Okay… Does this sound familiar?
Do you have fears that you’re not really an artist?
Do you think that any moment you’re going to be found out or exposed as a fraud? That someone will be an expert and look at you like a lowly novice?
Got Déja vu yet?
Has someone told you that you’re not a real artist?
Have you felt guilty doing ‘arts and crafts’?
Do you dismiss your interests as hobbies that you just do on the side. “I’m not even that good,” you might mutter.
Do you feel embarrassed when your mom shows her friend Carol the misshapen sculpture you did in grade nine, or sketches you did five years ago when you know that one eye is out of proportion but your mom and her friend "ooh" and” “ahh” and tell you you’re talented? God, Mom, you’re so embarrassing! Why’d you have to invite your friend Carol over? Why do you think I keep that sculpture in the basement??
…… Ahem …….
If you’ve ever thought any of these things about yourself *cough* imposter syndrome *cough*, then I have a blog post for YOU, my friend. Read away!
If you have spent any time in the art community, whether you’ve wandered in art galleries or taken a museum tour, went to university for an art degree or taken art classes somewhere, you know what I’m talking about. There can be a certain expectation among artists, or people who claim to know the prerequisites for the title of ‘artist’. These people might say that Martha Stewart isn’t an artist - she’s ‘crafty’, they might call Bob Ross ‘kitsch’. Perhaps you have met someone who has told you that ___ isn’t really Art. Maybe you haven’t even met someone like this in real life - these critics may live in your head, or be an internet comment thread that haunts your dreams.
The result is it’s sapped your confidence, it’s made you question yourself. You knit, you take inspiration from Manga, you make birdhouses, you love interior design, you have a guilty pleasure, or something that you love - but you’re not sure if it makes you an artist or a fraud. You think that to be taken seriously you need to do ‘serious art’; you need to know exactly what you’re doing before you do it, you can’t make mistakes, you need a hundred pages of theory to prove your stuff ,or, someone else has to give you their approval - the list of bogus requirements goes on.
But you know… so what? So what if you write closet fan fiction, so what if you enjoy trashy love novels or make claymation, finger puppets, do drip art, or sew barbie doll clothes or like the hotel art? Art has become so many different things over the last thousand years that to try and give it a definition or restrictions is pointless. Art is everything, or nothing. Art is the process, art is the final product, or movement, life is art and art is life.
The reality is that while there are those rare creatures who know what they are doing before they set out to do it, and there are those who seem to stick the landing perfectly the first time around, and there are yet others who many approve of as being real artists, not one person had all of those things before they went ahead and created something. Van Gogh lived his life in obscurity, painting everyday without fame, without a permit of approval to go ahead and paint. Van Gogh simply painted, any time he was able.
Maybe you’re thinking okay, sure Joy, Van Gogh just painted, but him and Picasso and Michelangelo, they had years of practice, (they didn’t have three kids running around, a pile of dirty laundry or a regular ol’ 9-5), they had formal training. I haven’t been to art school, I’ve just been doing this thing that I like for a while! Or maybe you’re saying, but Joy, I’ve just been making this thing on the side that I sell out of my dingy basement, how do I know if I’m really an artist? I’m not even that good at what I do! Well you listen here and you listen good! Every artist started somewhere, see? We all have to learn the basics like colour, composition, perspective and shape. Artists are not born being able to draw a hyper-realistic flower, or as masters of colour theory. So if you’re counting yourself out of the art world merely because you’re not as good as so-and-so or you know that the nose in your portrait is crooked, take a deep breath. What you need is practice, not criticism.
I know all too well what the voice of the little critic can do to your art. I spent most of my university life terrified of what my art professors might say, what my classmates might see, and what it would make people believe about me. I let it silence me and stop me from taking risks, from learning something I really wanted to. I have never regretted a risk I took, or a moment I was vulnerable with my art, but I do regret the years that fear and inner critics stopped me from putting brush to canvas.
You are an artist, and if people think what you do is weird or stupid, dorky or unimaginative - don’t worry. You don’t need anyone’s approval to do what you do, and if you stop, then you will never find the people out there who will appreciate your art! And trust me, they’re out there.
So give yourself the permission to tell the inner critics (and outer critics) to SHUT THE FRONT DOOR, and let yourself make mistakes, and practice and make the art that you want to create. ‘Cause you’re an artist baby, and if you need more encouragement than that, go make yourself a fake diploma and stick it on the wall!
Now go and create some art you little artist you! Fly my little birds! Fly!
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