There’s a danger for people who create art for a living, or for people who are actively trying to create art for a living. While there’s real beauty in creating art that someone else pays cash-money for, the constant pressure associated with that art’s creation can cause artists to become disillusioned and cynical of the entire process. At this level, many artists feel like they’re selling out.
But there’s a way to fight against this.
People who create art for a living need to always have one artistic project that they’re pushing forward with no intended audience, and no intended income. And the form the art takes doesn’t have to be the same form that we use to create in our days jobs. I’d actually argue that it’s better when it’s not.
In my world, I can get really stuck on trying to create the next great church video, or trying to tell the next great story on video. I can become cynical and feel like a sell-out. Those are extremely important artistic callings, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
But I blog, too.
Blogging has become, for me, that art form that has no intended audience and no intended income. Blogging is God’s gift to me. It’s a space He invites me into so that I can become the 10 year-old version of me, caught up in some great adventure without knowing it’s a great adventure. There is no intended anything. I only experience life.
So as you look at your days and weeks, what one project are you pushing forward without any intention of any audience or income? And if you’re working in a church because you were invited to “come and be creative” but are finding yourself producing close-to-identical art widgets week in and week out, you really gotta answer this question.
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