THE ARTIST WAY
One of the hardest parts of being an artist is how much we care about our art. Whether it’s writing, painting, sculpting, dancing or whatever other way we express our creativity, we pour our heart and soul into the process.
Art is rarely made with only talent. Or only skill. Art is born into being with blood, sweat, and tears. Whole chunks of our hearts make up our catalogs of work. Pieces of our souls are given price tags and sold to the highest bidder or on online platforms or at craft fairs, galleries, coffee shops. What you see on stage as a performance is something we have invested the sum total of ourselves into—the physical and metaphysical, the spiritual and emotional, the present, the past, the dreams of our future.
Because art is not just a product, but a living, breathing piece of us, we can tend to take criticism personally. Extremely personally.
Harsh reviews, one stars, negative comments all hit us like salt to an exposed wound. And after we have made something so beautiful that we are willing to share it with the world, a cruel opinion can be totally defeating.
Negative reviews so easily discourage us. Low stars feed the already constant self-argument that we’re wasting our time. Even mild criticism can push us off track, make us lose sight of our goals, and encourage us to give up entirely.
But I want to suggest that maybe it’s not because we’re weak or have thin skin. After all, we’ve created something from scratch, built something from nothing, brought beauty to an often-ugly world in need of light. We are beings full of grit and tenacity. We are creators willing to risk our reputation, put our most vulnerable selves on display, fight for this thing inside us that will not be quiet.
Maybe we’re simply looking at these things in the wrong light. Maybe, after all that grueling work, after all that dedication, we’re making it too much about ourselves. At least about ourselves in the wrong way.
Because to be an artist is to actively give this broken world we live in gifts of beauty, thought, and intention. To be a creator is to fill this one life we live with creations meant for others. It is sacrifice and surrender. It is hope and deep thought. It is the best part of humanity meant for the whole of humanity.
As artists, we use our personal gifts to give extravagant gifts to the people around us, the people we meet, the people we will never meet.
Negative reviews are the smallest part of what we do. Instead, we need to remember that we are layering this life with a legacy that will last long after we’re gone.
And in the meantime, we need to shift our perspective off ourselves and our feelings and into the beautiful, new, strange, lovely, thought-provoking things we are building.
It will never feel good to face criticism. But it will always be purpose-giving to believe we are giving our talents to a world who needs them now more than ever.
In these dark and uncertain times, in a world that is so at odds and yet so constantly connected, when life feels bleak and our bank accounts are depressing, let us make something, let us create something, let us do something that transcends into a space beyond the right now. Let us give ourselves as a gift. And our talents with it.
Let us give art the way it was meant to be shared—with our whole hearts. And let the gift of giving be enough to fuel our efforts and support our spirits.
