This event is part of the three-part series: What Makes Us Human: Conversations on Art and Philosophy. There is no ready vocabulary to describe the ways in which artists become artists, no recognition that artists must learn to be who they are (even as they cannot help being who they are.) We have a language that reflects how we learn to paint, but not how we learn to paint our paintings. How do you describe the [reader to place words here] that changes when craft swells to art? With that notion in mind, the authors explore different forms of fear that lead people to stop making art, and explain concisely why each one is silly, surmountable, and ultimately up to you to overcome. It's a beautiful piece of quasi-self-help that offers only blunt and useful considerations without any of the fluff and hand-holding with which self-help, as a genre, is infested. Most of the time I try not to think about it because I know I am as good as anyone else. Sometimes, though, the fear is paralyzing and stops me either from creating or communicating to an application because I anticipate a rejection of my skills. When that happens, I have to set aside the day and look through all my media presentation and just send out the info, regardless of the outcome — basically muscling through. — Iris G Encouraging client to express their feelings in art is something that I have often done as a therapist, in many different ways over my years as a therapist. For example, I have asked clients simply to “draw or paint what you’re feeling today.” I have suggested that they draw what anger, depression, or anxiety look like to them. I have done art about feelings and needs. I have tried feelings mandalas (draw what you’re feeling in the inside of the circle and then what is going on in your life on the outside). I have done feelings hearts and pie charts with kids who have trouble opening up about feelings. I often suggest that overly anxious or angry kids make a monster to represent the feeling.

His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Making art can feel dangerous and revealing. Making art is dangerous and revealing. Making art precipitates self-doubt, stirring deep waters that lay between what you know you should be, and what you fear you might be.” But many clients have told me that this has been a helpful exercise for them to be able to get in touch with their emotions and to feel some relief through being able to express them. Following the panel discussion there will be a seminar from 15.30–17.30 in the Duffield Room. This two hour seminar explores some of the key philosophical issues raised by anxiety and by artistic treatments of mood and emotion. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.While social media amplifies anxieties in a public forum, giving rise to new forms of anxiety and antagonistic behaviour (FOMO, cyber-bullying, the initially fictional condition of video-physiognomic- dysphoria (VPD) or aversion to one’s online video image), and feeds new obsessions and related art forms, the concept of anxiety has been with us for centuries. I often wonder, ‘Why bother?’, especially now. I do not get into every show, and my work does not sell like hot cakes. I’ve been a working artist all my life and now, in my mid-sixties (yikes!) I’m doing my best work. I wake up with purpose each day, and while working on one painting I’m thinking about the next. Maybe that’s enough. — Carmella T What Others Think For each of the emotions, I encourage clients to do an abstract picture and avoid words, faces, and recognizable images. I ask them to think about what colors they connect with each feeling and then what lines, shapes, and gestures could express that feeling.

I go to a modern art museum. When I look at some of the pieces that cost thousands — maybe even millions — of dollars for what they did, it encourages me to go home and paint. — Marilynn K This is a book about making art. Ordinary art. Ordinary art means something like: all art not made by Mozart. After all, art is rarely made by Mozart-like people; essentially—statistically speaking—there aren’t any people like that. Geniuses get made once-a-century or so, yet good art gets made all the time, so to equate the making of art with the workings of genius removes this intimately human activity to a strangely unreachable and unknowable place. For all practical purposes making art can be examined in great detail without ever getting entangled in the very remote problems of genius. Art is indispensable to exposing such illusion and the exclusions it perpetuates. Art can inhabit spaces that may be off-limits, as Bonvicini recently noted: ‘You are allowed to do anything as an artist, you can be blind, crazy, or dead serious… the question is really: can you ever expand the boundaries? Who defines them? Who determines them? Where are they actually?’ pg. 29 The ceramics class divided into two groups; half would be graded on quantity and the other half on quality. The half graded on quantity ended up making better work

It’s not so much fear but really anger that drives me to make art. I find that when I’m angry I put all that anger into making something. It’s the way I cope and deal with situations around me. — Priscilla M The Dutch Northern Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch has puzzled historians for decades. The true meaning of his work may never be fully understood. One aspect that is certain, however, is that the nightmarish scenes depicted in his works reflect the religious fears that pervaded society at the time. The 16th century was a period of widespread religious protest and reform in Europe, sparking the separation of the Church into Protestantism and Catholicism. Like many during this period, Bosch was deeply concerned about the end of the world and humanity’s eternal punishment for its sins. Founded in 2013, Artsper is an online marketplace for contemporary art. Partnering with 1,800 professional art galleries around the world, it makes discovering and acquiring art accessible to all. pg 5 "The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your work that soars."

Take other people out of the equation. Make for yourself first. Find what makes you happy. Because when you are happy it shows in your work. — Cheyenne G Our collection Artists Artworks Art by theme Explore Videos Podcasts Short articles In depth Art Terms Tate Research Student resources Make art Create like an artist Kids art activities Tate Draw game I've always been an artist, having a natural drawing talent from a very young age, delving into my art in high school, then studying art in college. I received my commercial art/graphic arts degree and even though I did not stay in my field (I hated desktop publishing, and would rather create fine art), this book has been of great help to me in pursuing art as a hobby and just for fun.

Just keep going and let the fear stand in a far corner. It may ONLY watch but NOT interfere! — Andrea D The book is supposed to be about what it means to make art in the real world. It explores how art gets made and what stops it being made. I have to admit to mixed feelings about Art & Fear. I liked that it was attempting to encourage people, me, to make art despite the uncertainty involved. It recognises that creating art is different to other “jobs” in that, if you do it properly, you put yourself on display at the same time as your work. All this is good to know, but is perhaps somewhat self-evident. But the book is annoyingly full of aphorisms and a lot of them are rather banal. Take “When you act out of fear, your fears come true” as an example. The Surrealists are known for their subversive and sometimes even scary paintings. This work by Spanish artist Remedios Varo plays with the frightening, the subconscious mind and supernatural imagery, depicting a cloaked woman leaving a psychoanalyst’s office. She holds a basket full of what Varo called “psychological waste,” and a shrunken man’s head in her other hand. She dangles the head over a liquid-filled well.

I soaked up the first half of this slim guide with frequent shouts of "Yes! THIS!" and skimmed the second half with a bit of a shrug and a *meh* Isn't it odd when that happens? It's really okay, though, since I found so very much solace, empathy, and inspiration in the parts I did absorb. Things like, For more ideas and tips about art in therapy, be sure to sign up for the newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bOu5yj ART IS MADE BY ORDINARY PEOPLE. Creatures having only virtues can hardly be imagined making art. It’s difficult to picture the Virgin Mary painting landscapes. Or Batman throwing pots. The flawless creature wouldn’t need to make art.”

If ninety-eight percent of our medical students were no longer practicing medicine five years after graduation, there would be a Senate investigation, yet that proportion of art majors are routinely consigned to an early professional death. I put it on my canvas and work around it and add layers to mold it into something more confident. Otherwise, my anxiety takes over and I won’t get anywhere with the piece. — Dottie T The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars. One of the basic and difficult lessons every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential. X-rays of famous paintings reveal that even master artists sometimes made basic mid-course corrections (or deleted really dumb mistakes) by overpainting the still-wet canvas. The point is that you learn how to make your work by making your work, and a great many of the pieces you make along the way will never stand out as finished art. The best you can do is make art you care about — and lots of it!”