Dear Guild Members,

The child and the astrophysicist.

As I was thinking about what to write this month, two seemingly unrelated ideas came to mind.

The first is the wonderful freedom you see when children make art. Give a child some crayons and a blank sheet of paper and they simply create. They don’t worry about whether the composition works, whether someone will like it, or whether it is “good enough.” They express themselves freely and find joy in the making.

The second came from an observation by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. He points out that scientists discover things that already exist. If one scientist doesn’t make a particular discovery, eventually another probably will. Artists are different. What an artist creates did not exist before, and if that artist doesn’t create it, that work would never exist at all.

Perhaps those two ideas aren’t so unrelated.

As we grow as artists, we learn technique, develop judgment and become more critical about our work. Those are good things. But perhaps we also need to hold onto some of the freedom of that child with the crayons: the willingness to experiment, take chances and trust our own way of seeing.

And that connects directly to what we are trying to build together in the Guild. Our vision is to “actively nurture and celebrate a dynamic community of artists whose creativity contributes to Charlotte’s vibrancy and enriches lives in the community.”

That creativity begins with individual artists having the confidence and freedom to make something that is uniquely theirs. When hundreds of us do that, and then share what we create, those individual acts of expression become something larger: a more creative, vibrant community.

So perhaps the reminder for November is a simple one: Make the art that only you can make, and make it with childlike joy.

Charlotte will be a little richer because you did.

Making Art. Building Community.

John Komisin 

President

Guild of Charlotte Artists