Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Artists Anonymous


"Hi, my name is Mike and I'm an Anonymous Artist."

Creativity is a strange drug. On the one hand, creativity gets expressed publicly through self-promotion. Songs get performed. Photography gets displayed. But this drug has a nasty side effect - self-consciousness. Often I wonder if the artists and musicians who "make-it" are just the ones who are willing to risk more than others. Rejection is a powerful, powerful deterrent to growth.

One of our hopes for Proskyneo is that it becomes a safe place to risk, if there is such a thing. In order to stretch ourselves both in our skill and confidence, we need opportunities that require risk. When I first starting playing guitar, the extent of my public playing was in small groups etc. - 10-12 people max. Then, I had the opportunity to lead a worship band in front of 300 people on a regular basis. At first, I was really scared of messing up. But eventually the fear subsided and I was able to grow in my skill set musically. I'm no professional, but my confidence in what I can do has grown considerably since then.

I was fortunate to get the opportunity to risk in an environment where messing up wasn't a big deal. Sadly, for many artists and musicians, there's just no room to grow. Either you're perfect - a finalist on American Idol - or you need to stick to singing in the shower. Obviously, not everyone should be on American Idol or have their art shown in the Guggenheim. But, if the point is to "demonstrate the beauty of God through our art," it is surely a good thing to open the door for artists of all flavors to get better and to have venues for public expression. The idea of a "collective" is to use our common abilities and relationships to support one another towards that end.