Nothing gets me out of bed like an idea
growing up, art was strongly encouraged in my family. My mother was an avid scrapbooker, and my father, a professional musician. Since then, they have both expanded their skill set into other areas of creativity such as cooking, interior design, and construction, but the foundation of an artist’s mindset still exists. With every project, they bring a unique, creative perspective that has been cultivated over the course of decades, to the point of mastery. Creativity has become second nature because of the way I was raised and the firm values of my parents. There is no doubt in my mind that I am the artist I am today because of this strong creative influence in my life.
I'm so incredibly blessed to have been raised in this environment. As early as I can remember, I was creating with my parents. We may not have been working on the same project, but together, nonetheless. While my mother was scrapbooking at her craft table, I would be drawing in my sketchbook on the floor. While my dad was building a large, wood structure like a deck or gazebo, I was using the scrap wood to make stepstools and imaginary telephones.
My parents never said “no” to a creative endeavor. I had the opportunity to pursue any project. My mother continues to recall the memory of me entering her craft room requesting a button, paper clip, purple sheet of paper, and a paint brush, and my mother would drop what she was doing to help me bring my idea to fruition. I felt like my art was important and there is value in an idea. When I was quite young, I used an old bulletin board to make a paper city. I constructed buildings, cars, people, plants, and small props using paper, glue, and markers. The project was interactive, and I played with it for as long as my parents allowed me to keep it up. I distinctly remember the feeling of validity and importance I got from this project. The board sat in the middle of the hallway on the main floor of our house, and around 24 square feet (about twice the area of a bathtub) in size. It was large. Despite these inconveniences, my parents let me keep it there for about three weeks. This opened my eyes to the importance of creating. It showed me that many things aren’t as important as allowing your child to create. My mother likes to tell the story of a game that I made from a sheet of plywood when I was about ten or eleven years old. When I placed the game on the dining room table, I didn’t notice the screw that went through the plywood and was scratching table through the hours of fun we had with the game. When we removed the game, a three-foot, scratch was revealed on the surface of the table. My parents were surprised, but not upset. As my mother reflects on the incident nearly fifteen years later, she says, “If someone were to ask me, would you rather have a daughter that expresses herself creatively, or a perfect dining room table, I’d take the daughter”.
Allowing your child to create opens a multitude of opportunities for them as they grow. Encouraging a child to be creative shows them that their ideas are worth something. It tells them that failure is not defeat, and thus it's not to be feared but rather, revered. If a child can see their parents being creative alongside them, the necessity for creativity in their life becomes even stronger. While interviewing my mother about her perspective on creativity, she talked about what it means to be home, what should be our safest place. With a passion for children, my mother recognizes that not every child is blessed with a safe home and loving parents. Her love for interior design stems from the idea that every person deserves to feel safe in their own home, and creating a space that is warm and comfortable is the first step to cultivating this feeling. She says, “If everyone felt safe and loved in their home, the world would be a better place”. I believe that creative outlets can cultivate this comfort on a personal level, too. If everyone had a way to express themselves, what would our world look like?
Now, I am in my 20s and my art has evolved. I enjoy scrapbooking, watercolor, film, and design. When I am having a rough day, art lifts my spirits and makes me feel accomplished. When I create something, I feel confident. Art is interesting in that we must work towards a goal, and when we are finished, we have created our own reward. When we start a project out of our own ambition, we work towards a goal, and in the end, we are rewarded with the project we set out to complete. This begins a cycle that continues and never stops. If you ask me, it’s a truly wonderful cycle to be stuck in. To feel the reward in our brain, we must start something new.
I love to try new things in art, while pushing my style and comfortability to new levels. I never want to stay with the same colors, mediums, and imagery. While this would create strong technique and style loyalty, where is the expression? Where is the growth as an artist, and as a person? From start to finish, I challenge myself. I have my strengths, but never take for granted what I already know. It’s important for artists to go back to basics when feeling creatively blocked. With every project, I remind myself that I have lots yet to learn. No one knows everything when it comes to art, and there is always room for improvement. There’s always a new approach. There’s always something to learn. Never stop trying and failing. Never stop creating.