Everyone an Artist

All the world’s a stage and everyone in it is an artist.

In this article I’m going to go as far as to say, you, along with everyone else that will read this is an artist in their own way. When I first presented this to someone, they responded with, “Yeah, everyone’s an artist, but few can actually make a living at it,” which is true, but they didn’t really understand what I was getting at.

So what am I getting at?

You are an artist. I am an artist. Everyone else, yeah they’re artists too. So why am I an artist? It’s not because I write poetry, design websites, create dust bunnies or play around with Photoshop in my spare time. Those play into my artistry, but it doesn’t define the why. The why is because I create. I am bringing something to the table, whether it has been said before or done before is not what matters, what matters is that I took the time to initiate a spark of an idea and brought it out from my mind into existence. That is what makes people artists.

From the stockbrokers on Wall Street to George my mechanic down the street, everyone is an artist. The medium is different, but that doesn’t discount or devalue their artistry. I look under the hood of my car and I see a bunch of tubes, wiring, and a few spots to check my oil, transmission and coolant levels. Other than those few things, the engine of my car is a mystery to me, but to George, my car is simple. There is an order, a routine to go through when problems arise for me and to him, my car makes perfect sense (most of the time). He is an artist, his medium happens to be Volvo repair.

In the same manner, you are an artist. I don’t know what your craft is or what contribution you’ll hope to make with the world. But I do know that you are creating things everyday that drive you on. Whether it’s relationships, analyzing theories, playing with numbers, or the thousands of other things that people do on a day to day basis, these things are your craft. They are your medium. You are an artist.

Seth Godin (author of the Purple Cow) once said, “Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.” I agree with this completely and I believe that whatever your passion lies, there is where your artistry begins.

You are an artist, go out and create.