Why Do You Make Art?
As I begin my journey through Inktober, I wanted to do some self-reflection. I’ve made it a habit to consistently question myself. Why am I doing this? How will this better me as an artist/person?
It’s true, I am always striving to get better in my craft. However, I would go so far as to say that my primary goal is to have my craft better me.
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” — Carl Jung
I’m planning on creating a blog post in the future which revolves around the importance of self-reflection so stay tuned for that. In the mean time, I strongly recommend checking out The Center for the Healing Art’s article called “The Importance of Self Reflection.”
Why I Make Art
In short? I make art because I love it.
Someone once told me that you should ask yourself if you want to do something and if your answer isn’t, “Fuck, yeah,” then you shouldn’t do it.
Of course, there are always things that you have to do, like paying bills. But that’s not the point.
I’m talking about things in our lives that we have control over, things that we can change. Things like our careers, our state of mind or even arbitrary plans for our daily lives.
One of my biggest fears is getting into a career and not loving it. I don’t mean not loving my coworkers, the broken fax machine or the slow computers.
I’m talking about the fear of not being able to say that I love what I do.
According to a Gallop poll in 2017 which surveyed millions of people from over 200 countries, 85% of people hate their jobs. As a college senior about to embark into her career, this scares me. It is one of the reasons I am constantly questioning my reasons for doing what I do.
At this point in my life, I’m holding desperately onto what I love in hopes of finding a suitable career.
I’m not sure if art will make me money. I’m not sure if art will give me useful experience.
But do I love art?
Fuck, yeah.
Why Do You Make Art?
The Greater Good Magazine asked seven artists this question and received diverse and personal answers, such as making art for fun, expressing their emotions and building bridges between themselves and the rest of humanity.
I encourage everyone to do a little self-reflection and ask themselves why they make art.
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls” — Pablo Picasso
Inktober Progress
As promised, I wanted to showcase a little bit of my progress from Inktober so far. Below you will see October 1–3.
Are you participating in Inktober? Let me know all about your experience so far in the comments below.
If you want to follow my progress more closely, or talk to me more about art, follow my Instagram!
