Dec 23 2008
Acceptance…the young artist in your life.
2008-12-22 Recently I met two young ladies (19 and 20 yrs of age) who profess to be, or at least want to be artists. The two of them spent the past year traveling the country (U.S.A.) via hopping trains. Although I do not condone their mode of travel I applaud their spirit and their bravery in committing themselves to doing whatever it takes to find their vision. It is not unusual for young artists to find themselves with wander lust at the beginning of their adulthood. As parents we wish that our young artist children would find a desire to go to college and follow a safe and secure path to enrichment and knowledge in the arts. But frequently that is not the path that the young artist feels drawn to. After 12 years of school the young adult artist finds themselves repelled by the idea of 2, 4, or even 6 more years of school. What they really are saying is that they want to Live Their Art. Sometimes, not always, the young adult needs to travel and put that young sponge artistic mind to work soaking up the world. Fuel for the fire so to speak.
I will call my two young female artist acquaintances M and B. M and B found themselves, and their artistic talent in need of an infusion of life…instead of school shortly after graduation from high-school. Their parents objected to their idea of traveling across the country and experiencing humanity. Consequently the two of them hit the road without support, without blessings from their elders, and without a plan. In such an adventure they were required to fend for themselves, and at times they did in fact have to fight for their very lives. Not a pretty picture in the mind of any parent when thinking about sending their child out into the world. M and B also suffered some harsh brutalities that they were unable, and ill-equipped to defend themselves against traveling in the manner they elected to travel. They suffered hunger, cold, uncleanliness, sickness, injuries, and a host of things we will not mention here…at least for now. But they learned. They experienced life at it’s most raw level. And a year later they came home. They were lucky, smart, keen and found their way retaining their creativity, but losing their innocence. They came home with fuel for their artistic fires, and are now ready to capture discipline, to put the bit of life they gained on the hard road into a visual format that the rest of us can see, appreciate, and feel.
The moral to this dialogue is this…if you have a young teen, or adult artist in your life who is saying to you that they don’t want college right now…that they want to experience life, go and see, do and feel, experience, travel, hurt, make decisions for themselves and build a well of knowledge to draw from do not discourage them. Help them find a safe way to accomplish such an experience instead of forcing them to follow the path M and B followed to achieve that goal. Maybe moving in with a distant relative on an opposite coast, and taking a train, or bus trip to get there with many stops on the way is the answer for your young artist. Maybe as a parent you can afford to take a month or two away from real life and go with them on a journey. Make an effort to understand their need and help them find a way to realize it, experience it, suck it up like the sponge they are. You might just learn something about yourself in it as well. In the end it will be worth every penny you invest in their dream. It will be the fuel for their creative fire. And eventually, your halls, guest rooms, yard or garden, basement family room, local gallery, etc. will one day be decorated with the labor of their love because you supported their dream. And more importantly they will be your artist friend for the rest of your life bringing amazement, questions, and vibrant clarity into your life.
