Sharing

Show Notes

Transcript

Art is a conversation
Even if you’re work has never seen by anyone but you
At it’s outset it’s a conversation with yourself
With your subconscious
Consider American 19th century poet Emily Dickinson
Many would say she was one of poetry’s greatest
She had just 10 poems published in her lifetime
She didn’t like the way that the publisher interfered with her poems before they published
She was a very unconventional poet you see
some would say an innovator
But the publisher though that her work needed editing
Like there was something wrong with it
SHE didn’t,
she knew they were perfect already
and all the meddling changed their meaning
Which is a travesty in the world of poetry
So Emily simply stopped submitting them
She didn’t stop writing them though
Towards the end of her live, Emily reportedly became a recluse
Rarely leaving her house, or even her room
When she died at the age of 56, in 1886
Her sister found a stash of eighteen hundred poems in her room
yep, ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED
Many are considered classics
And as a body of work, it’s considered amoung poetry’s greatest
My point is, you don’t need to share your art for it to be worthy,
For it to provide the transformative, healing action that I bang on about here
Never feel pressured to share your work
NEVER
What you make is yours and yours alone
and if you want to keep it to yourself, that’s what you should do
You’re beautiful, amazing company
But
BUT
The world is a better place for Emily’s sister having discovered her secret stash
Her poetry is truly beautiful, very dark in places, introspective
And deeply personal
Some of it tragic
Some ecstatic
There’s something in there for everyone
And many, many people find comfort and solace in her work
I hope she would have approved of the rest of us being able to experience it
Her works inspired everyone from Sylvia Plath to Taylor Swift
She had IMPACT
The single biggest influence on me
The person who inspired me to take up making art in the first place, as a teen
WHo continued to encourage me and inspire me to push my creative boundaries for decades to come
He’s one of my oldest and closest friends, although we’ve been a bit estranged of late
That’s another story that also relates to mental illness
For another day maybe
Anyway, I won’t name him here, as I’m not sure he’s appreciate it
He’s a very private person
and only ever even shown his work to a couple of people
Let alone let it been seen by other randoms
He has literally thousands of pages of incredible, intricate comics
Think Marvel, but so much darker and odder
A rich world of unique design, mesmerising colour
and totally original characters and stories
There are huge piles of it around his house
Piled up in corners
Boxes full of the stuff
All on A4 photocopier paper
I doubt he’ll ever let them be seen by anyone else.
They’re not FOR other people
It’s for him
And that’s just fine.
I feel privileged to have seen some of them myself!
He literally changed my life.
And that’s where the rubber hits the road here
Art changes lives
Art inspires and motiveates
Art heals and unites
The world needs art
I think that my friend, and the illusive Emily
are outliers
Most people who set out to make are
Do want others to see it
But are prevented through lack of confidence
Fear of criticism or rejectioin
Or maybe the worry that their art doesn’t matter
THat no one will care
These are all valid concerns
But they can and should be overcome
In this episode I’m going to try illustrate to you why you should work to overcome these objections
We will cover the “how” in coming episodes
In fact, in many ways, that’s what this whole podcast is about
Now, I’m not going to talk here about the business of being an artist
I’m not going to talk about monetising your work or promoting yourself on Insta or anything like that
Maybe I’ll cover that another time
I just want to talk about why sharing your art MATTERS
How it can help you connect to the world
And how you can use those connections
For healing
Of yourself and those that you connect with
Let’s get on with it shall we?
To help with that, I’m going to talk about autism
Yep
Autism
You see, I’m autistic
Purely as an aside, I have a suspicion Emily Dickinson was too
But that purely hopeful speculation on my part
So anyway
You probably know a bit about autism
Maybe you ARE autistic, and many creative people are, in which case, be patient,
I’m not going to give you an exhaustive breakdown of what autism is here
But we’ll definitely come back to this subject again
But right now I want to talk briefly about the autistic experience of interfacing with the world
Because I think it will help explain why creating connections through art is so valuable
Dealing with humans are troublesome for autistics
It’s not that we can’t carry out interactions with other humans, but it’s ALWAYS much harder for us
It takes a lot more effort
and it’s fraught with missteps, dangers and trauma
Think of it like being a 5 foot tall person playing professional basketball.
The average height of NBA players is closer to 6ft 4 which implies many are MUCH taller than that
It turns out that height is a HUGE advantage in basketball
as you might imagine
The basketball players that are technically the best are actually the shorter ones
The tall guys earn their keep for sure
And they still score the points
But the short players have to work MUCH harder to even compete, let alone score
They tend to be truly exceptional players, but they’ve got an unconquerable disadvantage
This is what it’s like being autistic, every time we encounter other humans
We have to work REALLY HARD to just keep up
Many times we just get stomped on
It’s mentally and emotionally exhausting
Yes we just have to do it.
We don’t have a lot of choice.
We develop all sorts of methods and coping mechanisms to account for your defecit
Anyway, One thing I, and many other autistics find exceptionally difficult
is approaching people we don’t know
Just rocking up to someone and kicking off a conversation
I’m terrible at small talk, it makes no sense to me
seems pointless
I have no idea what the other person is likely to say or ho to respond
I just want to get straight to the point
to dive right in to some much more meaningful conversation
But that tends to freak people out for some reason
So I get stuck in these strange, unpredictable conversations
Saturated in subtle social norms and are steeped in subtext
And I always end up saying something really odd
cos I get nervous and confused and can’t follow what’s going on
And people try and run away
So I avoid doing it at all costs
I’m literally find it terrifying
So I’m not good at meeting people and making new connections
This leaves me feeling isolated and anxious and ashamed
More little cuts to add to the thousands already there
They all add up
One way I have of dealing with this is not healthy at all
So alcohol gives you courage right?
For years, from way before I knew I was autistic
I would drink alcohol at any social event
In fact i frequently still do
I genuinely didn’t know that the reason I was doing this
was because the alcohol dampened my inhibitions
and allowed me to relax enough to hold and almost normal conversation
This is an all too common pattern for autistics
Via this route I had convinced myself that I was confident and outgoing
But here’s the thing
I was still rubbish at making those connections
Just a slightly different kind of rubbish
A louder and more obnoxious kind of rubbish
And I would sometimes make a fool of myself.
And feel terrible in the morning
And wanted to hide away even more
Thus increasing the cycle of isolation and shame
More cuts
What I discovered when I started exhibiting my art transformed my approach to this problem
Because when I show my art, 3 things happen
1. people rock up and talk to ME
1. they tend to skip past the small talk
1. we automatically have something to talk about - me and my art
Now I know EXACTLY how to talk a about THAT
And my enthusiasm on this subject tends to be infectious
We’ll sidestep the fact that I’m terrible at converting these conversations into sales
But who cares, I’m talking!
At that point, people tell me all sorts of things, about themselves,
their life,
stuff they love
And they tell me all about MY art
They often have al sorts of thoughts and opinions on it
They often observe things about my art that I’d never thought about it
When first this happened
When someone rocked up and told me
lots of things about what my artwork meant
Their interpretation wasn’t at all
what I had in mind when I made that artwork
I was a little incredulous
I didn’t say it at the time thankfully
But I thought to myself
“no, that not right, stop misinterpreting my art!”
It felt like a bit of a violation
But when I reflected on it after
I realized how mind blowing that was.
Someone had projected their OWN story
Their own creativity
inspired by their own life and experiences
onto MY artwork
And made it mean something totally different
It was as if they’d made a new artwork!
And their version was actually BETTER than mine!
I realized that at that point,
that once you put an artwork out there, it’s not yours any more
It takes on a life of its own.
And once it takes up residence in someone else’s house,
someone else’s head
It develops this secret life that you’ll never be party to
As the new owner evolves their story
based on new stuff they notice about the work
New experiences that they project onto it
Conversations that have about it with OTHER people about that work
that gets integrated into their understanding of it
And those now other people have a THEIR own interpretation
Integrating THEIR points of view into their own understanding
And this just keeps perpetuating as long as people are able to experience that artwork
Image how many stories have been projected onto the Mona Lisa
Or Van Gough’s sunflowers
So this autistic guy who struggles to connection with people that he’s not met before
Has reached out in time and space and is connecting with all these strangers
And in a uniquely intimate and dynamic way.
I can’t understate how important this is to me
I love humans, but I can only experience them in small doses
This way I get to have intimate conversations with lots of people without EVEN HAVING TO BE THERE
How amazing with that?
It’s also probably worth reflecting
that I do this all right now via a local art community
One that I founded
I’d recently moved to where I am now, in rural Scotland
And I didn’t know anyone
the idea that I would just go out and talk to people felt rediculous
But I knew I needed to meet people
and I knew I wanted to start sharing my art again, in the real world, not just on line
So I started an arts community
On reflection, this is very much a symptom of my overall inability to instigate connections
as backward as that sounds
But by starting a community around my art, I had a reason to speak to people
and about something that I knew I can relate to them about
And because I was at the center of it, at least at the beginning
They kinda HAD to talk to me!
But I soon realised the impact I was having on their lives
And how many others like me there were out there
Also
A death metal appreciation society in a small rural town was unlikely to get many members!
Maybe I’ll start that on line
Or maybe I’m wrong
Drop me a line if you’re in arse-end-of-nowhere scotalnd and feel the need to sit around and chat about Cannibal Corpse.
I’m IN
Anyway I digress
We can talk about death metal another day I promise
back to the art
I think that every artist gets something different from sharing their works.
To name but a tiny fraction of possible motivations:
- Money
- Attention
- The thrill of performance
- Delighting others
- To protest
- Make people laugh
- To make people cry
- To have a reason to get out of the house
- Because, well, you just gotta
I could go one and on
Whatever it is, it’s always about connection, at least from the artists perspective
Art IS communication
It’s not ONLY about communication, but in itself it is a form of communication
and perhaps the most effective one of all
We’ll talk more as we go on about this as well as the broader value and necessity of art to a healthy society
But today I’m really interested in the personal experience
And conversations you have with people about your art
And it’s amazing what people tell you
things like how your art reached them
enriched their life
made them feel seen
moved them, sometimes to tears
made them angry or sad or joyous or calm
People’s reactions sometimes seem bonkers to me!
I mean, It’s just a painting people!
But it’s amazing, always
and I mean always
When you’re really low, it’s sometimes hard to feel that you have any worth at all
Maybe you get some solace in the artistic process
But it can feel selfish
Solitary
perhaps even indulgent and self-centered
The idea that you could help someone else
to reach someone in any capacity seems ludicrous
How can this broken person help fix someone else
I’ve been in places where I felt completely worthless,
more often than I like to admit,
and for no GOOD reason really
But I justified it to myself,
told myself stories,
made myself believe that I was right to feel that way
This is the way that it works
Misery is self-perpetuating
The last time this happened to me was quite recently actually
Due to various circumstances I’d crashed
I was not a well person, and it was leaking out everywhere
I needed to stop, take stock, heal
But I felt that I couldn’t
I was already committed to doing a bunch of stuff that meant I needed to put myself and my art out there
For various reasons,
not least because I was the organiser of the event,
and me not turning up would put a bunch of people out and make me feel a whole bunch more worthless
So I did it, even though I really didn’t want to
I found some energy from somewhere
Then people came and spoke to me and told me what my art meant to them
and what this exhibitions I’d organised meant to them
they said I’d helped them
I made a real difference
How works like mine had helped dig them out of a hole
me!
This hollowed out husk!
It all struck me as so bizarre!
How could this broken useless shell help anyone?!
How could someone who struggles to reach people on a good day,
actually create light in their lives, on a bad one?!
I think if you’ve been to psychological place like that,
you’ll know that your addled brain tries to fight anything positive
Like it’s allergic to hope
The nasty chattering deamon that put you there doesn’t shut up
But it DID make a difference
A HUGE difference
Because I didn’t feel useless any more
Yes I was still exhausted and broken
In some ways the worst was still to come as my situation in real world continued to worsen
But I faced that stuff down with renewed strength, because I felt like I mattered
That even in that state
These are the building blocks of recovery
And this time a recovery that took a lot less time that it usually would.
And those little threads of positivity I spun spread, and created a web
Some of that web I could see, via the positive repercussions of that event
and others that I knew would be there
Because I knew that any sliver of hope in MY world made a difference
And so any little glimmer of positivity I can create in another’s world,
must create ripples of positivity that spread
Even if they only spread a little way, they MATTER
Small things matter
Every small gift counteracts a small hurt
Every sliver of light, no matter how small, gives someone who is suffering a reason to carry on
And as an artist you are in the privileged position
to be able to create such moments by doing something that you love
it is your JOB, whether you know it or not
There ARE other benefits to sharing your work.
Here’s a few
- You’ve got both an excuse and more room to make more art
- Meeting other creatives
- Seeing your art in it’s natural environment
- the potential to make some extra money, and perhaps a LOT more money
- Contributing to the progressions of an artform
- To just do it. Art for arts sake
Taking the step of sharing your art is harder for some than others
Harder at the beginning than later on, well, most of the time
Maybe you think it’s too hard for you
And that’s fine, you’re in good company
But, if your objection to showing your art to other people is really just hesitancy, trepidation, fear
I urge you to push through it
Because The world needs you
The world needs your art
Your homework this time is simple
Go experience an artists or creator’s work
This could also mean reading or rereading a book or poem
Listening to music
Listening to a podcast
Anything creative
it needs to be a living creator, not JMW Turner or anyone like that
And no someone who already gets heaps of attention
I think Taylor Swift can do without you for a bit
But someone who needs it
Get in touch with them tell them how it made you feel
However you can find to do that
Email, social media feeds, website comments
Tell them how their art made you feel
Do this to multiple artists if you want
And if you find someone new to this game, someone inexperienced
Then all the better
Go create a bit of light in another artist’s life
Let them know that they are appreciated