Understanding an Artist

Artists are a solo batch by nature.  We need solitude to create, we work in a vacuum and are mostly unaware—or don’t care—about what goes on around us. Yet we have a need for ourselves and our art to be understood, so we ‘put ourselves out there’.  But the sensitive process of doing so often leads to self-doubt and, at worst, melancholy.

Egocentric?  Maybe, but the making of art is a deep expression of one’s inner self so how can one separate ego from the process?

Most active artist’s I know these days are trained to keep their work in front of the public eye through social media, showing in fairs/galleries and some of us dinosaurs are still blogging.  But because we are naturally isolated in our heads, we have to remind ourselves to be friendly, remind ourselves to be social, remembering that maybe it was 2 weeks since we saw or spoke to anyone and all our social media posts were about the art and less about us, the “social” part.   

This is the rub.  Staying deep inside ourselves for the best creative results vs. showing up in the world as a social being.  We struggle with this.

But we press on.  Because we have to.  Creating is like breathing and there is the constant question that if art is not seen by anyone is it really art?

If art is not seen by anyone, is it art?

So the next time you bump into an artist during their working day [like in the Canterbury Country Store!] and you see a far off look in their eye and a disconnect from your greeting, don’t take it personal.  They are just creating something spectacular in their heads.  And when you are following an artist on social media and they don’t seem as “social” as you would like, give them a break; they just forget how.

I am a textile artist, colorist and teacher living in Canterbury, New Hampshire. Visit my on-line art gallery here.