Everyones an Artist

In the 8th grade, I decided I wanted to be an art teacher. By the 10th grade, I knew my personality was best suited for older students. So, years later, and after teaching teenage students for five years, it's probably not hard to see why I was less than thrilled when I found myself teaching primary school art. While there’s a lot that could be said—and more that might be said about that later on—what I'd really like to give is parenting advice.

It's really not important that I don't have a child, that I have no interest in having a child, and that I actively work to prevent that reality with a dedication that has been reinforced by spending seven hours a day with students five days a week for the last ten years. However, it wasn't until I taught tiny humans that I realized one of my greatest pet peeves.

STOP TELLING YOUR CHILD THAT YOU’RE NOT AN ARTIST.

I realize that putting that in all capital letters is aggressive, but I aggressively mean that. Stop telling your child that you're not artistic. Stop telling your child that you’re not good at art. What kind of message are you sending to your child by telling them that you are not an artist?

Every single human on this planet is artistic. We are all creative beings who, if nothing else, make design-related choices practically on a daily basis. How we dress, cut our hair, furnish our homes, and our handwriting—these are all examples of creative behavior. We all engage in art if you choose to see what you do as art. Stop viewing art as only being able to draw or paint realistically. Being an artist might mean having those abilities, but isn’t being an artist really more about mindset?

Just because you may not understand an artwork because it’s too abstract, minimalist, conceptual, or made with the “wrong materials,” doesn’t make it any less valid than a “classic” made by an old dead white guy. You can’t possibly conceive how Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain is art because it’s a signed and dated urinal? Well, not with that attitude. You might as well tell your kid that the clay pinch pot they spent three weeks making amounts to nothing because they lack formal training.

How will your child see themself as an artist if you tell them that you are not one?

Now, to be fair, nobody said you were good at making art. It's overwhelmingly likely that your art is pretty bad, but guess what? Who said you had to make “good art” to be an artist? Even those who identify as artists make what they consider “bad art” from time to time. Some artists make “bad art” intentionally. Guess what—your 3, 4, or 5-year-old is not going to know if your art or their art is “good” or “bad” unless you reinforce some archaic parameters of what “good art” is and who gets to call themselves an artist.

image sourced from Google Arts and Culture