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When we’re younger, there are a select few professions that everyone chooses to be. An artist is one of them. But when kids tell us their dream job, they phrase it in terms of “becoming” an artist. But are they not already artists? Is everyone an artist? If so, is the word “artists” simply a more specific synonym for a human?
I think that the word “artist” connotes various assumptions that kids make about themselves. To be an artist in elementary school means to be good at painting or drawing. Not just to be good at painting or drawing, but to be better than the majority of your peers. The alternative to being an artist is to take classes or spend time outside of school working on art. An entire identity can be formed off of one activity that brings a kid joy.
Why specialization is not the answer
Everyone plays outside, draws a picture, or sings a song. None of these experiences are exclusive to one group, but by labeling those who are “athletes” versus “artists” versus “singers,” we make experimenting in realms beyond our label as something that has more risk than it really should. We also teach kids to be friends with people who have the same exact interests as themselves, essentially trapping them in a bubble of one activity.
We teach kids that specialization is everything. We have our kids excel in soccer from the age of 5, intently study the piano for hours on end, or drill math problems. Various reasons guide the numerous parents that decide to specialize their children, but many believe that it is truly better for the child. That it will get them to learn how to persevere, lead them to a certain college, or allow them to follow in their parent’s footsteps.
However, when you’re training for a sport, simply practicing the sport sometimes is not the answer. Cross training allows athletes to strengthen other muscles, reduce injury, and simply find more outlets of joy in training.
Beyond cross training, there is a growing sentiment to make sure that athletes form an identity outside of their sport. Both my sisters play tennis, and many of their opponents are homeschooled. Homeschooling allows for them to train for more hours than my sisters, but that doesn’t mean that my sisters aren’t as good. Unlike some of the kids who form the basis of their social circles within the tennis community, my sisters have an identity outside of tennis within their personal and social life that allows them to separate the sport from their life outside the sport. Each win doesn’t have to mean as much to them because their worth isn’t tied to the outcome of the game. By learning to separate emotion from performance, they are able to reduce the pressure they put on themselves, and thus have more positive results.
Artists
To me, art is a process of exploration. Like tennis, forcing the outcome will lead to lowered results. To label someone an “artist,” especially at a young age, can limit that child to feeling trapped within this pressure to continuously attain a certain level of artistic output. A huge part of art is opening up to mistakes, and creating a fear for mistakes can only create harm. When I think we should decide to use the word “artist” is when it empowers someone. When someone who doesn’t normally see themselves as creative, finds that others like their unique ideas. Rather than defining a whole person as an “artist,” I think we should define the various characteristics and moments of creativity as forms of an “artist.” By making “artist” a fluctuating title, we allow people to put on the hat of artist, athlete, and singer. We teach kids that specialization is not who they are, and that they can exist across disciplines. My best ideas for my ceramics pieces have come from my long runs in cross country. The world is not sorted into rows and columns. Different sectors cross with others, and learning to embrace interdisciplinary identities is the first step to learning to embrace the dynamic world around us.
