#fluidpower

What I wish more people understood is that art is like cooking. Not everyone needs to be a great chef but everyone should cook to some extent. It is required to put fuel into our bodies, and we have to prepare that fuel. Same with exercise. A lot of people understand that regular exercise is part of a healthy life, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are athletes.

But it feels like most people don’t apply this perspective to art. Just because you are not an “artist” doesn’t mean that you should not be creating something that feeds your soul. It can be paper clip crafts, or doodles in your notebook, or knitting or LITERALLY WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT but please for the love of God do SOMETHING.

I think it starts with our art teachers exclaiming confidently that everyone is an artist. While I understand the intention behind it, I feel like it alienates people who don’t feel artistic, or aren’t particularly skilled and they end up frustrated. Not everyone is an artist in the sense that they have the mindset and technical skills to make meaningful pieces, but everyone should be a creator of some sort. It feeds that need in your soul, and just like food and exercise are part of a healthy body, so is art.

Human nature is to make crappy art and embroider crappy designs onto your clothes and finger paint and make a mess. All prehistoric cultures have instances of art dating as far back as tools and cooking, and it is just as vital to civilization as the things that keep us breathing. What’s the point of living without feeling alive.

-kp