Why I Make Art

There's so many reasons people create: to express themselves, to make functional objects, to make a statement.  Creation is inherently honest.  

There is real feeling behind the process of making something.  Even in the process of making something like a coffee table, the love for the craft shows in the work.

I knew I wanted to be someone who made things from an early age.  Drawing pictures, baking cookies,  and journaling were my favorite things.  I loved the process of starting with a blank page, an empty bowl and ending up with something beautiful, something me at the end.  I was lucky enough to grow up in a family of makers.  My grandma grew up in the 1930s and 1940s, a time where you had to make things and use what you had around you.  One of my favorite photos of my grandparents shows them sitting next to a lamp with a shade my grandma made out of an old slip.  My mom makes beautiful interior spaces and has a great aesthetic eye for decor, food, and parties.  My dad is a musician and a thinker.  He's always writing songs and poems about the way he views the world.

I was always encouraged to create, and that creation is something worthwhile.  Growing and learning through creation and expression were valued modes of education for me.  By the time I got to high school, I was certain that I wanted to be a "maker" for the rest of my life.  For me, it's about the honesty and the boldness of putting forth a product of your mind.  I value the learning process, as each work teaches me something new about art, aesthetics, and myself.  

My art reads like a personal journal.  It's my thoughts, feelings, insecurities, and beliefs expressed through ink, paper, glue, and paint.  In being an artist, I feel as though I am joining with legions of artists before me who have expressed themselves into a work and claimed that the way they see the world is significant.  That these things are worth expressing, worth remembering, and worth sharing with others.  There's no way for me to separate myself out of my work.  Creating is when I feel most myself and sharing pieces with others is like showing them a part of myself.  It's makes me nervous, excited, and I feel vulnerable.  I used to keep a lot of my work hidden away, but now I've realized that showing your work is the final step in the creative process.  It can be scary, and criticism comes with the territory, but it helps you grow and get perspective as an artist.

I create to express myself and the unique experience that I have with the world around me.  As I've gotten older, I've started to see that others see themselves in my art and experiences.  Art is something that people relate to.  As humans, we almost always relate everything to ourselves and while I'm expressing myself through art, others are finding themselves in it.  That's one of my favorite things about creating, that moment when someone says, "I'm feeling this".

Creating art gives me a purpose, a way to filter my experiences, record them in a meaningful way, and share them with others.  I feel like I am preserving my experiences for a future generation, even if it's just my own children and grandchildren.  I make because I feel the most myself when my hands are dirty with paint and glue, and I feel the most proud of myself when I complete something, and I feel the most challenged when I share them.  Art is powerful, and creating lets me harness that power and use it in a meaningful way.  

Thanks for reading!  xx - Sierra