Our many and varied attitudes towards and experiences of money can make or shape the way we live our lives both as a society and as individuals.
It upsets me that this is the first sentence in a piece I am writing about the reasons I make art but the widespread and justified belief that the arts are very poorly financially rewarded is, a huge reason why many artists don’t continue and parents actively discourage their children from pursuing any of the arts as a career. Artists (and when I refer to artists I mean from any genre of the arts) often take on a range of jobs in order to pay their living costs and then develop their creativity around them. Another reason people are discouraged from going into the arts as their chosen career is because they are not seen as contributing anything important to society. They are luxuries on top of our basic needs and often referred to as hobbies.
I won’t list all the reasons why the arts are an intrinsic part of what it means to be a human being because more and more evidence is coming to general notice and it is becoming clear that creativity is one of the most defining aspects of a meaningful life.
Another consequence of the focus on money is that artists are judged to be successful by the amount of money they make as well as the notoriety they have achieved. There is a scarcity culture which means a perceived limited space for artists to exist as ‘successful’ which then leads to a celebrity culture and singles out individuals as being better than others. It pits artists against artists as if in competition for the top spot.
Of course there are other reasons that contribute to anyone finding it a difficult challenge to be as creative as they would like to be but money often features.
Back to the question and title of this blog…why do I make art? I had to write the first section because I think it is a huge aspect of most creatives’ lives to varying degrees and I want to say that making money is not my first reason for making art but I need to make money somehow and selling art is one of those ways. But wouldn’t it be great if artists were seen as the thinkers and interpreters of universal themes and questions about why we’re all here…and then they got paid for their contribution to the wellbeing and progress of humanity that comes as a result of art being made and the meaning and revelation it brings to peoples lives?
My resolution to this situation was to train to be a school teacher after I left art college. I thought that if I had an art related job with a long summer holiday I might have some time to carry on with my own practice and also be teaching young people a subject I am passionate about. Although I didn’t stay in teaching for long as I had babies, it has given me some great opportunities to work in many different areas of art education, workshops, therapy, and now as a freelance tutor. In every situation I found myself, I determinedly kept some space and time to continue my own practice. Sometimes a small desk in our home, then a shared studio space, a shed at an arts centre and now my own amazing studio space in the back garden. I kept focus on this pursuit throughout all the messiness of life because I know that making art is vital. I can’t provide data or statistics but I see it in people when they create something they’re proud of or didn’t expect. When people’s eyes are opened to something they didn’t see before or they are given permission to play with materials and express something without needing to explain it, it has stirred deep emotions in them and in me. I make art but I also empower other people to make art because we are creative beings, it is in us from birth.
I make art because I need to express something about my grappling with some of the big questions about life. Why does being in natural places make me feel so well. Why do I cry with joy when I see sublime landscapes or the extraordinary effects of light and colour. How does a wave work?! Life is about being alive and wondering without necessarily finding answers. Sometimes the answers are simply in the universality of human wonder. When we wonder together, we uncover a bond between us which is the ability to marvel at and grieve life, in all its beauty and horror. When made accessible to everyone, the arts can bring us into universal states of wonder, lament, and everything in between - that is why I make art and it is difficult to put a price on it.