What Does It Mean To Be An Artist?

I agree Mary, no reason to limit yourself artistically!!

Well, I like everybody's answers here. Remember when artists used to get together and write "manifestos" about why a certain art movement was dead and their group was the only one that knew what the true meaning of art was?

I never could get that. Why limit yourself like that?

I know what you mean, I'm sure it is clearer to some than others. I only know what it means to me to be an artist, what makes me one. I have no business to tell others what makes them one. I don't think there is any right or wrong answer, it really just depends on the person and how they feel, and what they feel makes them an artist. It's as personal and unique as our artwork itself.

It is another way to get to know each other. =) Definitely.

I'm sure there are some artists that have very clear and defined sense of what an artist is/isn't.

To each their own.

Sorry it has been a bit since my last reply, I have been busy today trying to take photos of my handmade jewelry to update on my facebook page.

@Brian, very good point!! Even if it is cliche it doesn't mean that it can't be true, at least for some.
@Angelina, I don't like most conventional definitions either, that's part of what got me thinking about this. I'm not interested in non artists opinions of what it takes to be an artist. I want to know what it means to each artist themself. Which goes a long with what you are saying, artists are what ever they want to be. It differs from artist to artist, which is why I started this thread. It's another way of getting to know each other better.

I saw a black and white Warhol piece today.
The technique was pretty interesting.

I think an artist is anyone who makes art.

It is a simplistic definition, on purpose...=D

I don't like most definitions of what an artist is because I think they try to place people in boxes.
Artists are whatever we want to be, boxes do not become us.

@ H... "A life of poverty. Ah..the starving artist...rather cliché' and stereotypic auh Brian?"

I just tells it like I sees it H! If it happens to be true, it will be called cliche'. It's like the guy being called paranoid... That doesn't mean he's not being followed.

Very well put Otil!! Thank you for sharing!!

Hey Shana, for me being an artist is a form of self expression, an outlet where we make our thoughts and imagination put into our canvass, photo that we shoot, or any medium of arts for that matter that we had preferred and mastered. Just like any other profession, its a calling. You must enjoy what you do. And I for one am enjoying being a "papier mache artist" As they say express yourself, create beautiful artworks. Take a step back and look at your creation and say:" Ah a Masterpiece, made by a true artist!"

You are right, that solo is very inspiring, it's amazing how music can bring you to a whole different world!!

So Glad you liked the video Shana and Gail... That Cascading guitar solo in that song is inspiring... Joe has many moods, but is an Awesome musician/Artist.

@Dan, thank you for the video, I am listening to the soothing music now as I type!!
@Gail, it seems you and I have a lot in common, I thoroughly enjoy your work and feel a connection to it, I've noticed we enjoy a similar subject matter in a lot of our works, though we each have our own style. I too write poetry. I write stories as well. I guess I am a jack of all creative trades in some sense lol. I am actually working on putting together a book that matches up my paintings and my poetry. It is a lot of fun!!
@RJ "I think being an artist is as much an innate personality trait as it is a practice of making "Art"" I think so too.
@Candela, Awesome quotes!!! Great point!!

I recently saw some early drawings by Pollock at the Brooklyn Museum and he sure could draw...

""Edgar Degas once said: "Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do." "
Thatz a good one, wonder if Pollock got that memo.....

Edgar Degas once said: "Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."
...and Paul Klee claimed: “Art does not reproduce the visible, but makes visible.”

I like both quotes, cause they show that it is not all about technique. At first you have to learn 'design rules',
and later you have to learn how to break these rules, in order to find a new balance. Real art is 'soulwork', it is about innermost feelings. For the artist it is like breathing...

...and as for photography... photography is art of making good pictures, despite all the technology. :-)

I think being an artist is as much an innate personality trait as it is a practice of making "Art"

Yes, I did. I write a lot of poetry to go with my work. I am sure your 'artistic spirit is similar to my own, (read your bio)and you can identify.Being an artist is a difficult path, rewarding and frustrating, but if yours is the soul of an artist you must be creative to be happy. Dan, Bonamassa has a new FAN! Perfect music to play while painting.

Shana... All night eh..

Well then here's something for you.

Joe Bonamassa was stricken with the desire to become a Guitarist when he was about 4 years old..As Gail has mentioned above, He constantly played on a guitar that his dad bought him and with the influence of some pretty awesome mentors, (Eric Clapton and BB King) he has become the Number 1 Blues Guitarist in the world today... He's always on the road and has played the Royal Albert Hall several times (a Childhood dream).

I don't have the blues, But if you listen to his music...He can take you away and make you forget where you are....

So when you can't sleep...

@Mary, I feel the same way, luckily I'm a lefty so for the most part I do live in my right side of my brain!!
@Dan, it usually kicks in when I am trying to fall asleep, then keeps me up ALL night. It takes hours for me to quiet my brain, then when I finally do fall asleep I dream about it all night!! I paint in my sleep!! I've been told it's not good for me, but I have no choice, it's the name of the game.
@Julie, that is one of my favorite parts of being an artist!!
@Lawrence, I wholeheartedly agree...
@Gail, thank you!! I'm glad you liked my blog!! Wonderful thoughts on your part!! Did you write that?

First let me say, your blog was wonderful! I believe being an artist is something you are born to do. Just as a future engineer often refuses to play with anything other than leggos, or a future all-star will throw a ball over and over again, young artists are driven to create. The creative spirit is in us all, but artists nurture, protect and feed it, allowing it to become a large part of who they are. If one is truly an artist then the drive/need to create is as important to them as breathing, it must be done.
The artistic spirit is often a lonely soul,
Adrift in a sea of possibility,
When consummed by inspiration,
It's thoughts become reality,
It seeks your acceptance,
With each new endeavor,
And longs to feel your embrace,
In it's moment of surrender.
Like a child who pulls on Mama's dress,
Longing for a glance,
It asks you to admire,
Give it just a chance.
For when it creates,
Or captures the perfect shot,
Rest assured the spirit there,
Is giving all it's got.

It's a need to express one self- Some of us can do that better then others. The trick is finding the right form(s) to do that. It's a desire to leave a mark on the world and for someone to acknowledge the effort.

FREEDOM!!!!

Being able to walk anywhere, snap a picture of anything, bring home the strangest, most ecclectic and rusty collection of junk -no one even asks why or what I'm doing. :)

Shana…As I read your Blog, I thought I was reading my own thoughts…I imagine most artists are driven in the same way.

Uncontrollable Imagination, Creativity soothing the soul, In my case I forget my pain…Until it physically overcomes me,
Inspiration…What time does it wake you up?? I usually get hit at 3AM…and I remember it so well it drives me batty till I sketch the plan or do it…
Hard work…Never giving up… I have been told by many it’s not good for me…In my opinion Giving up would be far worse…
Practice and repetition is something I think we all get plenty of…And who can let their dream die…not I.
Challenging myself is just taking things to the next level… Outside the box of course…

Great post!

I find it actually painful to continually live on the left side of my brain. The only time I feel reseted and centered is if I'm in full right-brain mode.

Another good one Phyllis!!!

Insatiable drive...............

I don't function right with out it either Roz, that's actually what got me thinking about it!! lol

I don't think about it too much. I just do it because I have to. I don't function right without it.

Very interesting perspective Roy!!

I have not a clue what it means to be an artist - it is another facet of being a human being with a talent or at least a creative bent and the where-with-all to produce it. It's an occupation not better than being a doctor, lawyer, or and Injun chief.

Art world- Collectors, Buyers, Museums, Art Historians, Art Critics, Artists-etc. The general art community and networks. I must say that I am surprised that I have to define the term "Art World" to another fellow artist, as if you have never heard the phrase before..

@Abbie, lol
@Victoria-I totally agree!!

It's a passion or even an addiction... you feel restless if you can't create!

"What Does It Mean To Be An Artist?"

I have NO idea. I only know the angst and I am sure there is far more than that lol

@ Shana: ok...Not really, is it your conception of were art belongs or where to sell art or something completely different?

I like to go to the local Art Museum. The art there is from artist long dead. Is being dead a requirement to gets one's work in a Museum of art or is it just a helpful attribute?
:)

Thank you Jean, I'm glad you liked it!!!

H-All kidding aside I know that you know what I mean.

Thanks Shana! one more question, What do you mean by "in the art world "? is this some place different and set aside from the everything else but art world..world? LOL!
all kidding aside, What is this art world?

Nice blog post, Shana. I like how you broke it down into categories as all of these are true to being an artist.

Nice thought Tony!!! I agree!!

@ H, I understand what you mean about the poverty being a cliche, unfortunately in the art world there is a stigma about making money. Take Kinkade, many in the art community considered him a sell out just because he went commercial. But really, who wouldn't make that kind of money if they had the chance? How does that make one any less of an artist? It doesn't to me. Like wise you are not more of an artist if you can sell more of your work than somebody else. I don't think money should even be a factor when It comes to being labeled an "Artist". Many artists chose not to sell their work at all.

Good read on the blog. Breaking it down helps.

For me: "A person will see with their eyes, an artist sees with their vision." (Murray)

@ Shana: thanks for pointing out your reason for opening the thread (quite a good one at that). Like yourself: there are a lot of us who would like to know:
"What does being an artist mean to you."
"What do you think makes you an artist?"
"What elements do YOU think it takes to be one?"

one of the answers was poverty. I don't buy that! is cliché' and stereotypic. so if you are successful and wealthy you are a failure at being an artist? case and point: in today's money, Michelangelo would have been listed in Forbs as one of the wealthiest men alive. his monetary wealth was directly related to his art. Was he an exception?

Another great quote Mary!! Thank you for sharing!! It just goes to show that our fore-artists also had these conversations. These may be questions that will never be answered!!

@H, I don't know if all artists are open minded, that differs from person to person, I think it (the quote) more speaks to the fact that artists view the world around them, and take it in in a different light than others (that is only my interpretation, you are welcome to your own). Who's to say though, it is just a quote, by a man who had his own opinions of what it means to be an artist. As I stated in my blog what it means to be an artist is different to everybody, hence the reason I opened this thread, so we may each share our own personal opinion of what it means to us.

@Brian, I feel you there, it's worth it though isn't it?

A life of poverty. Ah..the starving artist...rather cliché' and stereotypic auh Brian?

I just found a site with his original quotes in Spanish and a translation to English. I didn't find that one, Shana, but I like this one as well.

"What is art? If I knew, I´d be careful not to reveal it."

A life of poverty.

Wow, thats a nice quote by old Pablo. if he is right would you not say that to be an artist ist to be open-minded? for all artist are open-minded...right?

I'd love to find the quote in the original Spanish (or French - he spoke both). Sometimes the translation is subjective (that's the business I'm in), but it's a good quote in any case....

Funnily enough, I came across this quote on FB just now, thought it was fitting for the thread, and my blog post!


“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. ”

― Pablo Picasso

Not too old Mary-I know that expression myself!! lol

Great response from everybody so far!!
@ Janine, thank you, I'm glad you appreciate my earlier works. I am so happy that I had the mind to preserve them, I love looking at them, its like I am meeting myself face to face, if that makes sense? I agree with you on the success factor.
@Carmen, I had a very similar conversation with other kids when I was growing up!! lol
@Mary, I know exactly what you mean, the title itself can be quite intimidating!!
@ H-"BUT being an artist only has meaning if you are called an artist by others." Lucky for me people have been telling me I'm an artist since I was 3 lol

H Drew - Yes, I do - I wonder if the fact that I know exactly the expression you're referring to tells everyone I'm old LOL.

Shana, I just read your blog. Well written.

And I should dig up the issue of Lenswork I have at home where the publisher writes a scathing article aimed at those who think if you don't know about the "in" artists and their work, no matter how ridiculous the work is, you don't know art. Believe it or not, that attitude lives on today....Puleeeeze.

The NY hortie toity LOL! Don't you just love the sound of hoity toity? He he he......I hear yah Mary :)

Shana, will read you blog later as well - on my lunch break right now - but since I'm self taught for the most part both in drawing and painting and in photography, I never thought until the last few years I was "allowed" to call myself an artist. I grew up with the snooty New York art world magazines and I thought you had to sit inside a cardboard box in Central Park with a party hat on your head holding a blank sign or something like that in order to be called an "artist". I can't believe I fell for that crap when I was younger.

If you make art, you are an artist.

@ Shana; "Read my blog and find out lol"
I just did and you have a lot of step wise development that I find interesting and progressive"
BUT being an artist only has meaning if you are called an artist by others. unfortunately, being called by others an artist is only significant if you yourself hold those individuals in high esteem. calling yourself an artist is your right but in today's reality about as relevant as calling yourself human.

i have no idea... never really thought i am an artist till 2009. this is my calling.

Thanks Shana ;) By the way -- never forget the day my dad said "So, you're gonna be an artist, kid...?"

"No dad -- am one."

Would love for him to see how his engineering talents have manifested in my new media art :)

Broke, dirty - but content ? Lol.
I simply don't need what other's need to feel successful.
But it can be a lot of work to be able to portray that "nth" of a thing it is that we are trying to express..
Maybe, purely selfish - or perhaps completly generous to be willing to share insight.


Great blog, it took me so long to be able to bestow that title on myself.

I became an Artist the day that I realized I could be no other.

I very much appreciate your original works. They may be more naive in skill - & yet they are so expressive.
It is great that you do share them to inspire other budding Artists what the future will be if they just persevere. Too many give up, get lost along their journey to find "success".

Very good response Carmen!!

"What Does It Mean To Be An Artist?"


Everything.


(will check out your blog later, too ;)

Read my blog and find out lol

I don't know, what do you think Shana?