Making art, whether it be pottery, poetry or dance, doesn’t often rank highly on most people’s daily list of to-dos. Carving out time for creativity can feel frivolous in an already busy day — but it’s critical, experts say, especially in times like these.
In stressful moments and when the headlines won’t stop coming, picking up a pen or brush can give creators a sense of control, says Amie McNee, artist and author of “We Need Your Art: Stop F—ing Around and Make Something.”
“As an author, when I write my novels I become like a God of my own little realm,” she says.
According to the Mayo Clinic, creative arts can bring joy and help distract from pain and anxiety. The act of creating can also have an incredibly positive effect on the person doing it.
“When you see destruction, it’s a horrible thing, but it reminds you, you know what? I can counter that,” says Louis Henry Mitchell, creative director of character design at the Sesame Workshop. “I can counter that by being creative.”
Mitchell is also the author of “Qreative Evolution: How to Question Everything to Find Your Creative Fulfillment.” Making art allows you to be “deliberate about enjoying this life and adding the positivity that we need,” he adds.
The art you create can be helpful to others, too — regardless of how many people get to experience it.
Art is a mirror, McNee says and “when you give someone a piece of art, they see themselves.” Maybe that makes them feel validated or less alone.
Art also serves as a much-needed escape. McNee points to the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown when she says folks really relied on artists to get through it: “We were watching movies, we were reading books, we were listening to music.”
If people didn’t have their various arts to turn to, “how deeply, deeply dark those days would have been,” she says.
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