Dillan DiGiovanni reminds you that just by living, you are creating. Don’t apologize for that.
By virtue of your very existence, you are going to put something beautiful out into the world—and everyone will view it through their particular lens and criticize it.
If could be something you create–a painting, a building, a sculpture. A blog post.
It could be your hairstyle, your fashion sense, piercings, tattoos.
It could be just you. Who you are and the way you are.
When I was in college, as an undergrad, I double-majored in Education and Art. I wanted to be a teacher and I liked Art so I spent many hours in the labs and studios trying to fit in with the real art Majors. These were the kids who actually signed up to eat, sleep and breathe Art. They were going to be “true Artists” when they graduated, whatever that meant to them.
I often felt inferior because I had come from a very small private school. When I say small I really mean less than 100 students. I took art classes there and created some decent stuff, but when I arrived at college I looked around me and saw the experience my peers had, mine paled in comparison. My talent, however, did not.
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Within a few months, I stopped comparing myself and feeling inferior. I realized the only person who made me feel that way was me. This was driven home for me when my beautiful friend, K., who was talented beyond my wildest dreams, sought out my advice during some of her creations. We became good friends and spent hours working together in the studios late on Friday nights, because everyone knows that the Art studios on Friday nights is the place to be.
One professor in one class (of the 15 or so I took) decided he didn’t appreciate my talent. He pushed me hard. When we had “crits”, he really wasn’t kind. Crits (group critiques) are the art school equivalent of having someone depants you in front of the whole class. Your assignment is you, standing in your underwear, in front of the whole class. It happened every few weeks when we taped our drawings or paintings to the walls of the classroom and stood there while each student and the professor shared his/her opinion of our work.
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I’m a Buddhist now but wasn’t back then. I see now, based on my knowledge of non-attachment and ego, that this was a great time to practice not having any ego or attachment to anything. People would tear your work to shreds and there wasn’t much you were supposed to do or say about it. It was the whole objective of the exercise–to put your life, your art, on display for feedback about whether it was good or needed more work.
It takes tremendous courage to create something or a sense of self and fearlessly put it out into the world for the critics to assess.
I had a similar journey at art school in the early 90’s, the work was an easy commitment, I loved every aspect yet feared those crits, I now teach and sell art and endeavour to only encourage integrity in work and enjoy my small wonders in everyones creations. Thank you for a beautiful piece of writing.
I’m no expert, but I think it’s been said that good art is truth & simplicity embodied – I think that your message is important, and it accomplishes both: Kudos to you Dillan!
thanks so much, Mostly_123. I love what you said–I have to ponder that one and might use it in another post–I will credit you! 🙂
Bravo
Thanks so much, Luke. Glad it resonated with you.