What inspires us to create art?

[Danning]

I'm sure we all make art in some shape or form whether its visual or performing art. So I'm interested to know what inspires people to make art? Even though I'm a science major myself, I also paint and draw. I do oil paintings, watercolors, acrylic, colored pencil, oil pastels, pencils, charcoal etc... I've been drawing since I was three. The walls of my dorm room are covered with my paintings. I have to say what inspires me to draw are events, people or just things that sort of stick out in my life. I remember when my brother was born, I painted 14 pieces with him as the subject matter. I went on a hike with my family and saw these really pretty flowers so I came home and drew a series of flowers. Sometimes when I'm mad, art can help me release my frustrations. So, what are instances when you are inspired to make art? not just visual art but any art form such as music or theater? What inspires you?

[natalia kartashova]

life itself inspires me...the feeling that i'm able to create,i do understand that is how I'm related to God,i feel his part in me when I create,I feel that music is the form of expression,smth.that can't be expressed by words,can be expressed with music...what is your source of inspiration?

[Joseph Liu]

I definitely see music as another way for me to express myself. It helps a ton to be able to express what I am feeling through music when I am unable to through speech, whether it's because it can't be expressed by words or whether I am just in a shy mood. What inspires me? My emotions and feelings. I use them when I am creating music/art.

[Carmen Tam]

I'm not a very artistic person at all. I've always wanted to learn how to draw, but I simply didn't know who could teach me. When I was younger, I would be awed at the beautiful nature. I love how defined the clouds were when the sun was setting; or how clear the moon when it was at its fullest; or simply how the trees swayed in the gentle wind. But mostly the clouds made me want to draw. I would always want to capture its beauty, so I would attempt to sketch it. It wouldn't ever turn out as beautiful, but I would always still remember that particular scene. I honestly can't draw or create art if my life depended on it, but I try.

[Danning]

I honestly don't think anyone can recreate the perfect image they have in their mind on paper. According to Plato (I think), perfection only exists as ideals. There is no perfection in reality. Its like a chemical experiment. You picture everything to go smoothly, but something always goes wrong. As for in art, when you mess up like drawing an extra line or something, you always have to find a way to cover that up thus changing what you originally intended to do.

[Danning]

Two of the posts mentioned beauty, that people want to see beauty in art. But what is beauty in your opinion? How do you classify something as beautiful or ugly?

[Danning]

I posted this question and I realized I can't even answer it. Its a tough question. But, I think beauty is anything that is pleasing to our five senses and our moral sense. I believe everything has beauty, but not everyone sees beauty in everything. Since our sense and morals vary depending on our culture and values, the definition of beauty varies as well. Beauty is like humor we discussed in class. It is contextual.

[Jessica Tran Pham]

To state the obvious, beauty is definitely subjective and differs from person to person, just because each person has their own set of unique experiences that impacted and effected who they are.

I classify something as beautiful or ugly depending on how it makes me feel. My emotions have a lot to do with it, for example, yellow tulips make me feel pleasant and brighten my mood, as opposed to a tumbleweed, which to me is ugly. It is ugly because it makes me feel dead and alone. I associate positive emotions with beauty and negative emotions with ugly.

What inspires me to do art? People do. To see that humans are capable of thinking, feeling, and therefore producing ART reminds me that I am able to express myself through the various forms of art as well. Also, it is a great way to express suppressed feelings such as pain or fear etc.

[Carmen Tam]

I honestly believe that beauty is in the"eyes of the beholder." It is a person's opinion. Everyone "sees" the world differently. I put "sees" in quotation because a person doesn't necessarily have to use their eyes to "see" the beauty. It could involve other senses as well. For example: we often hear the line "that was beautiful" after a music piece was played on the piano, violin, guitar, etc. What one might think is beauty, one might think it is ugly--and visa versa. The concept of beauty is universal, but the definition of beauty isn't---if that made any sense whatsoever. What I mean is that everyone knows that beauty exists, but how he/she defines it is their own opinion.

[Diana Dinh]

I'm inspired by everything in my life- my experiences, my relationships, or just what I see around me. Other people's art inspires me- like looking at all these pictures of why people do what they do makes me want to capture myself and my own reasons too.
Art helps me express myself too, and it also helps me unwind. I write a lot, which I feel is an art of shaping your emotions into words. I'm not a great artist, but occasionally I pick up a pencil and some colored pencils and draw. When I do, I feel like time freezes up and it's just me and the little details I'm working on and nothing else exists.

[Christina Dang]

I think we have pretty similar reasons why we are inspired to create art. I would say that my art is mainly affected by what has previously happened. If it's something that makes an impact in how I feel, how I react, how whatever, then I want it to get it out of me. Not necessarily to get rid of me but more like to tame it? My main form of art is poetry -- getting the right words down in that particular rhythm to match what I'm feeling. Gotta get it down on paper, gotta get it down; ink flowing on a smooth white terrain. You feeling what I'm feeling? LOL :D