Thoughts on art as influenced by Neil Gaiman

 

Art 17

Henderson

May 1, 2020

Having not attended a higher school of education was the first hook I felt from Gaiman  when reading his commencement address. That was me too, but I didn’t have such a solid direction in mind as Gaiman did when he decides against University. He talks of a direction that he knew, that  he would be a writer. What I did know about myself was that art/arts were always attractive to me, that creating form and dimension and fooling the eye was something I wanted to do. This came partly from my mother, who first studied graphic arts and then fine arts and eventually became a full time nurse and a  part-time painter. Life has turns in it that come unexpectedly for many and after experiencing a few myself, I didn’t have the drive for school. I had a drive to be independent and learn from life’s lessons, and that is the way I walked back then.

Following the passion, as Gaiman has done through his writings, pushed along by no one more than himself, brought him to where he is today, an accomplished and a commercially viable, writer. 

What Gaiman says, essentially, was that all he knew, was what he knew. And he didn’t have to attend University to accomplish that.  Einstein was rumored to have not attended school beyond 3rd grade (not true, Einstein was awarded his PhD in Physics in 1905) but as a young man, ideas like that were put, in my mind. Drive, creativity and great imagination were, in many cases, the elements of education that at least in this young man’s life helped to create a life as an artist, one that I might not necessarily have received from formal education.

What I have personally noticed about being an artist is that it takes work and diligence. By digging into writing it caused Gaiman to become a better writer, a writer who years later, after taking jobs just to pay rent, to being an in demand creator is the reward of years of doing the work and being diligent.

I wish I had the same resolve that Gaiman has when he talks about deciding to do his best to not write books just for the money. Either his faith in himself was insurmountable and he knew from within that his success would come, or he was born of the manor and it didn’t matter, but that’s a decision that many artists are not willing to make, favoring food and rent over doing art and hoping one will succeed. But, if you can live through it, come out the other side then you are closer to being a master of your art and thusly, much more valuable. 

His discussion of Imposter Syndrome is also something I personally have gone through.  I started a creative business in 1985, in a field that I was marginally educated in, and eventually I became successful with it. Early on though, and lasting for a few years, I felt as if I would be caught and told that I didn’t know what I was doing. But I wasn’t (caught) and more jobs came in, my work was appreciated and more success came with it. And, like Gaiman, eventually the bottles thrown out to sea so lang ago, start floating back in and the task became choosing which bottles I took and which bottles I said no to. Saying no to a job always hurts but it is necessary. WhenI was a young photographer trying to make it, I was often asked, “what do you do for a day job?” I’m glad those days are behind me. Contrary to what many people consider: art and artist are viable. I understand totally Gaiman’s mantra, “Make your art.”

I sometimes struggle with understanding what art is and what is arts purpose. Is it just something that is a meditative hobby or is it a viable option, or does it even matter? Do we create regardless of knowing what it will be that we create? Why not?

 I re-enrolled in college to spark a fire in me that long ago turned to ash but I found an ember burning. Since attending, I’ve learned to pick up the materiel of drawing, it refreshed my memory on the use of charcoal, pen and graphite; instilled discipline and opened my mind to ways to create. I may be at the end of the student age spectrum but I am also at an age of opportunity and available time and resources. Now, it is time to make up my own rules. Now is the time to not think about it but just do it. The world still conspires against success and lately this has never been more apparent than during this tragic pandemic. But it has given me time to work on art assignments.  

Bottom line, make good art.

John Alden