I was trained in the sciences, and made a career pretty much based on the scientific mode of thinking, which values objectivity and hard evidence as the way to knowing the world. Now that I have more time to spare since retiring from academia, I have pivoted my life more to the arts – to painting, sculpting and poetry writing, partly for the fun of it but also to achieve a sense of living more completely. I’ve been doing it for nearly six years, and to be honest, I’m really surprised by the joy art has given me.

I have briefly blogged about what is means to live an artful life sometime back. Today, I would like to expand on this theme a bit more by sharing the thoughts of artists and poets who (obviously) live artfully to see what wisdom they can impart to us who aren’t artists. But first, allow me to share my own views on why art matters to all of us, not just a few.

Much ink has been spilled about what art is, and whether it is “of value.” Without going into a lengthy debate, I would just say that art matters because all art represents ways of expressing our deepest feelings, be it through words, music or the canvas. This makes art a necessity at some level because who among us don’t have feelings of joy, of anxiety, of sadness? We need poets and novelists for the empathy of words to accompany our life journeys, to know that others have been there, and we all share a common humanity. It is why we tell stories, pass down oral traditions in word and song, and pour our feelings into poetry. Words of course, represent only one medium of expression. When words fail, we can pour our darkness into other forms of art such as music, dance, painting and sculpture. We want to be moved by Bach, and Michelangelo and Brancusi.

Art is democratic. You don’t need to have an arts degree to enjoy art. Nor do you you need an “eye for art” (whatever that means). You only have to teach yourself to see or hear, letting your senses be moved by a particular piece of music, painting or sculpture. You also do not need to like what is trendy; just choose art that speaks to you in a meaningful way. It’s fine to be moved by Impressionist pictures rather than abstract art. It’s fine, too, to feel the other way round (personally, I love both!) The important thing is to embrace some form of art in your life, and see how they grow on you.

So, visit museums. Go to art galleries and art fairs. Buy some art to furnish your home. Or make some yourself with whatever you can get your hands on. Be bold, be experimental. Lately, I’ve been scavenging “found objects” like book ends, exercise balls, and pieces of scrap cardboards to make installation art pieces that now grace different corners of my house. What have I learned? That it is a ton of fun. And that there’s no better time spent than using one’s imagination to create something interesting or beautiful. It has nourished my life and made it more complete. It will do the same to you.

Below are quotes and video clips related to the artful life. I hope you find them enjoyable and insightful.

Quotes

To make living itself an art, that is the goal.

~ Henry Miller

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We live in two worlds simultaneously: the outer world of the sciences and the inner world of the senses.  The challenge is to find a common language that speaks to them both. We may find it hard, even after a lifetime, to explore and give voice to this subjective inner world, this intimate, clamorous inner space of feelings, hopes, memories and desires … This is why the role of the creative artist within society matters so much. It is why since the beginning of human imagination, we as a species invented art – music, painting, dancing, sculpture, and the activity that includes all these, which is poetry.

~ From Michael Maine, Learning to Dance (2001)

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The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.

~ Line taken from an essay by Mary Oliver entitled, “Of Power and Time” published in Upstream: Selected Essays. Oliver, who died in 2019, is one of our era’s most beloved and prolific poets and the winner of many prizes including the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Video Clips