Art and Fear Quotes and Reflection

The first quote that I picked was: "We have met the enemy and he is us. --- Pogo" (23). I picked this quote because I can easily relate to it. I have found that throughout my life, no matter what I am doing, whether it is visual art, dance, or school-work, I am my harshest critic. Even if someone else finds my work fine or even great, but I do not, then I am unhappy with this work or myself. The problem with this is that internal criticism makes me scared of making mistakes, and thus, letting down myself. Thus, I have issues taking risks and just experimenting in general--- often my work is very focus-driven. However, I know that I have this problem so I am working on letting myself make mistakes and then learn from them rather than becoming obsessed with perfection.

The second quote that I chose was: "the world soon ceases to care whether they are talented" (27). I am a big fan of this quote because it shows that anyone can potentially be great in whatever field they choose to pursue in life. I especially appreciate this idea as it pertains to dance. There are so many things in ballet that I am not naturally good at--- turns are particularly hard for me, and I get badgered nightly on my lack of turning skills by my ballet teachers. However, this quote and life in general has given me hope. I have experienced that although some girls are naturally good turners, jumpers, or balancers, all the rest of us eventually catch up and often surpass our gifted counterparts that often sail by on pure talent. These dancers often don't learn what hard work is until it is too late. This also relates to the visual arts world: I am very jealous of anyone who is naturally gifted at drawing realistically from sight, but throughout the oil painting class last year I learned that with a lot of practice I can improve too!

The third quote that I chose was: "Asking your work to prove anything only invites doom" (34). I picked this last quote because I have also had a lot of experience with this in the artistic world--- both dance, visual, and writing. Whenever I get ready to start a new piece of writing or a drawing or a dance and have creative license, then I always start to feel the pressure to make my piece mean something deep and meaningful. I feel as if I should be allowed to make something that is close to my heart or has to do with some inner struggles, but I don't believe that my work necessarily has to do this. I believe that making art just for fun, just to make something that is interesting, or just to let off steam is perfectly acceptable as well!