Why Make Art?

Like so many others in our culture, I grew up thinking that I was not an artist. If I  didn’t have “talent” there was no point in making my own images. Though I tried several times as an adult to learn to draw, I always felt discouraged by my lack of success and would quickly abandon my efforts.

It wasn’t until I signed up for an acrylic painting class in my late 30’s that I experienced the power of art to touch my inner life. I did not find that I had any more talent at art than I had before, but I had an experience as I left class of feeling “awake” for the first time in years. This feeling of being newly aware of myself and my surroundings lasted for the rest of the day, and over the weeks to come, each time I returned to class I had the same experience. It was as though I had been going through life in a dream without even knowing it.

In the years since that first class, I have found that I can find this sense of being awake whenever I really pay attention to something, whether through painting or drawing, writing, being outside, or in sitting meditation or another mindfulness activity. All these activities point to the same thing: awareness.

The Merlin that roosted in the cedar tree in our back yardArt as an experience (as something I do, rather than the product I make) has many purposes for me. It is a way of connecting with the world around me, of feeling its contours and bones and movement. It is a way of connecting with myself, of knowing where I am and what I am pulled toward. And it is a way to connect with other people, building community through this common activity.

Whether or not I have talent has ceased to be the question; what is important is the joy I find when I am speaking to myself and the world with the images that come from my own being. I am happy to be able to share this process with each of you and to enjoy the things that you create.