Recently my friends and I had our yearly Halloween party. Last year someone had the idea to do a craft at our 2023 party, and so we painted ceramics. We all had a blast and decided to make this a tradition for our Halloween parties. At first we thought of continuing the ceramics trend, however, we ultimately decided on making figurines with model magic.
There is a big spectrum of artistic passion within my friend group. I am extremely enthusiastic about it, hence the art blog. I make some kind of art basically every day, however, it’s almost always me by myself laboring over painstaking details. Because of this, I relish any opportunity to make art with some buddies in a much more casual setting. One of my friends is also quite focused on her craft and whips up lots of anime-inspired art on the regular.
Meanwhile, a fair number of my friends enjoy art but engage with it on a less consistent basis and in a more laid-back manner. For example, one of them works on diamond painting kits when he has the chance, another occasionally participates in local art workshops, and the third has an on-and-off relationship with a pair of knitting needles and a ball of yarn. There’s also one or two of us who aren’t crazy about making art- the sessions that happen at our Halloween parties are likely the only times they get up to anything crafty. So, like I said, the level of enthusiasm is all over the place.
Then there's the separate spectrum of skill. While working with the clay, some of us really knew what we were doing. My friend who makes the anime drawings went in with a plan, was confident throughout her entire creative process, and executed her idea nigh flawlessly (she made the Zoidberg dressed as a maid).
Some of us had an idea but faced speed bumps along the way. I was in this category. Although I draw all the time, I very rarely work with clay. My creative juices were flowing but sometimes my tinfoil and clay were not quite cooperating and not quite basting in those juices. And for others, the entire process was a brutal fight for survival from start to finish.
But despite the big differences in our passion and skill, we all had a great time. I think this is attributable to multiple factors. First, we were spending time with each other. After all, this activity was part of a party. While making our clay figures was the primary objective at that time, it was also an alternative way for us to bond, chat, and joke around.
On top of that, the environment was extremely supportive. There was no contest, nobody was criticizing another’s work, and there were no standards or criteria to adhere to. We told each other our creative processes, commented on each other’s progress, helped each other out, and gave advice if requested. Nobody was afraid to make a mistake or ask for help.
Lastly, this activity allowed everyone to create something. This may initially seem like a far less obvious or influential factor than the fun with friends or a supportive environment. However, I think that is a potential misconception. And due to that, today I want to talk about the act of creating.
Before I get started though, I want to clarify something. When I talk about art or creating art, I don’t just mean visual art. I also mean writing, playing an instrument, singing, acting- all the creative endeavors.
I also want to acknowledge something before I accidentally make myself come across as cocky or uppity: Art serves no undeniably vital purpose. You cannot call art a true, physiological necessity in the way that you can eating, sleeping or defecating. If you go without making art, you're not going to physically wither and die. Your heart will still beat, your lungs will still exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide, and all your other organs will keep trucking along just fine. Creating art also does not satisfy a true safety need like housing, transportation, or money. Going without making it produces no negative impact on your ability to secure yourself or continue existing. It is very much an optional endeavor.
Yet, despite it not being necessary, there is a certain magic in making art that can’t be found anywhere else. When you create art for yourself, there is no end goal. There are no specifications to be met, no needs to be fulfilled, no boxes to be checked off, no overseer to inform of your progress, no deadlines to adhere to. In summary, there is no dictating force that you are responding to. You are birthing something that is bound to no rules, laws, nor entities besides those of your own heart. You are truly untethered and able to say "This is me, this is who I am". It is deeply contemplative, reflective, and intimate.
Of course though, not all forms of art are created solely for oneself or are completely unbound. Actors play characters and usually follow scripts. Musicians often abide by scores or a conductor’s directions. Visual artists may be held to a variety of guidelines depending on their role in a project. For example, the illustrator for a children’s book will need to consult with the book’s author, while a concept artist for a movie studio will likely provide multiple designs for a character and make iterations of them based on feedback from staff.
However, the rules that artists follow in these situations are not set in stone. In each of these cases, there are still countless opportunities for artists to provide personal interpretations and inject personal perspectives. Not only that, but there is an expectation and desire for artists to provide their own twists. After all, if the rules of a hypothetical artistic project were ever so strict as to 100% control the outcome of said project, then there would be no need to care about the specific person making the art.
I think one of the best examples of this artistic flexibility can be seen with method acting. You can hand twenty different actors the exact same script for the exact same character and still get wildly different results depending on how each actor interprets the script. And those who pursue the method acting route can create additional layers of a character’s personality that didn’t even exist in the original script.
Take Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight. Prior to the film’s premiere, audiences and critics wondered how Ledger would continue the insane and entertaining character previously depicted by Jack Nicholson. To prepare for this role, Ledger locked himself in a hotel room for a month and kept a journal of his thoughts. Ultimately, rather than getting a continuation of Nicholson’s depiction, we get a much more sadistic and malicious Joker that is basically a separate entity.
In contrast to the arts, everyday life rigidly dictates our responses, sometimes unintentionally and sometimes by design. We are forced to follow very strict paths of action that offer minimal, if any, opportunities for deviation. We work in response to a need for money. And in many industries, it is mandatory for employees to produce identical and standardized results. We eat in response to hunger and a need for energy, and such food choices are often determined by what is convenient and affordable. We talk to others in response to the need to supply and receive information, and our words are chosen based on communicating as quickly and effectively as possible. In those situations, there are virtually no large opportunities for personal injection and interpretation.
I would be remiss to say there aren't any opportunities though. Wearing a shirt with a design you like, choosing your favorite songs to play on the Spotify, picking out a new water bottle based on your favorite color, putting a sticker on your work badge, life is peppered with these microscopic opportunities for expression. The key part though is microscopic. They aren't deep or profound, instead they're more surface level and limited. They're like a weak cough when you have the flu. You get to clear your throat a little, but you're not able to hack up the massive wad of phlegm sitting in your lungs.
Even if we consider hobbies and activities that we voluntarily do for pleasure, the opportunities for self-expression in these situations are often very limited as self-expression is not the main point of many of them. We watch sports, television, and movies for entertainment. We play sports for a sense of competition or growth. We read books for entertainment, help, or guidance. We get drinks with our friends for companionship. We shop for that savory dopamine rush that occurs when you click “add to cart”. There is nothing wrong with any of these hobbies or activities- my point is just that the primary objective of them is not dredging up something from deep within yourself.
There is a voice inside you, and it has probably been gagged since your 8th grade art or chorus elective. But it's still there, it always will be, and it still wants to speak. No matter what kind of upbringing you've had, what kind of people you've met, and what kind of life you have led so far, the human condition is so complex and profound that we ALL have deep feelings, desires, fears, and fascinations.
However, everyday life doesn’t really grant us any opportunities to express and explore these deep feelings. While it allows us to haphazardly scoop globs out of the metaphorical peanut butter jar of existence, only the act of creating art allows us to dig into the corners and scrape the sides to get out those last bits of peanut butter that otherwise would get thrown into the trash.
So for anyone reading this, I strongly encourage you to get out there and make art. Sign up for a pottery workshop at your local college. Go to a karaoke bar and belt out your favorite song. Join your community theater. Daydream up a character and write down their adventures while you’re trying to stay awake during a boring meeting. Hell, draw a shitty doodle on the back of a grocery receipt. I don't care what the art is, just that you make it.
And thankfully, we are ALL bestowed with this incredible ability to create. We can all tell stories, draw pictures, sing, act, dance, and play music, ability and skill be damned. Yet so few of us do, it's honestly offensive. Imagine if only a handful of humans decided to fully use our legs and the rest of us were just like "Nope, standing and walking are not for me, I’ll just crawl around". It would be completely asinine. Yet nobody bats an eye at the sheer mass of people who ignore their creative side. We are ALL mighty dragons that can soar above the heavens, crush mountains, and breathe scorching, ferocious flames, yet so many of us choose to live our lives as garden snakes. Let’s change that.
Link, Zoidberg, two bunnies, two frogs, a mushroom, a bear, a wooper, a lizard, and a dragon walk into a bar. Actually, most of them crawl in because their legs are deformed. They wonder what cruel pantheon of gods brought them into existence and conspire to exact revenge.
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