Forgive me for the long post, I probably will have more of these to come when my mind crosses certain topics..
I think about how art has been taught in our culture to be made a living off of, or how to do art for a living. About 90% of the time you're told and approached you have to be doing x,y,z, and support yourself as an artist and put yourself out there. But sometimes, some of us, probably most of us just really like and appreciate art. So why have we built a society which doesn't pay to value or love art as a profession?
The other 10% of the time you're told you could teach; and that's fine, that's a very noble and honorable profession and art.
But so many people end up going into art education because they do enjoy that aspect; of art bringing people together.
That's what most of us love in some way; how it makes us come together.
In my experience, the most I get to see so much art at one time is usually when I go to an art festival; usually once a year, somewhere, no matter where I am, I try to go to something. With COVID this year, that's going to be a challenge- and it's probably going to encourage lots of artists to embrace approaching an online platform- and many do and try, especially with weekly newsletter services(And it's honestly a great way to get other people's work in your inbox and be exposed to people doing things in a really genuine way)
And we enjoy supporting these artists because we know that a way they run their lives is through creating their work for the purpose of monetizing it and living by it, because...there isn't anyone else to pay you for your work but you. (Which is a damn great thing America was founded on, and I'm gonna tout my horn on that when I can, but I've also recently learned; that freedom is a part of why my family chose to come here. And it's a very good part of why as someone in my generation, I'm not yearning to go somewhere else, personally.)
So what's been happening coming into 2020 is the rise of lots and lots of content creators and online stores and online advertising. But. Artists were taught we have to be ourselves, we have to put ourselves out there, in order for us to become our highest selves. Being an artist means you strive to achieve your highest self and the highest work you can. But we were also taught to be limited to ourselves.
I was watching an Economics Explained video on prison systems, and the money held within prison systems. We all know, it's almost as if some people's lives were taken and held over with money, some people who are incarcerated, probably shouldn't- comparatively to people who commit far worse literal crimes against human life.
Realistically, people who are social deviants are in prisons, and they aren't given the tools to help themselves.
When they look at prisoners with mental disorders or problems, I'm honestly not quite truthfully sure what they're subjected to, however, if more people were trained to do art therapy, art psychology, and trained to study people's behavior, how would that and programs create a change? We might be able to help an individual create something, but also study what they created, and forge the link between arts and psychology and therapy. After being able to assess an individual at such a raw level, would we be able to understand them and what they need?
If more money and resources were invested into art therapy and utilizing art in healthcare, what would be the result?
In both of these situations, we could utilize the arts and what they do for individuals to help them, and deepen our understanding.
Artists, especially visual artists, shouldn't just be forced into two types of making a living, there should be other ways that are profitable where people can do what they feel is their calling without having to worry about how much money they will make, and be inspired to create.
I just wanted to drop the EE video because I do enjoy their videos, I keep up more with them than I do arguably the news, and I enjoy what topics they cover, so check their videos out!