“…how to remain an artist once we grow up. “

It is my personal belief that, over time, we get bombarded with messages saying only gifted people can become artists. Every time we hear someone say, “I am not an artist. I can’t even draw a stick figure,” we hear that artists have to achieve some sort of perfection in order in order to be an artist.

That is absolutely not true. The only thing you need to do to be an artist is to create. The more you create, the better your art gets.

I would also suggest sharing your art with other people. It might sound counterintuitive to create without fear of judgment, and then put your art in front of other people to judge, but often times other people are not as judgmental as you think. In fact, most of the time when other people see your art their feedback ends up being more uplifting and helpful than mean, which helps your creativity move on to the next level.

I hope that people in the Butte community, creators of all ages and all mediums, will come to How Novel for our Art Talks, and share their work with each other. Picasso says, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” I think sharing work with each other is one step toward fixing that problem.