"Art is everywhere, except it has to pass through a creative mind."
Louise Nevelson
There has been a gargantuan gap between my childhood, youth, and early 20's when I was fairly active in artistic endeavours such as writing stories, poems and magazine articles, creating sumi brush paintings, winning sketch and photography contests... and my 50's when I realized my creative self was calling to me and it had been long neglected. I had erroneously thought that I didn't have time to do art and I would wait until I was retired. THEN I would immerse myself in art. Suddenly, I realized that NOW was the time. No more procrastinating. Retirement was a long way off. Why wait?
One of the best things I did for myself and my creative energy was to take several mixed media art classes from a nonjudgmental instructor who insisted that I avoid self-criticism and just enjoy what I created. When I whined that my creations were not "wall worthy," her quizzical look and reminder that I was judging my art reinforced in me that self-criticism was to be banished. Without that negative voice inside me, I was free. I could play, become sensitive to my inner spirit, and focus on relishing the process rather trying to produce a perfect end result. OK, not something I would hang on my wall? So what! Did I have fun? Did I relish letting go to my whims with splashes of colour and found objects? You bet!
When people say "Are you an artist?" at first I answered hesitantly, "Well, I dabble in art." Now I answer, "Yes, I am an artist." Aren't we all, if we are tapping into our creativity and creating, be it cooking, home decor, painting, or whatever. A friend once told me that she lived in a community in Africa where art was part of every day life. It taught her that we don't have to separate people into "artists" and "non-artists."
We are all artists. We are all creative. As Louise Nevelson reminds us, art is everywhere.
