Make Art

Make art.

For artists and creators, there come times in our lives when we hit a dry spell in creativity.

We may not dance.

We may not play music or write songs.

We may not paint, or draw, or take photos.

We may not write more than a few lines at a time.

We may not cook, or build, or design, or decorate, or act.

The older we get, the more our focus can shift away from making the art that awakens our spirits and stirs something in the spirits of others. Instead, our attention scatters toward the dozens of responsibilities and tasks required of us as societal beings.

In high school, we often feel pulled in five different directions (school, family, friends, activities, work) and grow frustrated with our inability to balance it all.

Move on to college, in which the number of responsibilities we have our hands in only increases (add internships, rushing, a new environment, facing the world by yourself).

What about early adulthood, in which we wonder how the adults in our lives ever made it past twenty-five?

On and on we go; we feel ourselves slipping into patterns of mundanity and routine. We make the sacrifices of our time that we feel are necessary. Education, paying bills and providing for a family or sustaining yourself, taking care of others—these are our priorities. Creating beautiful, moving, or joy-inspiring things are well and good, yes, but unnecessary to life.

Or so we think.

We forget that art is not just about creating a tangible piece of work—a creation of colors, a world made of words, a melody of our own madness. Our novels and short films and sketches and slam poems and rock songs can reach people deeply and change their lives, and these things are vital to bring light to our culture—but they are only the product of the true essence that is art.

Art is love.

It is helping a little girl feel safe.

It is teaching a boy the difference between bravery and bravado.

It is doing your work with excellence and integrity.

It is learning to use the wonderful and challenging word “No.”

It is seeing the beauty in ordinary things, even when there seems to be no beauty around you.

It is learning to hope again, or to hope for the first time.

It is being a child again.

It is allowing your deepest feelings to express themselves, not fearing that they will be ugly or shameful. They aren’t.

It is believing in yourself, and from that belief, believing in others (it changes lives).

It is treating people that are different than you with respect and honor, whether they have disabilities or they live in the high-tech mansion in the city.

It is the honoring of all races.

It is the honoring of your mother and father.

It is the honoring of yourself.

It is the honoring of God.

It is forgiveness.

It is listening.

It is calling beauty forth where it was dormant and hiding.

Art is our purpose as humans. What that art looks like will differ for each person, yet at the same time, it is what joins us together and makes us all the same inside.

We are art.

“You want to know the meaning of life? This is your highest calling: You called into the dynamic co-creation of the cosmos. This breath is your canvas and your brush. These are the raw materials for your art, for the life you are making. Nothing is off limits. Your backyard, your piano, your paintbrush, your conversation, Rwanda, New Orleans, Iraq, your marriage, your soul. You’re making a living with every step you take.”

Jon Foreman