Art Beat: Express yourself

Hi, my name is Jacob Mann. I cover the Art Beat for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

I’ve met countless kinds of creative people through my intrepid travels across the community on and off the clock.

I recently talked to a local creative person who’s humility seemed to hold her back from fully admitting she was, in fact, an artist and overall creative person in her own right. Thanks to some persistent and patient prodding and some help from her husband, I was able to get her to admit that she was doing creative work and had creativity on her brain despite the various technical and machine oriented aspects of her craft.

If you’ve followed my column for a while, then you know doubt know this is a topic I never shy away from and perhaps preach too much about from my symbolic soapbox. I’ll try not to kick a dead horse too many times but by golly, I’ll ride that mount through hell and back again just to die on the hill I started from if I have to.

I truly believe that we all have creativity inside us, and art is everything and anything if you take a step back to and look at it with the right side of your mind open to interpretation. It’s everywhere and everything.

Artists are usually humble folks without temptation. The good ones often sing the praises of others way more than they muster up the gall to say they made something nifty themselves. In honor of the unsung creative heroes, the down to earth creators, and the modest artisans, I present my top three favorite quotes (so far) about the importance of realizing the greatness inside you and how refreshing it is when you’re not a total braggart about it.

“What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. ... In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.”

- John Lubbock

“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.”

- Robert Hughes

“Art isn’t only a painting. Art is anything that’s creative, passionate, and personal. And great art resonates with the viewer, not only with the creator… An artists is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artists takes it personally… Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does.

Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.”

- Seth Godin, Linchpin

Bonus quote:

“Yo man there’s a lot of brothers out there

Flaking and perpetrating but scared to kick reality

Man, you been doing all this dope producing

You ain’t had a chance to show ‘em what time it is

So what you want me to do?

(Express yourself!)”

- N.W.A.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com