We Don't Need Art
We don’t need art.
It’s completely unnecessary to live, but for some it’s completely necessary to feel alive.
You can buy a little beige house, with beige bricks, carpet, walls, and furniture. If the roof doesn’t leak, the foundation is sound, and the plumbing works well… you don’t need to do a thing for that house to live… but what’s the fun in that? Just because we don’t need something to live, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. I want to live in a home full of color and texture and things that reflect who I am and what I love.
Humans long to be understood and belong, and I am no exception. Even 15,000 years ago, before written language existed, we painted on cave walls. Can you imagine fighting for survival on a daily basis? Hunting, gathering, finding shelter, making your own clothing. Even then, people made art. The famous cave paintings at Lasceuax are beautiful renderings of animals, created by people living in less than ideal conditions… in a dark cave, on walls you couldn’t reach on your tippy toes. Which one can only assume means that not only did these people make art, they worked hard to do so. They would have had to gather pigments, create fire to light the space, and come up with some kind of scaffolding or ladder to lift them to those heights. It’s incredible. So much of what we know about human life and history is from the art we leave behind. Art is in your everyday living. Art is a record. Tell your story.
“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable.”
In an effort to foster a creatives community I’ve started a Facebook group called Art is a Record Creatives Community, the same name as this blog. I would love for you to join in the fun as we discuss creative living, projects, art, and life.
