Inspire!
Stories of
inspiration
& art!
What is Art?
This question was asked by my Art History
Professor and I believe we never came up with
an answer that satisfied her and all the class.
“What is Art?” and “What is an Artist?” are two
questions that can be polarizing and in today’s
world with so much division it is not necessary
or helpful to create yet more division. Let’s
agree that there are many opinions and they
range from academic scholars with numerous
letters after their names to the heartfelt opinion
of an individual just wanting to express
appreciation for an object created that is
pleasing to them.
I create art and I have added the label “artist”
to my business card because I believe it is a
truth. As a child I was always fascinated with the
idea that I could create something that gave me
satisfaction not only in the process of creating
it but also find pleasure in viewing the finished
creation.
My inspiration was objects around me that I
could spend hours staring at and patiently
rendering on paper with pencil, crayon or paint.
As time went on I developed my own
“signature” of application style and of course it
has and will always evolve in alignment with my
growth as an artist.
Written by
Holly Hunter Berry
God and that the act of creating is spiritual in it’s
purest form. I call myself an artist because I am a
painter and I create paintings to the best of my
ability and am aware that the label “artist” is self
appointed.
I believe that although I am capable of pursuing
various other careers I was made with the
passion to make things of beauty and my chosen
form of expression is with paint. I look back over
my life and now see that when I wasn’t able to
express myself with my materials then there was
an anxiety and sense of loss.
I, like most people, have experienced losses
both emotional and physical and they have
impacted me in such a way that I was either not
available to paint or I was not capable. These
were dark times for me and I felt I didn’t
recognize who I was.
What are the steps that I took initially to
become someone that aligns themselves with
the title of artist and what are the steps I took
after suffering severe injuries and other trau-
mas? The answers are fairly similar due to the
extreme loss and sense of starting over after the
events.
First, to anyone that is interested in pursuing the
act of creating I believe that we are gifted with
As an adult my position as a self described artist the passion to create and to honor that we are
is one of a business owner and also as just a
to trust that we are capable and teachable. Yes, I
human creating as I was created to do. We all
said teachable because I believe that we are not
create, period. Why do I call myself an artist,
necessarily gifted in the knowledge of how to
why do say I create art? I can’t separate the
create but simply the desire to. We can all learn
creating process from my belief that I was
the “craft” of painting or your chosen form of
created by
expression but the passion keeps us going and
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