Becoming an Artist, Art as a Process!
The workshop that led to the writing and publishing of my art handbook, fostering the development of personal artistic voice! Here I discovered how to teach my students to "activate the inner world" in order to mine their very personal images and artistic ideas out of their imagination. The development of artistic voice is, like so many learning processes, a process of unfolding and embodying what is discovered. It is getting to know your artistic sources, learning new concepts and practices and making them your own. That is why I called my book "From Art to Empowerment", as not only the artistic ability of my students increased, but they also made important discoveries about themselves; they became more self-aware, and obtained more self-esteem. They felt empowered by the art they made!
I now teach artists how to visualize a personal story that is authentic. How to use the imagination as a tool next to thinking and feeling, by learning to “surf on the inner-net”, and how to visualize how things feel. In short how to connect to themselves, and create a visual story of "self". Because one of the reasons artists and creatives procrastinate and suffer from self-doubt, when all they really want to make art is because they don’t know the tools how to bring their beliefs, life philosophy and self-identity into their art!
They separate who they are from the art they make. Once you start to practice this however, once you start creating visual stories of self, when you bring yourself into the art-making process, then you discover your personal visual language, your voice and the procrastination and the self-doubt melt like snow in the sun. You will generate your own themes and images, and discover your own ways in art-making. You will understand that art is a form of personal storytelling and self-exploration.
The answer to where to start and where to find Inspiration is: you start from the inside. Go inside! Turn to your inner world, activate your inner world, the world of your imagination, memories, dreams, personal metaphors and feelings, find an issue of personal interest, connect to your personal life experiences, make art from the inside out. Your Art should be meaningful to you in the first place.
