I have been aware of Ted Talks for some time, but lately I went in search of some inspiring thoughts on creativity. One of my own personal hurdles on creativity is my reluctance to own it. When people ask me what I do for a living I say that I "work as" an artist. Not that "I am" an artist. In fact I actually say that I "work as" a community artist. God forbid I give myself all the credit. I have been thinking about where this would have come from. Being an artist is not something that you're encouraged to pursue as a career choice. When in school I was very focused and committed to art and didn't have much doubts around being an artist. However when I got closer to leaving school and applying for college something started to shift. It happened when everybody started talking about college and career choices. I began to feel a bit naive that I thought I could be an artist for a living. I remember one teacher asking me what I wanted to do when I left school and my reply was to be an artist, her response was "well that's nice as a hobby". That one innocent statement was the beginning of the doubt and had a big impact on me. I began to feel a bit stupid for thinking that I could possibly do that and also that it was even worth doing at all. In the end I applied for a course in design, thinking it was a more sensible option. One year in and I knew it wasn't me, too many straight lines and hours at a computer so I left to start a different journey.
It has taken me many years to come back to the place of wanting to be an artist again. Even though throughout all those in between years I have been selling paintings, drawing illustrations for magazines, teaching others to paint, exhibiting work and creating large art pieces with groups but not once would I say I was an artist. It was as if I was declaring myself to be KING. In the last few years I have been warming myself up to it by claiming to be a "community artist" because so much of my work is in the community sector.Other people call me an artist and many people around the town call me "The Art Lady". The Art Lady is a pretty cool title too, however from this day forward I am making a change, I will make the declaration and call myself an "ARTIST".
I heard once that we are the stories that we tell ourselves, well I am telling myself that I am an artist, it is what I always wanted to be and is also the one job that I have to pinch myself when I get paid because I fell that it crazy to be given money for something that I love to do and would be doing anyway.
I have selected a few talks about creativity and claiming creative roles in our lives. I think if we make creativity and art more of a norm then we won't have people telling us that its "nice as a hobby". I challenge those of you teetering on the verge of claiming such a title to go for it. Go all out and give your title some extra oomph. Choose from my list below and just think about the bank officials face when she processes your new claim for a loan and sees your profession!
Artist Extraordinaire
Creative Genius
Musical Maestro
Inspirational Poet
Now for the Inspirational Ted Talks
Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity and genius
Amy Tan on creativity and career choices
Janet Echelman on taking imagination seriously
Let me know what you think and if you have any occupation titles to add to the list.
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