Learning to feel like an artist

Living the life of an artist is much more than applying paint to a canvas. And it's much much more than  technique, media, color, shapes, textures or random muddling through.

It's the visual expression of ideas so others understand the changing times. It's seeing the world through fresh eyes, from alternative perspectives. It's helping us mere mortals better understand who and what we are becoming as we make the transition from a predictable past to a fuzzy future. A roller coaster ride of emotions, from the passionate to the prosaic.

How does it feel to be an artist? How can we ordinary mortals experience the intensity of the artist's struggle with their works, their audiences and their lives, as they channel the future on our behalf? How can we inspire more young people to embark on such careers of creativity, to explore the world in novel ways, to wrestle with society's big issues, to follow in the footsteps of the greats who have gone before them? So we have a greater pool of cultural creatives to lead us to the future.

The moral, political and social quandaries faced by artists are often captured in what they have to say about their own struggles with their art. Their relationships. And the artist's role as creator, analyzer, interpreter, reporter, provocateur, inspirer, judge and moralist.

Here's a workshop to explore what some say about art and the role of artist:

1. Oscar Wilde said in the Picture of Dorian Gray, “All art is useless.” Write a story that explains this idea.
2. Michelangelo said “The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” Jackson Pollock said “It doesn't matter how the paint is put on, as long as something is said.” Craft a dialogue between the two.
3. "Every great work of art has two faces, one toward its own time and one toward the future, toward eternity" – Daniel Barenboim. Write a story about the Mona Lisa, looking forward and looking back.
4. "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." – Pablo Picasso. Write a story about your own struggle as an artist.
5. “Art is moral passion married to entertainment. Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda, and entertainment without moral passion is television.” - Rita Mae Brown. Write a dialogue between a priest, a politician and an actor to show this idea.
6. “Nothing is more the child of art than a garden.” - Sir Walter Scott. Write a story in which the character finds inspiration for her art in nature.
7. “Art is either plagiarism or revolution.” - Paul Gauguin. Write dialogue for a heated argument that explores this idea.
8. “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.” - Frida Kahlo. Write a sad, lonely, contemplative monologue that extends this idea.
9. “I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint.” - Michelangelo. Write a story where the character has writer’s block and how it feels.

Check out these images at www.artchive.com