Being An Artist

People say to me, a little sadly or defensively, 'You see I'm not 'really' an actor/performer/dancer/creative.....'

They explain:

'I didn't train....'

'My parents didn't approve and pushed me towards teaching/engineering/medicine......'

'I got married...'

'I didn't know what I wanted back then....'

'I trained, but it was too hard to make a living, so I gave up....'

'I thought I'd do something else for a while to earn some money, but never got back to it, now it's too late....'

'I had kids...'

'I wasn't confident enough....'

'I never felt like I belonged with the 'arty' people....'

There's other reasons too.

They all lead to the same conclusion:

'I'm not really an artist....'

I understand. I've told myself a lot of these stories too, over the years. About not belonging, having low self-confidence, not being 'properly' trained.

Does that make me not an artist?

No.

Bullshit.

The question is never: 'Am I an artist?'

The question is: 'How am I an artist and how can I do my art?'

We can all be artists, performers, creatives.

We each have to find our own way.

We bring being a mother or father to our art.

We bring our training in other fields to our art.

We bring our struggles with low self-confidence to our art.

We bring our negotiation with parental or social disapproval to our art.

We bring everything we are to our art, and, through our art express everything we are.

There's a thousand skills and disciplines in every art form. No one knows them all. We can study them in institutions. or pick them up as we go along.

What's undeniable is this: you're not an artist or performer because you have a certificate that says you are.

You're an artist when you make art.

You're a performer when you perform.

You're creative when you create.

You need no one's permission to do any of these things - except your own.

So if you find yourself thinking "I'm not really an Artist', shift perspective. Ask yourself 'How am I an artist?' and 'How can I share my art?'.