who is an artist? that was a question posed yesterday.
here’s my working definition for today:
an artist is someone who repeatedly and over extended periods of time expresses her or his experience, knowledge, talent, skill or other internal processes to design unique objects, processes or points of view. most artists are internally driven to operate in this manner and are uncomfortable in situations that do not allow for self-expression.
what do you think of this definition, gentle reader? what would you add, change, take away, improve?
i think the clincher here are the words “repeatedly and over extended periods of time” in combination with the second sentence. with robert epstein, another researcher on the psychology of creativity, i believe that we are all innately creative. however, there appears to be a difference in the desire, need and interest to express and nurture this creativity.
back in the eighties, i worked as a legal secretary. for a few years, i worked for ray schachter, a great boss, with whom i got along very well. once in a while i would make really, really stupid mistakes. these mistakes often wouldn’t make sense given my skills, so a few times we sat down, wracking our brains where these mistakes came from and, of course, how to avoid them.
it was only years later that i realized what had been going on: there was very little room for creativity in this job – so these mistakes were my way of expressing myself. the artist in me just couldn’t handle the pressure and used these mistakes as an escape valve. i guess i’m lucky – other people self-destruct in more disastrous ways when they don’t have room for self-expression.
i also noticed that my interest and ability to pay attention to details was very inconsistent (a killer in the legal field, as you can imagine!) and am now wondering whether that could also be part of czikszentmihalyi’s list of paradoxes. i find that i zoom in and out of paying attention to details, hopping from tiny particularities to great generalities, at a speed that some find a little fast.
isabella mori
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Sydney // Dec 1, 2006 at 8:41 am
I’m sorry but I’m still having trouble with this defintion because it continues to sound like everyone I know. Also, most people would agree that there’s “good art” and “bad art” (subjective of course), but does that also mean that a definition of “what is an artist” is just as subjective? If Johnny hates Judy’s art, but Suzi and Jimmy love it, does it have value because “most” love it, or is there some magic number of people who’ve got to like it, or will some day? Also, most people have a creative outlet of some kind. There are part-time artists. Many famous writers pay (or have paid) their bills by doing something else. I’m not all that sure a definition is possible.
2 mcewen // Dec 1, 2006 at 9:08 am
I heard a similar debate about the differences between an artist and a crafter. Really a question of perspective. Best wishes
3 isabella mori // Dec 1, 2006 at 9:52 am
here’s a comment from my friend tina:
an artist is someone who wants to make the world more beautiful.
4 Sydney // Dec 2, 2006 at 5:42 am
here’s what my husband Dee said, (he’s a musician and software developer): “an artist is a person who works all the time and doesn’t make any money.”
5 isabella mori // Dec 4, 2006 at 11:53 am
i think the question here is not about where someone is a “good” artist or a “bad” one but whether one is an artist, period. you wouldn’t say that george bush isn’t a politician just because you don’t like his politics, would you?
in my mind, there’s a difference between having a creative outlet and going bonkers if you can’t be creative on a somewhat regular basis, over an extended period of time.
how one makes money, i don’t think that has anything to do with whether one is an artist.
oh, i agree. i don’t think there can be “the” definition. that’s why i said mine was a working definition. however, i don’t want to shrink back from attempting to make a definition just because something is difficult to define. and in a way, my definition has already served its purpose: it has created discussion!
6 Art Career Clinic » Blog Archive » Artistic Aspirations Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 // Feb 26, 2007 at 10:39 am
[...] isabella asked what sounded like an ordinary question: “what is an artist? but the answer is anything but ordinary. isabella said that, “an artist is someone who repeatedly and over extended periods of time expresses her or his experience, knowledge, talent, skill or other internal processes to design unique objects, processes or points of view. most artists are internally driven to operate in this manner and are uncomfortable in situations that do not allow for self-expression.” isabella expands the definition of an artist to go beyond how we usually define (or stereotype) an artist, and this has raised a debate from the readers of her post. I personally agree with an expanded definition, and if I want to be really daring, I can even say that in science – a discipline one would not normally associate with artistry – at the highest leve of scientific discovery, you see a creative genius at work – an “artist” in science. I may just have opened a new can of worms [...]
7 avffbddgwj // Jul 3, 2007 at 11:06 am
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8 nancy (aka money coach) // Feb 19, 2008 at 10:36 am
another question I have is the difference between being creative, and an artist. I don’t think I’m an artist. I do think I’m creative – constantly seeing an issue or problem and coming up with practical solutions, frequently, ‘outside the box’. I think entrepreneurs by definition are creative, but not necessarily artists!
nancy (aka money coach)’s last blog post..I heard a man get shot dead last night. What was his life worth?
9 kadie // Mar 14, 2008 at 11:27 am
Creativity
To me there is no necessary attachment of creativity and art. Creativity is much more than art, a piece of art is one specific expression of thought. Creativity is the use of thought through infinite possibilities, and creativity never ends, if something doesn’t come out right it’s perfectly fine because as a creator there are infinite possibilities.
Creative people are not as judgmental, they know how to use their judgment objectively with out excluding possibilities.
We’ve seen many creators of religion, politics, technology, teaching, art, performance, and at this point in evolution its extremely important to continue creating. for some reason humans feel that once we reach a decision that it’s the be all and end all, and if any one suggest something different (especially in politics and religion) it’s labeled as a conspiracy, and crazy!
I read somewhere (i don’t know if it was in this blog or not) that US school only focus on memorization and learning facts. Creativity and critical analysis are on the back burner (as we see the creative arts programs cut form curriculum’s first when there is a budget cut).
Creativity is not valuable to the US government, could there be a reason for this or is it just a DUMB coincidence?
It’s common knowledge that we are a product of our environment, we are trained by the society that we live in. Creativity allows people to explore infinite possibilities.
YOU be the creator of your own reality…think about it.
10 » Artistic Aspirations Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 Chinspirations.com // May 18, 2010 at 5:57 am
[...] asked what sounded like an ordinary question: “what is an artist? but the answer is anything but ordinary. isabella said that, “an artist is someone who [...]
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