The Artist as Essential

As artists, we are not creating and inhabiting spaces as we once were.

Theatre is on an extended intermission as we have known it. Productions are on hiatus.

And yet, we are essential. YOU are essential.

Essential is needed & necessary; it is the essence; it is crucial; it is inherent; it is the basic part of living, it is VITAL.

You, as artist, are all these things.

The paradigm may shift, the location may morph, the way of creating may need innovation and exploration, but you? YOU as artist, as essential, are CRUCIAL to movement.

Creative energy in motion; is IN motion even when it’s still. Painters who create ‘still life’ - still breath life into their work. “Capturing” something artistically simply allows it to be held in a container for the observer to take in. All of these things are in motion. The motion and movement happens because of, in spite of, and everything in-between.

I observe and take part in so much creative energy online from artists: sharing their observations; their creations; their journeys; their truths;

The essential, the essence of an artist is how that artist lives; how that artist breathes; how that artists views the world and tells the story that they are called to tell; how that artist vibrates;

The form of that essence changes, morphs, adapts, but the artist’s essence is present throughout it all.

Where is your essence? How are you holding space for that every day? Where is your creativity and your artistic fingerprint showing up and revealing itself? THIS is what makes momentum possible.

If your essence is to draw, to paint, to sculpt, to dance, to sing, to play, to write….then DO that. Don’t wait for “a place” to inhabit in order to do it. DO IT. The place reveals itself when the action is taken. That is what is essential.

The essential changes the molecules around you. The change begets more change. The change challenges the paradigms. The paradigms shatter if they are not built on anything true. The artist shines a light on that truth. The truth continues to emerge out of chaos, and the essence of the artist is there to interpret, to elaborate, to simplify, to reach in and pull out the story that needs to be told.

We are not “extra”. We are not frivolous. We are not dismissed. We are not be extra. We are not to be frivolous. We are not to be dismissed.

We are consistently needed and necessary and ESSENTIAL to our society, to our humanity, to our world.

I will say it again: artists define the times we live in. We must. The stories need to be revealed, exposed and told, in order for humanity to emerge into its next. If no one is there to capture, to express, to tell the story, then how do we learn? How do we grow? How do we evolve?

Essential is heavy, and its demand is huge. We, as artists, are pliable and resourceful, and creative and innovative. We can handle tough.

Take a breath. Reach out. Give yourself permission. Do not dismiss your essential-ness.

Embrace the change and mold it into what you can carry.

Sit down when you are tired.

Replenish, re-ignite, refuel and re-commit to the essential of you. Let that lead you, let that reveal you. Let that action you.

with fondness & fierceness,

Susan