Everyone Can Make Art But Everyone is Not an Artist

Since I teach an unusual variety of students I find myself engaged in unusual conversations about art. With students who do not describe themselves as artists the most common discussion is the one surrounding what can be described as “I can’t draw/paint/make art” it often follows with: “Mrs. __X__, (my fourth/fifth/sixth/seventh/eight grade teacher) told me so”. 

My work as an educator for the Aspen Art Museum includes teaching at the Pitkin County Jail. There, one of the female inmates expressed the concern that she couldn’t draw. She said that her elementary school teacher had instilled in her the idea, and now as an adult she lacked the confidence to even try. 

These pronouncements always pain me and a part of me wishes to round up the aforementioned teachers and help them to understand the nature of creativity, a capacity which everyone possesses. After the painful memory was recounted, I explained that everyone can make art, it’s just that some people have had more practice or exposure, that is all. I told her that in thirty-five years of teaching art I have never met a person for whom this has not been true, EVERYONE can make art if they so desire. 

After describing the exercise we were doing, I said to the student “I promise you can do it” as I sat down next to her. Lydia had no problem coming up with an idea for her project which was to design your own museum, she just couldn’t put pen to paper. After she described her idea to me. I drew a few simple lines on my paper showing different ways to start. “We have lots of paper so you can experiment and make any kind of drawing you want” I said. Lydia liked one of the ideas I proposed and started by copying similar lines onto her page. The expansive effect was immediate as she quickly developed her own drawing and created a museum design based on her interest in rivers and ecology. Relief was clearly visible in her expression, and then joy replaced that sentiment as the drawing she created became a very personal expression of her self.

I’m not saying everyone is an artist which is something I don’t believe. I feel strongly that the kind of artistic practice which serious artists undertake is a vocation which requires many years of disciplined hard work, and which often results in little recognition or economic viability. Out of respect for the difficulty of that effort I feel it is not correct to say that everyone is an artist. 

I do, however, feel that there is huge importance in the experience of art, both in viewing and in making. These experiences may be a gateway to the more lifelong investigation of being an artist, or it may simply be a way of understanding ourselves and our humanity more deeply. I never know when these moments of recognition and connection occur, and they always surprise me.