". . . a brush with nature"

The following are both excerpts from an article in the August/September issue of Cowboys & Indians Magazine titled “Artist Once Known” by Dana Joseph.

I thought the entire one-page piece (Editor’s Note) was extremely interesting and very insightful, but I found the following two quotes to be especially important. 

'It is essential to remember that every "Unknown" artist was "Once Known."

“On some level, we are all artists who were once known — if only to ourselves — before life, age, schooling, careers, obligations, and literal-minded mothers might have convinced us otherwise. May you be reminded of the artist you once were. May you rediscover the desire to create. And may you encourage and appreciate those who brave it all to remain artists— to express themselves, create beauty, capture the human condition, and put something out into the future world that will indicate they were once known.”

The gist of the article is that every child starts out as an artist, but the problem is how to remain an artist once we move towards adulthood. As, you might gather from the paragraph above, a callous remark from the author’s own mother is what squelched her own dreams of being an artist, but there are so many other ways that can also snuff out that creative spark. Some of these ways are unintentional and some and not. 

It is important that we each try to retain our own creativity and at the same time attempt to encourage the creativity of others around us.

And then there is this fact to consider. As time passes, the names of many of those who actually did create that which we now celebrate as art, have been forgotten or were never recorded in the first place. We now recognize that art can take many shapes and forms, from ornamental to utilitarian. Many of these works of art, produced lovingly by human hands, remain unsigned, but were still created by an artist nonetheless. 

Please remember that every "Unknown" artist was "Once Known."