But What Do You Do With It?

I just had a conversation with some artists about those that don’t understand or appreciate art.   They might be the people that call your work ‘craft’ or ask “but now what do you do with it?”.    I know most of us are struck speechless when we run into someone that says this sort of thing.  So what do you do?

I actually have had people say that to me:  what’s it for?  I figure if they have to ask, I probably can’t educate them.  Apparently no one ever taught that person an appreciation for art or even just color.  Maybe they grew up in a family where art was not available, for whatever reason.  Perhaps they didn’t have much money so art seemed like something extravagant or outside of the realm of scraping through every day.  Whatever it was, I didn’t have a thing to say in response that was substantial enough so I think I just looked at them.  Consider this an opportunity to begin their education.

Now when I run into this I tell them that it’s a nice thing to surround yourself with things that make you happy.  There’s enough in this world that gets thrown in our paths that is not really ‘happy making’ so each of us has to make up for that for ourselves.  We have to fill up our lives with what we like.  That’s what you do with it:  you enjoy it.

Advertisements