Art's Deeper Value & Impact
On finding meaning, growth, comfort, a voice & more through your own or others’ art
Hello, dear wonderous one. How are you feeling this week? The January dreariness has tempered my audaciously optimistic energy from last Friday, but it’s still there. More like a tiny seedling than bold, blossoming flower though.
While most of the latest news updates from the US & beyond brought some intense waves of worry with them, I’ve had a deeply inspiring past few days on the creative front. Both have had me reflecting on the value and impact art can have, whether we are the ones making and sharing it, enjoying it, or even disliking it.
In this week’s letter, you’ll find my reflections on:
What I’ve been up to: social butterfly meets creative sponge
Why art matters when it feels like the world is on fire
How I’m trying to apply this to my own artistic journey
Inspiring resources with further food for thought
A poetic invitation for the weekend
As always, especially if you’re low on time or energy, feel free to skip to the section you’re most curious about.
1. What I’ve been up to
The past few days, I’ve alternated even more than usual between being a social butterfly and creative sponge. Plus a hint of couch potato, as the desire to hibernate is still strong within me. 😅
🎭 Friday, as soon as last week’s letter was sent, I hurried to the metro and made it to the theater with 2 minutes to spare to watch Là, the 3rd performance I’ve seen of Baro d’Evel who have a unique way of blending disciplines on stage, and the first incorporating Toulouse’s chamber orchestra playing live. Stunning, yet again.
🖌️ Saturday, I got to go support talented artist friends and make new ones at Nikita Andester’s 2nd Authors and Apéros night. This one was dedicated to poetry, with readings from Lisa-Marie M’boup, Lara Coley, and Petit Shakespierre, but also featured gorgeous paintings by my friend Erica Fourie.
📷 Monday had me hopping on my bike despite the rain to listen to a talk from poetic naturalist photographer Bertrand Bascoules, about his new Kuomo exhibition from his Vivant series. If you like insects, with a soft spot for spiders, you’d have loved this! I sure did.
🌿 Tuesday, I had my first official Nature-Inspired coaching session with my friend Davey, aka Queer by Nature, where we talked about my fears and how nature can help guide me through this creative journey.
🎞️ Wednesday (much like Sunday) was a low energy day so I enjoyed catching up on some anime (Love Through a Prism about art school students, the Apothecary Diaries and Champignon Witch which has the cutest illustrations). Soaking in the visuals and storytelling as inspiration. And pure enjoyment. 😉
🤩 Yesterday was PACKED with creative, social fun: starting with having lunch with a friend who manages a local music school. Then coffee with a friend who’s handles operations for Toulouse’s iconic contemporary art museum Les Abattoirs, with a quick walk through of the current exhibitions including a chat with an artist who was mid-sculpture install, later taking the time to stroll through the exhibitions on my own to properly take them in. The main one was of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac ‘L’Imagination Au Pouvoir’ (Imagination at Work). Finally heading to my darkroom workshop to test out a larger format print than usual to check the negative’s quality of a photo I want to submit to a national photography competition & getting so much sweet, encouraging feedback from the whole group. 🥰
All of that reminded me of how precious creativity is, especially when combined with connection (to one another and/or the natural world). Meanwhile, Bertrand Bascoules' talk, the Castelbajac installation, and Lisa-Marie M’boup’s stunning poem on racism all reminded me of the powerful impact art can have on us individually and collectively. Which brought me back to this question that’s been on my mind for MONTHS now ⬇️
2. Why we should still make and interact with more art in times of turmoil
Asking such a vast question feels very ambitious for this short(-ish) digital letter.
There are many reasons to make art. Perhaps as many as there are artists. And since we are ALL creative beings in our own ways, that makes for billions of potential reasons across centuries and continents. There are just as many ways and reasons we interact with art, consciously or not, too.
[Side note: I’m not just talking about Visual or Fine Arts, but art in the larger sense of creative expression.]
Art can be practical, aesthetic, conceptual, commercial, accessible, enjoyable, uncomfortable… but the IMPACT it can have depends on the intentions we place in creating and sharing as well as the interaction we have with it.
Art can help us process, express, or remember emotions and experiences
Art can push boundaries and shatter assumptions, opening us up to new possibilities of doing or seeing
Art can foster resonance and connection, transcending time, geography, culture…
Art can be used as a tool to convey specific messages, perspectives, values (for better or worse)
Remember that song you heard on just the right day where it felt like it was written for you. Or that painting you passed by, then paused, and returned to stare at because something about it drew you in. That recipe that transports you right back into your grandmother’s kitchen. That doodle you started to make turned into an angry scribble but left you feeling lighter afterwards. That dance that started as a gentle sway then took over your entire body as the emotions poured out of you. That book or movie that feels like you’ve escaped into another life, another world for a little while.
Not all art will have the same impact, from one person or moment to the next. It truly is an interaction between the person making it, the person ‘perceiving’ it, and the art itself. In fact, not all art is made to carry a deeper meaning beyond beauty or usefulness. It may not even be meant to be shared. Creating for the sake of creating is deeply healing in itself. There’s a reason Art Therapy is a recognized field, after all. ☺️
There’s also a reason art has been used as a tool for propaganda of all sorts over the years. Hence the importance of learning how to take a closer look at the intent behind what we are presented with, be it art or anything else. 🤔
3. What impact do I want to have, through what I create and share? And how?
I still stand by my initial intention to create art that is poetic and contemplative, infused with wonder, and inspired by our connection to ourselves, others, and the world around us.
However, seeing so many artists use art as powerful levers for change has me wondering how I could take what I make ’further’, as someone who deeply values social and environmental justice, but a strong aversion to confrontation.
It doesn’t NEED to, to be worth making. But it COULD. And that feels worth exploring!
I know don’t want my art to feel like a punch in the gut. There are plenty of people out there doing that, brilliantly. That’s just not the kind of person I am. I want the art I send out into the world to feel to like a hug, a deep exhale, a tender dream, or a hazy yet comforting remembering… So how could I continue striving for that while bringing in even more of my values and trying, in my own way, to help make the world a more just and inclusive place?
I’m not sure. Sometimes you just have to sit with the questions. Or as Rilke famously wrote “live them”.
One place I plan to start though is in the daily collages I’m going to make for ‘Februllage’ next month. So get ready!
4. Interested in some further food for thought?
Here are a couple of resources I’ve enjoyed diving into lately, along with art from 3 of my favorite illustrators with a strong social justice focus:
Something to read:
📖 This is What I Know about Art by art curator, writer, and activist Kimberly Drew. This tiny book packs such a punch as she shares her experience entering the art world then setting out to change it from within as a young Black person from New Jersey. Here’s one of my favorite passages from it:
Art and protest will forever be bound together. And the beautiful thing about art, like activism, is that it allows us space to be curious and learn. Sharing art has helped me learn how to make my voice heard and ask better questions.
Something to watch / listen:
Poet and comedian Alok Vaid-Menon’s … everything really! I think I could listen to them talk about anything and be fascinated. Also a great person to listen to if you’re curious to hear from a non-binary transfeminine perspective (YouTube / Instagram).
This clip of poet Nikita Gill’s poem Every bombed village is my hometown, inspired by a quote from James Baldwin, being chanted as a song of resistance during a recent protest in Minneapolis. I found it so touching I cried. I have several of her poetry collections but this showcased the power of words on a whole other level.
Social change-focused visual artist Monica Trinidad’s vlog on how ‘Art is not enough — and you still need to make it’ which includes some great book recommendation.
Author, vlogger, and podcaster John Green’s video on ‘Why we make art’
Writer and creative coach Amie McNee’s TEDx talk ‘The case for making art when the world is on fire’. An inspiring listen even though I don’t fully agree with her on the fact that you shouldn’t keep your art to yourself. Yes, sharing it is wonderful, and can benefit both you and others, but creating for the sake of creating, as a form of play or therapy just for you is perfectly valid too.
Some social change-inspired words/works of art to enjoy:
From left to right, art by Monica Trinidad, Devon Blow, Caitlin Blunnie, and Nikita Gill.
5. A poetic invitation for this weekend
Writing poetry can feel intimidating. What to say, how to say it. Yet it is my go-to when I feel flooded with emotions, whether they are positive or negative. From falling in love to devastated by photos of children being taken away from their families, detained by supposed ‘government agents’… sometimes a couple of words can serve as a container to pour all (or at least some) of it into.
So my creative suggestion for you this weekend is to write a haiku about how you’re feeling or perhaps a moment you’d like to treasure from the past few days.
The basic rules are simple: a poem with three lines, with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third.
Here’s one I wrote this morning:
Feeling powerless.
Overwhelm and hope at odds.
Just breathe, and begin.
For an extra challenge, you could focus your haiku on the topics they originally focused on: “an objective description of nature suggestive of one of the seasons, evoking a definite, though unstated, emotional response” (via the Encyclopedia Britannica).
If you’re not in the mood for poetry, you could go for a walk to photograph (or draw?) a poetic picture of something in your surroundings to reflect what’s on your mind or in your heart right now.
💖
Wishing you a wonder-filled weekend!
See you next Friday,
~ Claire
Loved this Claire, as always, and we can't have too many reminders of the importance, necessity and motherflowering JOY of art in times of turmoil, so keep this energy coming, love it! ✨