JMJ

I haven’t been involved enough with the art world to fully understand the trials artists face. I’ve been still–indeed paralyzed–for so long that I haven’t stumbled, however it also means that I haven’t grown much. Being still has, however, allowed me to observe. And I believe that this is the first step–to recognize the beauty around us and the sacred in all things. However, it is not enough to just observe, we must also engage for how are we to be fully human if we don’t live and move and have our being?

While I was reading Art and Fear I couldn’t help but contrast an artist’s constant battles against fear with a child’s natural ability to create and play carefree. How easily we believe we cannot also become carefree, that we should fear what others think, that we are not enough, that we are fake. What lies! Growing up doesn’t mean we should submit to fear! While our playground may change, we can learn to see our “grown up” world as a playground. We have the freedom to move, to create, to play in our workspaces and our homes. When we abandon playing-pretend to our childhood, we start to believe that we are only pretending to be artists. We don’t trust our artistic license to create anything and then we become stuck, afraid to move. This is not good.

One possible way to approach dreaded fears is to simply become more childlike. Children trust. They don’t worry if their imaginative game doesn’t make sense to the whole world. If they are having fun and they can express themselves, they don’t worry what the world thinks. 

However, this can take time. If you haven’t tried to enter into the thickets of the imagination of a child since you were one, it can be extremely exhausting. How can something which was once so fun and effortless become so draining? However, the fact that engaging your creativity can be difficult doesn’t mean that there isn’t value in it. Indeed, many good fruits can come from learning how to play like a child once again. And perhaps the most important value in playing is the creative door it opens to us. When we drive down the road of creative nonsense, we may very well be pulled over; luckily, however, we can just show our creative license, and then move on through with good work.

“The breathtakingly wonderful thing about this reaction is its truthfulness. Look at your work and it tells
you how it is when you hold back or when you embrace.
When you are lazy, your art is lazy; when you hold
back, it holds back; when you hesitate, it stands there
staring, hands in its pockets. But when you commit, it
comes on like blazes”

“Art and Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland (49)