What is an Artist?

An artist, in my opinion, is anybody that is successful in expressing themselves. This can be accomplished in countless ways. You can't put a limit on or confine art because that would contradict what art is all about. I would say as far as society is concerned "an artist" is somebody who does art professionally and demonstrates exceptional skill in one or more forms. You may be a painter, drawer, sculptor, architect, designer, photographer, actor, musician, dancer, performer, etc. There are so many different areas of art that you can explore and develop. That is what makes it beautiful. You have so much to choose from and if you still can't find your niche, then you can combine different forms of art or even create something completely new.

I think somebody knows if they are an artist if they are able to demonstrate exceptional skill in any of the many forms of art. I think everybody has the potential to be an artist, but many of us never find our niche. I think a lot of the time people try a couple different forms of art and if they don't demonstrate a natural talent and they aren't willing to put in the extra work to become skilled, and then they just give up and say that they aren't artistic. If you are one of those kinds of people that is fine...I'm right there with you : ). However, I have enjoyed being an "art appreciator" the past 15 weeks or so.

I think society has mixed feelings about art and artists in general. I know I kind of did. There is a wide range of people in every society. We live in a capitalist society where a lot of times art is considered inferior to other studies such as business, economics, marketing, medicine, law, etc. Some people think that art isn’t life changing or of any importance at all. Art is regarded as being a hobby and people don’t think that an artist is a respectable, fulfilling, lucrative profession. You have your artistic extremes and everybody else falls somewhere in between. There are painting, drawing, sculpting, gallery visiting, and art appreciating fanatics and then there are people who can't tell a pencil from a paintbrush and maybe could care less. I am not either, so I, like many of you, fall somewhere in the middle.

I feel that it is important to have art in your life. Even if we don't always realize it, we are exposed to beautiful art every day from our houses that we live in, to the cars that we drive, to the clothes that we wear, to the music we listen to, and what we see on television. Art is all around us. We can see, hear, touch, taste, and even smell art. Art is a wonderful thing that we so often take for granted. I know that before I took this class I was a lot more naïve about art and what it meant to be an artist. I had no idea that there were so many different forms of art let alone anything about the intricate processes that can be involved. We should all be more understanding of art and artists and more open and aware of our artistic surroundings.