Is making art selfish? [2]

Have you ever felt this way about making art? That perhaps it’s a waste of time which would be better spent doing other, more productive things? After all, if no one else benefits from what you make then you are the only person this matters to. Harsh?

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What have you been working on this week?

Louise is making new paintings for an upcoming show and concerned about how these will ‘fit’ together.

Alice is working to specific brief and feeling a bit restricted, but trying to see it as a learning experience. Perhaps this will lead to a new, more direct way of working?

Is making art selfish?

Have you ever felt selfish about your art making practice? That it’s taking up time you should be spending on other things? Perhaps this only changes when we begin to see and understand the positive effect it has on others when we make time for what is important to us. The knock-on effects can be bigger than we anticipate at the start. So, maybe a better question would be “how can I be more selfish?”.

Audience Question: If fear wasn’t a factor, what would you make?

What would you really like to try? There will be something holding you back. Identifying exactly what that is can help. For Alice it feels better to ease in to a new idea in small steps whereas Louise has learnt the hard way that jumping in feet first can get you more than you bargained for and would like to learn to wait a little before putting ideas into action.

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Follow Alice on Instagram @alicesheridanstudio
or Louise @louisefletcher_art

Credits
“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License