"Why do you create?”
My reply to a friend posing this question:
Why, for fame and fortune, of
course! Actually, sometimes I wish I knew. I know I
feel motivated to create and I wish I could say I always
find contentment in the process. Sometimes it feels
quite fulfilling and at other times it just seems to
drain the last bit of energy.
Early in my career “creating”
meant satisfying the tastes of a second party or in some
cases someone further removed than “second.” Thankfully
I no longer need channel my creative endeavors in such a
manner.
I’d like to think I’m contributing
something to the visual vocabulary, but it’s a big art
world out there and it can be hard at times to see the
significance. So, an artist must take a somewhat
philosophical approach and work within the available
arena.
Another reason I create is to get
better at it. I know there’s no logic in such purpose,
particularly if that reason stands alone, but there it
is anyhow.
For each of us who create art, I
believe a motivation exists that is rarely acknowledged
to oneself and never acknowledged to others.
By now dear reader you may
perceive that I am serious about my art, but don’t take
my art too seriously. There’s an abundance of pompous
discourse regarding what so many of us are doing without
my adding to the babble.
Robert
DeWitt Smith
2735
Deborah Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32310
LINKS:
Gadsden Arts Center
FSU Artists' League
Council on Culture & Arts
LeMoyne Art
Center
