Why Create on Off the Wall Friday

 

I was thinking today about my "Why"?  Why is it that when I have a day off from work, the first thing I want to do is make a To-Do  list in my studio?  Why is it that all my Christmas gifts start at DickBlick's and the Fabric Shack?  Why are vacations required to be creative  rather than relaxing?  Why?  Why? Why??  (And yes for this discussion my Why will be a capitalized noun...why?? because I think my Why is that important!)

I think from time to time its good to re-examine your "Why".  Why look at your Why??  It will help you keep motivated to complete goals you've set.  It will help you establish new directions that better align with your Why.  It is a good way to explain to others your passion.

Need some suggestions about why we create?

• To Make things is fun and relaxing....to conceive an idea, execute it, see it come to fruition has a lot of entertainment value
• To Bring order from chaos......So many things in our lives are out of our control.  When we create we are in the driver seat and bring things together in a meaningful way
• To Create beauty where there is not.  Am I the only one tired of seeing what the  world considers beautiful on tv???  There is so much more to beauty than botax faces and perfect thighs.  Art can show that.  
• To Say what words can not.  Not everyone wants to spell things out in a written work or a speech.  Art is a way to work though thoughts, emotions etc
• To make a cultural, societal, political statements....contrary to popular belief there are other ways to express your opinion than on Twitter and Facebook
• To get a feeling of accomplishment and self worth...there is a lot to say about adding to your skill set which feeds into your confidence which is reflects in other parts of your life.  
• To Contribute to culture and society...so not only can your art entertain you, but it can entertain or enlighten your neighbor. (Granted your neighbor might not want to be enlightened, but that is a whole other post entirely)

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So those should get you started.  For me, the biggest Why is because I have to.  I always have and I'm sure most artists will say that too.  Now it took till I was 26 to settle on fabric as my life long passion but before that I played the flute and piano, was editor of my college literary magazine (yes I use to write a LOT of poetry), did a ton of needlework and doodling etc.  All of that was before I realized that I was a creative person.  I also love the process of starting and finishing a project and saying "See What I did" even if what I did is not that hot.  Also, I love trying to find the answer to "What If".  So many times in life we are driven by other people's wishes.  When I'm in my studio, I'm Queen and I can ask myself "What if" as many times as I want.

So those are my Why's. What are yours?

Under things that I like....This week I found the most interesting article on Baltimore Museum of Art Deaccessioning 3 pieces of art worth  65 million dollars.    Wow did I learn a lot from one article.  Now I knew that a lot of politics surrounds a museum's collection but honestly I didn't realize how much.  Also I found the reasons why deaccessioning parts of a collection super interesting. Taking some expensive pieces....selling them at auction...to buy lesser known pieces from a more diverse artist pool seems risky and bold all at the same time. I mean really, how else are lesser known artist going to become the next masters if museums can't buy their work for display?  But what if they aren't future masters??  See???  Interesting, Interesting!  

As you can tell I was thinking of more than just the US Presidential race this week... But of course I will add my voice to others you have heard....if you haven't already VOTE!  We have elections for a reason and every vote matters.  

Yeah, I know I'm chatty this week....enough about me....

What Have You've Been Up to Creatively?

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