After my last article rewrite, I thought I should go ahead and redo the one on Why I Like Polymer Clay, but I don’t feel like it right now. Instead, I want to talk about how doing art helps with emotions. Whether it’s polymer clay, or fabric, or paint, or whatever your medium of choice is, creation is something that can reach somewhere deep inside our hearts and souls and make us feel better.
I don’t want to start getting all preachy about it, but let’s just dive right in, with me telling you my own personal experience with art and what it does for me.
Refocus, Reduce, Release
If I am all worked up or edgy about something, art is one of the first things I turn to. Why? Well, first of all, because I love it. But second, because it takes my mind off anything that might be bothering me and puts my attention on something else. It’s a way of feeling like I can look at something that is beautiful or at least has the potential to be beautiful, and work towards accomplishing something. This is especially helpful when you are in situations that you have no control over – which face it, is most of life, right?
With art, I am in control. I can create something and it’s all me. And guess what? If I don’t like whatever I made, I can crumple it up and fling it in the trash! That is immensely satisfying to me. When a big ol meanie cuts me off in traffic or takes the last chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in the freezer, I can’t hit the Undo button on Life, but I can on my iPad. I can’t erase the memory of accidentally spilling a tray of drinks all over a customer at my first waitress job way back when, but I can totally gesso over painting I wound up hating.
At the end, after all the undoing and erasing or maybe none at all, you have something to show for it. It eventually leads to something you like, maybe even love.
For me, it’s the best!
Super Sudden Hit You Out of Nowhere Clarity
Sometimes, when you take your mind of stuff, even if nothing huge is nagging you at the moment, the answer suddenly appears. It’s both funny and infuriating. Initially, to the answer, I may be like, oh, and where were you three days ago when I felt like my head was going to explode? But then, it’s relieving, and a little funny, that doing the exact opposite ended making it all come together.
Of course, I’m not going to claim that’s the case every time. But it happens most of the time for me. And using art to take my mind elsewhere winds up making that happen to me a lot.
No Right or Wrong
I say this with some looseness because even though art is supposed to have no right or wrong, you know we all look at some forms of art and go WHY??? You know exactly what I mean. For example, you see something, like a banana duct taped to the wall, and it has sold for zillions of dollars.
Our inner expression, whatever is calling us to create, is probably the part that is not right or wrong. I mean, you feel what you feel, right? And expressing it through art is a natural, human thing to do. Obviously, some art is going to speak to you and others are not.
But ultimately, when I sit down and make something, I don’t feel a sense of right and wrong, especially if I’m making something for my own enjoyment and my eyes only. It’s nice to be able to make whatever you want and know that it’s okay, no matter what it is. If I want to make something weird or pretty or creepy or whatever, I can. You don’t have to show it to anyone if you don’t want to.
Art is For Everyone
So, what if you can’t even draw stick people or know someone who thinks art is stupid, none of that matters. Everyone enjoys art in some form. And it helps everyone on some emotional level, even if they don’t want to admit it. It depends on what you consider art. But for me, I consider art to be in almost everything. Your favorite mug. A video game. The sunset. That dance Garfield did to the Black Eyed Peas “Hey Mama”. Even people who say they don’t know anything about art, or don’t like it or can’t do it, have eyeballs or ears. You dig deep enough, everyone has some art form they enjoy and use to do all the stuff I mentioned above.
Now go make something, play something, dance to something, or just look at something. You do this enough, you’ll find a spark of joy somewhere.