Artistic mediums have always captured the imaginations of many of us. Most of us seem to be drawn to art and artists but fewer of us has stopped and asked ourselves why? Why do we make art? And what is so captivating about it? I am going to attempt to answer these questions throughout this article so let us dive in!
Art Supports Emotional Expression
Sometimes, words are simply not enough to convey a complex emotion. These feeling could have compounded over days, weeks, months, even years. So, it can be difficult to express the emotional weight of them with words alone. This is where art comes in. For many people, projecting their emotions onto a canvas, or whatever creative medium you are working with, makes it significantly easier to give those emotions a physical form.
Artists have said that giving these emotions form allows them to be better understood by the artist but most importantly, communicate that emotion to those who interact with what you create. For instance, some photographers convey emotion through the composition of their image. But organising the elements in a particular way, photographers can put more weight on certain focal points that can carry a lot of emotion by themselves. Many visually artistic mediums share this trait.
Making Art is Fun
For others, art is just a way of having fun. Many people simply enjoy the journey of creating itself. It does not always have to be about processing some intense trauma. Art can also be a great way to express experiences about the world in a fun and engaging way. This could have something to do with our universal desire to connect with other people that propels us to find new ways to communicate but regardless of what the actual reason is, for a lot of creative types it is exciting.
A lot of the fun in art comes from a yearning to explore and create. Those inclined towards the arts enjoy the adventurous spirit that goes along with that exploration of the world and everything we could experience in it. At this stage, art is just an extension of what cavemen did all those years ago. We are all just looking to share what it means to be human and find connection in that.
Promotes Empathy
Many artists enjoy creating art because it encourages other people to take a look not only at where the artist was when they were creating this piece, but where they are at in their own lives and how that related to what the artist is communicating. The artistic community is full of empaths that are looking to share their stories in an effort to find community and help others understand a new dimension about themselves they might have previously not examined.
Empathy being a vital part of any community of people. Empathy is a difficult skill to cultivate that requires experience and the ability to look outside of one’s self. Because art pushes this much needed skill forwards, many can understand how it is an integral part of any human society.
At the end of the day, art is all about communication. Communication is incredibly valuable in all our lives; it is how we connect to people and grow a feeling of belonging in this big crazy world of ours. It is how we challenge ideas that we disagree with and criticize ideologies that we disagree with. Art is often pushing social and cultural boundaries. Questioning the way, we do things or simply admiring them. Regardless of what art means to any of us individually, I think most of us can agree that creating art is the life blood of our communities.
