am I an artist yet?

Am I an artist yet?

This is a question I have asked myself for nearly my entire life. I would like to say yes but I will let you decide. 

Since I was a little girl I have always loved to create, from sketching dresses to creating dog beds with nothing but Scotch Tape and notebook paper (for a toy, not a real dog). I have been making since I was about 4 years old. The mediums have been varied but I can not think of a time in my life where I wasn’t creating. 

In preschool we were decorating a sheet of construction paper with some kind of beads, supplies was limited so we had to be sure to divide things out evenly so each student had enough supplies to complete their work. My mother got a call from my teacher explaining that they had taken some of my beads to share with another student and I was so upset that I had to share. I am pretty lucky to have a creative as a mother because she questioned this, she asked them to look at my paper and see if there was a pattern developing and sure enough there was. I was, in fact, not upset over sharing but upset to have my valuable art supplies confiscated and my pattern put in jeopardy. I don’t know about you but I think this is point one for the artist thing. 

My desire to create grew with me along the way, I don’t think there are many mediums I have not tried. I was blessed to have an amazing art teacher up until 5th grade, at this point I made the switch from private to public school and my art education shifted. I do not in any way blame the teacher I had in 5th and 6th grade for what happened but this was a point in my life where art felt the most regimented. Every student had to take art class, 5th and 6th grade is not a time in life where everyone wishes to take art class. This lead to distractions and getting off track and limited time to truly create. The lack of this outlet in school was tough for me but my mom signed me up for a painting class at the local rec. center, this is where I really learned painting was where I belong, but we will get to that. 

As I mentioned above I have a mother who is a creative, but not in the same way as me. She studied fashion, an area I love but not where my own heart lies. She is not the only creative I come from though. It took me until adulthood to realize that my Granddaddy was also a creative, he thrived in the world of woodworking. Something I wish I had had the opportunity to work with him on and learn from him. The things he could create out of wood amaze me, I am lucky to possess a tiny violin he carved from wood with such detail, this hangs in my living room reminding me of him daily. I also have a sister who writes, she creates worlds and stories with words and always has. She told me great stories as a kid and I hope one day she writes a few the world can enjoy. 

Then we have my aunt, the true artist in my family. I have looked up to my aunt for as long as I can remember and have seen her as an artist for as long as I knew the meaning of the word. She not only creates art but she teaches other to create art. She has a studio and paints amazing things, from abstract designs to stunning portraits, she has an amazing gift. I am so thankful to my aunt and the times I got to spend creating with her when I was little. I was lucky she recognized my love of art and spent time making things with me. I was obsessed with cats when I was little and she taught me this super cool trick to draw the purrrfect cat every time, she introduced me to cray-pas and I got to draw a sweet colorful cat on black paper, said cat was framed and hung in my childhood home. Does having art framed and hung qualify me as an artist?

My creativity has always been nurtured, from my parents to my grandparents, by aunts and uncles and a brother and a sister. I was blessed to have two grandmothers who both always supplied (knowingly or not) paper, scissors and Scotch tape. I have been gifted art sets and sketch books and I have been commissioned by family members to create for them. All lovely things but do they make me an artist?

Circling back to my art education, once I reached middle school opportunities started to arise. I got introduced to every medium under the sun during middle and high school and I owe this to amazing teachers. I have done the following: enameled jewelry, pointillism, coil pot making, rubber stamp carving, perspective drawing, charcoal drawing, paper machete, flag design, mural painting, batik (so cool), sketching, and painting. Painting of every kind; oil, acrylic, ink, and watercolor. In high school I had the best painting exposure and boy am I grateful. I had thought I loved acrylic but it had nothing on oil. Oil painting was huge for me, I painted one of my favorite subjects: a leopard. He is very cute and I am very proud. I was then commissioned to paint a teacher at the school’s dogs (hey, artist get commissions!) which felt pretty good. Then we had a watercolor project and my world opened up, watercolor is my medium. I can manipulate color to be exactly what I want it to be, I can mix shades so easily and create a world my pencil cannot. High school is where I fell in love with painting, but does being in love make me an artist?

Throughout school and through my need to create I have dabbled in many different art forms, this continued in my spare time throughout college and into adulthood. I have painted coolers, canvases and banners, I have bedazzled more than my fair share of items and I have made costumes from t-shirts and whatever Hobby Lobby had to offer (that were really quite impressive). I have helped to decorate homes, I have taught children to create. I can sew (by hand and machine), I can knit, I can crochet, I know how to do hand embroidery, I can sew a button, I have reupholstered furniture and made pajama pants. My skills are varied and tend to lean towards crafty and I worry this discounts the “artist” title. I hope not because I wish to be an artist, I wish to create things to improve the world. I want to make things more beautiful with what I have to offer. 

Artist as defined by Merriam Webster: one who professes and practices an imaginative art. 

So here is my plea to be considered an artist…I so love the arts, I don’t care what I create, I just need to create. I wish to profess in the arts in the sense of making it my profession but I also profess my deep love for the practice. I do not know where a career in the arts will lead me but I am excited to find out. Whether it is painting, sewing, textile design, furniture design, interior design, teaching, learning or just creating. Art has me and I have it. 

I have decided, I am an artist.