Comments on: Labeling Oneself as an Artist and Why I Have Avoided It

By: Tary Stayton

Tary Stayton — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:25:39 +0000

That is one smart kid, who will find joy everywhere!

By: Tary Stayton

Tary Stayton — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:23:59 +0000

I am convinced that "writers block" in art (artist's blank?) is much more complicated than in writing. Maybe that's because I have never ever thought of myself as a writer. I have even sat amazed that people would write just for fun! But I can get lost in drawing. When I come to, I either hate it and want no one to see it ( but can't get rid of it, as if it was to be evidence of how much I'd improved later...or some kind of self flagellation, or I can't imagine that I actually drew that. Unfortunately, as I look at my work by daylight, it too often must be hid away. I guess that the reward comes in the actual creation. That part of me that goes silent and focuses on making your hand do what you want it to do, and the pleasure when your hand surprises you. It's riveting, exhausting, invigorating, releasing, mesmerizing, and I just like doing it! So what the heck, being able to sell something once in a great while is just a bonus! Until that "blank" comes: that feeling that I am wasting my time and it will only embarrass me later if anyone finds out who did that junk, and I should really get all my "ought to"s done before I play. But I am usually seduced back into imbibing, but maybe less likely to show it to anyone. That is the "artist blank".

By: Vivien Zepf

Vivien Zepf — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:29:20 +0000

First — love your photograph; so glad I stumbled upon your site.

Second — I find it very interesting that you’re pondering the “am I an artist” question at the same time many people who are part of a mixed media internet group I belong to are wondering just the same thing. Am I an artist? When have I “made it” as an artist? Perhaps you only contemplate that question only when you create and then care if your voice is heard and/or appreciated. And I agree that being an artist extends beyond just drawing. So yes, your photography definitely counts and you are an artist.

By: Brian Malow

Brian Malow — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:46:47 +0000

The ingrained notions and rationalizations with which you battle are so neurotic and self-deprecating that the conclusion is inescapable: my friend, you are an artist!

But I disagree with one of your realizations: I believe artists ARE more likely to drink heavily and do drugs.

By: SF Signal

SF Signal — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:32:22 +0000

SF Tidbits for 3/2/10…

Interviews/ProfilesAgony Column interviews Dan Simmons (podcast).Book Banter interviews Seth Grahame-Smith (podcast).ActuSF interviews Philip K. Dick (French) and Frederik Pohl.Missions Unknown interviews Eugene Fischer.Reddit interviews Greg Bear (par…

By: Jenn

Jenn — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:52:30 +0000

I feel very much the same way--from being hung up on the "drawing" aspect of art to feeling that the things I've created could have been made by anyone. Perhaps it's no coincidence that I also grew up in the Midwest (Illinois, in my case). I recently signed up for a volunteer opportunity teaching art to elementary school students. The program claimed "no art background required" and I clung to that. I'm finding, though, that the more I encourage those kids and congratulate them on the art they've made, the more I start to believe I might be an artist too. As one first grader passionately told me, "Anything can be art! Art is all around us! Art is everywhere."