EssaysArt and The Artist
by: Madison Richards
There's a little known fact floating around in the annals of history: art is breathed. It is taken in and made a part of us in unseen ways that affect us to the core of our being. So how does an artist learn to breathe?
The masters studied by apprenticeship. An apprentice often went and actually lived and worked alongside their teacher. They didn't learn only technique. They learned about life, philosophy, behavior, morals, work ethic - they breathed the same air.
It matters who you study under, because just as much gets caught as taught.
What happened when the apprentice was ready and became a master in his own right? Did he stop hanging out with other masters? Although there is a natural tendency toward comparison and a not so healthy tendency toward competition, a true artist knows in the core of his being that only he can produce the kind of art that he was designed to produce, therefore he is not threatened by others who also have a gift. Each of us are called to fulfill no more than 100% of the destiny that belongs to us alone.
So why hang out with other masters? Why not just tunnel into a nice dark cave and live a life of solitude, focusing fully on your art and your craft? Sometimes an artist must fully isolate in order to fully focus. So why not just spend all our time seeking after that singular divine inspiration and immersing ourselves in it?
Why not? Because if we do that all we will ever produce is self focused, two dimensional pieces that have a sad sort of potential for greatness. In order to be three dimensional and fully alive, art needs to be produced in an atmosphere of trials and multiplicity by a heart that has known equal parts of joy and sorrow - a heart that is fully grafted into the vine of life.
It is the gifted person's tendency to isolate themselves. This is the artist's irony. We must live life fully in order to create with three dimensional depth, yet in order to express our hearts with that same depth we must often isolate ourselves in order to focus. It is a sort of fine line that requires discipline and strict attention to balance, something - ironically - that right brained 'arteests' tend to lack.
The ebb and flow of life and art is never boring. Ever dynamic in its process, we evaluate and adjust as we go along and hopefully end out with a fully formed apparition of our soul connecting to our spirit. Sometimes this takes everything from us, and yet we give it gladly, not because we are martyrs, but simply because we must.
It is indeed a labor of love, and yet balance is essential. Giving birth on a tightrope is never easy.
©2006 Madison Richards
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