Foolish or Fearless?

Is it foolhardy or fearless to pursue your creative dreams when so much is in tumult in this world and in our lives? Or do we go forward, neither foolish nor fearless, keenly aware of the uncertainty of the impact, import or power of art? Is creativity a means of addressing or processing what is going on? Is it a means of escaping? 

Halloween/Day of the Dead/All Soul’s Day is probably my favorite holiday season. These holidays simultaneously poke fun at and highlight our dreams and inner/outer identities. They taunt death. And they invite death to laugh back at us

So is it Foolish or Fearless to reveal your art and to make it a priority? Is it Foolish or Fearless to put it aside/hide it and concentrate on other concerns? 

 Creatives of all types have struggled with personal, cultural, financial, resource and other barriers. Many have stopped making art altogether.  Here are some books that have helped me deal with those barriers. I would be interested in learning what has helped you.

• Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland

• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

• Ignore Everybody and 39 other keys to creativity by Hugh MacLeod

 “This is precisely the time artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.  We know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge — even wisdom. Like art.” (Toni Morrison, “No place for self-pity, no room for despair,” The Nation, 2004)