is why I paint, and draw, and why I want to share with this blog. This is why I am an artist.
And as for that dealer in Toronto that told me I should go back to school to learn to paint - Six of the ten paintings I showed him that day were sold online within two months, and the other four out of my studio shortly thereafter.
Keep Painting!
2 Comments
Eric Stein
Keep on painting, Greg! I admire your will to keep challenging the obstacles you have been facing. You are an inspiration for the rest of us!
John Wright
February 21, 2013
Well put Greg. This is a keeper – I’ll print it small and paste in in a sketch/note book.