Are You an Artist? Hell YES!

A friend of mine (good morning, Curt) and have have been having an on-going discussion about “What is art?”  More specifically, “Who is an artist?”

It seems that most people hesitate — no, make that refuse — to call what they do art or themselves artists.

“I take photographs, but I’m NOT a photographer.”
“I create images in PhotoShop, but I’m NOT a digital artist.”
“I play music, but I’m NOT a musician.”
“I write poems and stuff, but I’m NOT a poet or writer.”
“I _______________ , but I’m NOT an artist.”


We used to be artists, musicians, and writers when we were children -- our refrigerators were even the "art gallery!"  When did we stop being artists? Why do we do this to ourselves?  And what’s the cost? 

That question has led me to two things. One, The Icarus Deception, by Seth Godin.

 For thousands of years, people were told the story of Daedalus and his son, Icarus. They were isolated on an island by the gods and Daedalus came up with a way to escape by making wings. We know the myth as “don’t fly too close to the sun or your wings of wax will melt and you’ll perish.”

But it turns out that Daedalus gave his son two instructions.  The second, “Don’t fly too low. Don’t fly too close to the sea because if you do, the mist in the waves will weigh down your wings and you will surely die.”

It turns out that, according to Godin, industrialists and the systems that we live with want us to fly low. They push us to settle for less, and Godin thinks the time has come to stop buying that propaganda. “My book is a manifesto,” Godin writes, “almost a creed, about how we must overthrow the mindset of being a cog in the industrial system and instead, stand up and make what I call art.”

“Art is the work of a human being – something a person does with generosity to touch someone else to make a change for the better. We can see art in the way the nurse in a doctor’s office treats us when she knows how much pain we’re in. She’s not just doing her job; she’s being a person. She is enlarging the bubble around herself to include us.”

I was thinking of all this as I was doing some yard work at my younger daughter’s house when the sound of a chainsaw down the block caught my attention.

Meet Eric.

“That’s awesome art!” I said as I introduced myself.

“It’s my first attempt at making a duck!”  he replied without missing a beat.

Eric, like a lot of us, stopped short of calling his work art or himself an artist (even though it turns out he studied at an art school).

Eric, if you’re reading this, I call bullshit.  Eric is an artist. And what he’s crafting will be enjoyed by thousands of people as they walk Franklin Street on Evansville’s West Side (scheduled to be there in a couple of weeks).

What is your art?

Seth Godin defines art is a human act, a generous contribution, something that might not work, and it is intended to change the recipient for the better, often causing a connection to happen. Art contains three elements:

    1.    Art is made by a human being.
    2.    Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
    3.    Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording... but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

By his definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint, marble, words, wood, digital images, etc. Art is what we're doing when we do our best work.

Go out and make some art this week.

Carpe Diem Life,
David Kuhn

CarpeDiem-Life.com