What are your goals as an artist? Sometimes it isn’t about your own accomplishments.

I know one of the things I want to do, I want to empower others to create art. It doesn’t have to be great art, it doesn’t have to be earth moving; it only needs to move them as they make it.  So many people feel that if the things they create aren’t very good, it isn’t worth doing.  First of all, if you never share it with others; how do you know if it is no good?  Secondly, why do you need to justify anything you do that brings you joy?  Hobbies bring us joy, doing art can be a hobby.  You don’t have to be a national icon to create art. Thrift stores are filled to the brim with the bits and parts of peoples hobbies.  Scarves, pottery, stuffed animals, signs, silk flower arrangements, and art that people did just for the fun of it.  Michael’s and Hobby Lobby sell student and craft grade art supplies that you can use just to make art for you.  Maybe all you ever do is create art for the fun of it, and that is just fine.  Own your joy. 

I also want to empower kids to own their own art creativity.  Parents work hard to hone and focus on their children so they can be productive members of society.  Anything their kids show interest in; parents try to figure out how their offspring can monetize it.  Parents are focused on making a future for their children.  The problem with that is, creativity can be destroyed or burned out by pushing it too hard.  Parents will take ownership of their art career and not let the kid discover things on their own.  Parents will embarrass them as well and how many of us have walked away from things when we were young because of bad experiences?  Without meaning to, Mom or Dad, Aunts and Uncles and even Grandparents will walk up to a professional; dragging a recalcitrant victim with them and grilling the trapped artist in front of the mortified witness, forever scarring the creative genius. Kids do art to escape and express feelings in ways that don’t expose themselves. Art isn’t for them to make beauty, at first; it is a gateway to safe expression. It will lay groundwork for expertise in the future that might become a career; but not everyone thinks of it as a viable livelihood even those who do it.    

Art is very important for mental health.  It doesn’t matter if you are a child, teenager, adult or a retiree; it helps us all in so many ways.  For kids and teenagers, it helps them process trauma, emotional stress, or build confidence.  Adults find creativity a release from stress and can stimulate the release of endorphins and for retirees; it can stimulate brain function maintaining neuroplasticity and help them find social connection with others across different age groups decreasing the feeling of isolation because of age.  Artistic people communicate more complex concepts and interact with greater diversity seeking out different points of view and tend to keep an open mind when introduced to new concepts, at any age.  It is another reason that artistic people tend to interact across different age groups.