You are an Artist

March 3rd, 2013

It’s the title of a book we bought used many years ago and have had around since. We took it with us to Oregon. Just the title is reminder of what we often need reminding of: You are an Artist.*

I’m aware that perhaps half of my readers will rise to this title, and the other half won’t relate. But wait.

Even if you don’t, for reasons cultural, or upbringing, or linguistic, you may want to reconsider. Here’s a great quote I used in the introduction to my book, In the Image of God:

An artist isn’t a different kind of person,
but every person is a different kind of artist.

That’s by Eric Gill, type designer, sculptor, graphic designer and part time philosopher a couple generations back. I remember his typeface, Gill Sans, one I often used in my years designing Surfer Magazine. I wasn’t aware its designer was active in multiple fields. Another Renaissance Man? His great quote indicates how he saw life, and all of its participants.

ALL of its participants!

Doing things from an artist’s perspective has to do with approach.

It’s aesthetic, perhaps, but more, it’s unique. It’s a way of looking at, of problem solving, of play. What it comes up with is original, new, and “just right” for the challenge at hand.

If done very well, it’s genius.

A more-or-less quote by Vincent Van Gogh (I’ve read all of his letters to his brother Theo but there were thousands) goes like this:

I’m an artist. By that I mean I’m always exploring, often not getting it, always working toward it.

There it is, an artist’s definition of an artist. We’d say, “Van Gogh thinks he’s an artist? Well, duhhh. He goes out every morning and paints another masterpiece by evening.”

Yes, but he wasn’t an artist because he used paint, he was an artist because of the way he used his mind.

There are a lot of people using paint who could use an extra surge toward becoming an artist. And there are mathematicians and plumbers who are very much artists.

So there you go. Remember Eric Gill: “Every person is a different kind of artist.” And remember Van Gogh: Keep working, keep exploring, try the new thing.

As you do that, you are an artist.

 

_________________
* You are an Artist, A Practical Approach to Art, by Fred Gettings, Pub. Paul Hamlyn, London, 1965
Next: the e-gallery, sharing some of the work produced in Oregon

 

16 Comments

  1. lisa hoyt Mar 3, 2013
    9:16 pm

    Hyatt, this is really so great! Van Gogh———-“Keep working, keep exploring, try the new thing!” I love this! This blog from you has inspired me to begin again— trying art work again! But I love that we are all artists even if a person doesn’t paint pictures! God uses everything in life to reach us and to grow us! Also there are many studies behind the theory that when we use our creativity it helps us to become a well balanced person. There have been lots of studies saying that when we have a balance between work, exercise, contemplation, and creativity, it helps to create a balanced mind. Thanks again Hyatt! Can’t wait to see your new work! Best! Lisa

  2. Marty Dieckmeyer Mar 3, 2013
    9:18 pm

    Good stuff Hyatt! Your words resonate with Cathy and I.

  3. Barbara Mosten Mar 3, 2013
    10:30 pm

    Well, thank goodness! I feel so much better. I was feeling so inadequate among this group of artists & talented folk. I am a different kind of artist! My gifts are not available for display, but I do make a living using them. I’m beginning to understand why Randy feels I am creative. Thanks for another eye opener, Hyatt.

  4. Franziska Moser Mar 4, 2013
    2:34 am

    Thank you Hyatt! This es exactly what I needed to hear this morning. So encouraging. Yes, I’m keeping at it.

  5. Rocky Roberts Mar 4, 2013
    6:06 am

    Thanks Hyatt. I needed the encouragement this morning. I hope I can find and develop the artist in me.

  6. Pastor Adam Barton Mar 4, 2013
    6:46 am

    Just an excellent post today Hyatt. Indeed, everyone is a different kind of artist. Good stuff! Van Gogh only sold one work in the lifetime I’ve read–so that should also encourage people in that recognition is nice, but does not make the artist.

    With appreciation,
    Pastor Adam Barton
    Akron, Ohio

  7. Sue Donaldson Mar 4, 2013
    7:38 am

    Just blogged some of your latest masterpieces – thanks for stopping by. Love being related.
    http://welcomeheart.com/journal/2013/3/3/mondays-o-taste-and-see.html

  8. Lynn Schrader Mar 4, 2013
    7:54 am

    Your words go deep. So refreshing and divinely inspired. Thank you, Hyatt!

  9. Carmen Tome Mar 4, 2013
    9:36 am

    So, so right on. I am an artist always because I can’t help myself. I can’t be separated from what I do. And, I meet a lot of people who say they wish they were artists and I always tell them that their creativity, their artistry just looks different on them. For example, for women who tell me they are only mothers and have no time to be artistic, I tell them that children are living sculptures and they chisel here and there, mold here and there, every single day. The emotion, the wisdom and the creative problem solving all day long, in all facets of motherhood and making a home, makes them artists pouring their hearts out.

    • Betty Mar 4, 2013
      7:16 pm

      Love it!

  10. Allan Hedberg Mar 4, 2013
    1:03 pm

    In a general sense, our personalities are a form of art. We are unique;no one is like another. God painted was with a brush and then tossed the brush out. We are all to grace the world as an art masterpeice hanging in the art gallery of the world. Allan Hedberg

  11. Sophia Beccue Mar 4, 2013
    3:42 pm

    Love the quote

  12. Mary D Mar 4, 2013
    6:18 pm

    So true. When we really SEE all of God’s creation, we open ourselves to all forms of creativity! Thanks Hyatt.

  13. Mary Damigos Mar 4, 2013
    11:10 pm

    Thank you Hyatt…another beautiful writing. What can I say? Your works always make me think, even believe, for some moments about being an artist.

  14. Ursula Becker Mar 5, 2013
    3:43 pm

    Hyatt;

    Again – I’m so encouraged by your writing.

    Thank you,
    Ursula

  15. Linda Lawler Mar 14, 2013
    12:55 pm

    Hyatt – Just going over some past Blank Slates and this one caught my eye. I am finally going to go through the book “The Artist’s Way” with 3 other women. Your writings will be wonderful to share with the group.
    Enjoy your insights.
    Saw that you are in the Mission Art Gallery in SJC…great!
    Still in Idaho. Gathering inspiration for mt. paintings.
    Blessings to you and Ann.
    Linda