08. The hat of being an artist

What it means to me, to be an artist

For me, this is a hat that I have been wearing all my life & it expressed itself through my love to paint and draw, even though most of my life, I had a hard time identifying with this Artist” hat.

Art is much more vast than just painting: its music, its play, its sculptures, its dance, its words, its buildings, its books, its movies, its videos, its thinking, its troubleshooting, its even science… its basically everything and everywhere, its creativity in any imaginable format there is. It’s life.

I deeply believe that every human being born on earth is an artist, just like each one of us is a scientist from the get-go.

My observations of young children in my family or from my friends show me that each of these kids is an artist; some love to draw and paint, others love to make figurines, others express themselves through making sticker-books, some love to write, others can build great blanket caves with super-duper high coziness levels, others again love to play with toys and come up with amazing storylines… and if one thing doesn’t work, another way is explored, or a collaborative effort is set up & if everything fails, you can always ask a grown up for help :-). All that is art too.

The list goes on and on, there is no end to children’s creativity and artistic expressions… well, maybe that’s not really true, because as soon as we get into kindergarden or school, we are taught very specific things… ( attention: short discourse coming in… :-D)

There is only ONE solution to this math problem, there is only ONE way to interpret the poem, there is only ONE meaning with the analogy the author came up with, there is only ONE possible interpretation of the scenario the artist painted in his surrealistic painting… thinking different, feeling and perceiving different in school is not always encouraged.

We are also all supposed to be good at the same subjects, often those are Math, English and our native language. Because those are the topics that count, who cares about music or art? No one, these are not real subjects, not even pedagogy is important, religion or philosophy? Pah, unnecessary too… Biology is not important either, cos we have math for that… yeah right…

I went to school in Germany, additionally I practiced my polish on the side with a friend of the family & I went to different arts classes, cos I loved art & to paint & to draw.

If we had the chance to pick a new subject at school, I would always pick the one I liked the most, the one I was drawn to. So when we had to choose our majors, guess what I picked? Biology and Art ;-), and Spanish and Pedagogy as secondary subjects.

Why? Because I loved them all! I loved nature and biology, I loved to paint and to be creative, I loved the sound of Spanish, and I loved pedagogy because I love people, psychology and human-human interactions. For me, these subjects represented exactly the perfect mix of who I was & what I loved.

I was the only one with this combination, there were very few with an art major. I once had a friend in my master’s studies who was super surprised about my choice, because it was so untypical, he even questioned, why would I do that? I mean: why not? Why would I pick something that everyone picks, even though I don’t like it? Pointless. To me, these decisions are an expression of my artistic & creative mind, cos I did what I felt was best for me, no matter what everyone else chose.

But school does that to the minds of children, it forms them to be, think and do in the same way, even though we are all different. There is no room for creativity, for art in its purest form, which is the same as science: curiosity, questioning and wondering and creating upon that.

Being an artist and being curious spans into all the aspects of our life!

It shows in our thinking processes: how easily can we adapt, come up with a new, different, maybe unconventional approach?

It shows in our relationships: how do we interact with each other, with who, in which settings, how do we speak to one another?

It shows in our cooking: how and what do we cook, the same all the time or do we mix it up?

It shows in our hobbies: do we have hobbies, or do we only work?

It shows in our work environment: who are we at the workplace, how do we relate to others, they to us, what is our role in a social setting?

All these need creativity and art! Is any of these taught in school? Nope.

We don’t learn how to think flexible, because there is just one right answer.

We dont learn how to deal with failure, cos if you have many F’s, you are supposedly dumb and worthless & wont be able to make a living.

We dont learn how to cook, how to keep a household, how to deal with money, how to deal with emotions, other people, social settings… we don’t learn who we are at school.

We are all pressed into one mold.

School does not prepare us for life, it often takes away the most important aspects for making a great life happening: keeping our inner child-like artist & creativity alive is one of these essential aspects that I wish to never die out in anyone of us.

Cos creating a fulfilling life is an act of true artistry & creativity.

To me, an artist is a person who manages to artistically & creatively go through life and create a fulfilling life for themselves and their loved ones.

Writing all this down, makes me realize that it’s the first time I express what I think about the word “artist” in a healthy way… because until recently, I did not have a healthy view of what it means to wear the “Artist” hat…

I grew up with a talent for the visual arts, I might one day write about the word talent & what I think about it, now I would just deviate again :-D

Most likely I got that practical talent from my dad, he was a brilliant artist, barely any other ten-fingered person I know is as great as my dad when it comes to artistic skills.

However, my dad was the typical plagued, deeply hurt & traumatized artist, that would go about life in a bit of a troublesome way. That is what he lived, how he lived and how I experienced and saw him, forming my view of the “typical artist”, therefore also never really being able to identify with the word “Artist”.

I surely got my artistic creativity for life from my mom, cos she was and is highly creative and she managed to apply artistry & creativity throughout our family life, all the time. She was the driving force behind what went well, she steered our family ship, no matter the bricks & cliffs that would be throw her way, my mom always found a way to not make us all crash.

THIS for me is being a true Artist, an artist of life, who makes it work no matter the circumstances, does the best she or he can and keeps on going.

That is a definition of “Artist” I gladly identify with, cos I feel I am trying my best to create a happy & fulfilling life for myself and my closest loved ones. I am facing challenges with my most open mindset, trying to apply whatever it needs to face those challenges and at the same time, I am also a “typical” artsy artist, who loves to create and paint and craft and just express my artistic side into physical reality.

Love,
Daria

Wonderings:

What do you think about the word “Artist”?

Do you also wear the hat of an artist?