This week has been a whirlwind. I had the amazing opportunity come my way to have my art featured at a local restaurant. I got busy gathering up 13 paintings to be on display within the week. I was even still painting and finishing one of them! But I did it, got everything all together and delivered them yesterday. The paintings will be up through the end of the year, if you're local or passing through on your way to Lake Tahoe this holiday season, you need to stop by and check them out! Have a tasty meal and buy some art while you're there. You can find them at Graze Restaurant in Pine Grove, California.
In preparing for this show I was aware of how different my art is compared to most art that gets featured in this little rural county of mine. My art often stretches folks here, it asks viewers to pause and wonder to be sure. In the past that might have intimidated or worried me. No longer! Instead I'm quite excited to know that my art can have an impact like that. Then again, people may surprise me and fall in love with it. Who knows!
It did get me thinking though about the importance of art in our lives. During challenging and chaotic times one may question the role and value of art when there are so many practical and day to day struggles going on for so many. But I'm definitely in the camp that art is vital to our society, for those that create it, and for those that experience it ~ especially in difficult times. So here are some thoughts I had while preparing my art this past week. I printed it, framed it, and hung it up along with my art.
The foundational question is this, how does art make you FEEL (versus what you THINK about it)?
Happy reading.
The Role of Art
Why is art important? What is the point? Artists create for many reasons ~ to make a statement, to reflect the beauty of the world around us, to incite a reaction, or to simply make money. Making art can be about a final creation or product, but just as often it is about the process itself. For an artist, this process can be vital self-expression. The underlying motivation is that for many artists making art is actually necessary and at the same time happens to be very good for them.
Making art can be healing, cathartic, joyful, painful, or simply a way to keep your hands busy. Through the very process of creating artists are letting out whatever emotions, feelings, visions, dreams, or ideas into the world that need to be expressed. Sometimes it may be joy or delight, other times it may be frustration or rage. No matter the emotions being released, it has been shown that it is much better for our psyches, bodies, and spiritual health than keeping everything all pent up inside. Being creative and expressing oneself artistically is absolutely beneficial for one’s well-being. As for the art itself, this process can bring about planned and expected or very surprising and unsettling results. Either way, something that never existed before has taken shape and form here in our physical world all thanks to an artist.
Viewing art is also part of this process. Art is not always created to be shared, sometimes it is kept private and personal. When an artist chooses to share their creation it is then open to interpretation by the viewer. The artist has no control over how others will understand and view their work. Perception and reception of a piece of art is highly personal. Many may agree on the quality of the technique, the composition, or the execution of a piece, but how art makes someone feel is at the individual level. Each person will respond differently to a piece of art, as they should, despite the many art critics who earn their living by insisting on how we are supposed to feel about specific pieces of art.
Whether as a professional artist or as a weekend hobbyist, when someone creates a piece of art, celebrating that process instead of judging the results opens us up to a whole new way of experiencing creativity.
So I ask you, how does a piece of art make you FEEL? This is the question I invite you to explore whenever you are in a place to experience art. The beauty of this approach is that there is no right or wrong way to feel. However you respond to a work of art is perfect for you. And how you feel is only the beginning ~ to be AWARE of how a piece of art makes you feel takes you even deeper. Pause, experience, notice, and reflect. Approaching it in this way you can then appreciate art in all its many forms ~ for what it offers YOU ~ whatever that looks like, without the need to understand why it was created in the first place. You get to have your very own personal relationship and experience with a piece of each and every time.
Enjoy the show!
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