When the economy struggles the first reaction is to cut art. We encourage our children to pursue a career in business, professional trades or education. "Art is a hobby". We critique the cost of art and joke about how much artists get paid.
Can we do anything more to make art a second class in our culture? I don't want to live in a culture that does not put art in a first class. Art needs to be encouraged, expressed and chosen as a profession. We need artists and lots of them.
In all healthy, vibrant communities art flourishes. In all repressed, broken unsafe societies art is repressed. People are healthier when then practice art. Sustainability is much more vibrant and alive when art is practiced.
Now I am not talking about only painting. Art is whatever way you wish to express yourself. It comes in a myriad of forms, one does not have to choose, they just have to create. Art is freeing your heart to be brave and show what is happening on the inside.
Art is risk, chance, safety, comfort, anything you want. It is the language of our heart.
Art does not have to be separate from life. It is life. It is an expression of life. If you have a child or know of one that wishes to pursue any art form, encourage them. It is just as viable a career as anything out there.
If you where ever told that art is not a career choice, then let that thought go. It is not true. It is the artists that we need right now. We need lots of them, the dreamers, the thinkers, the creators, the destroyers, the pushers, the trouble makers. Free yourselves now.... we need you!
