So often I end up in a conversation with an artist about if their Art matters. I know it does but often they don’t know that or they have lost perspective of just how much it matters. We then sometimes end up in a very circular conversation that appears like I am listening to the external reflection of an internal debate they are going through where they are looking for a way to convince themselves that it does but they don’t really believe it.

At some point (maybe even now) you may have gotten stopped or blocked or slowed down in your creative journey. Your creative juices may have taken a dive. If you dig some below the surface you may find the question about your art mattering lurking in the background. It is a really tricky place to navigate in the life of an artist when this shows up.

What makes it matter? Who says it matters or doesn’t matter? Who are they to even have a say? What about the people who do say it matter? Do they matter? Is there even anyone else outside of you that is doing the voting or is it just the rumblings of your own critic having a party with you?

The thing that is so tricky about it is that it really may not be, at that point in time, a question about if your work matters … instead it might be it a much deeper thing that is getting in the way. You can test this out by asking a very different question and seeing what comes up for you: Do I matter?

Now if you can truly answer YES, then perhaps it is not a question of “Does my Art Matter?” but simply time to make sure you create Art that matters to You. If you really know that you matter and you make Art that matters to you then we are done here … Your Art Matters!

If you find any hint of a NO in your answer then it is time for you to work on knowing YOU matter because there is simply no way that you can create things that you think matter if you do not feel YOU matter.

How do you do that? Whew … that is a deeper subject than I can do justice to in this post BUT simply consider that only you could have decided that you don’t matter to any degree and you can just as easily decide, at any time that You do matter. It may take some work and practice to get there but choosing to matter is the first step.

I know YOU matterI know YOUR ART matters

What about you … Does your Art Matter?

Feel free to share with me any thoughts you have or experiences you may have had – I always love hearing from you!