ARTICLE: An Artist Is An Artist

 The man on the corner of the street, the one you see while you're out club hopping on a Saturday night. The one who draws a small crowd, & you decide to go over to check what's going on, & see that he's creating a masterpiece right there on the street corner. He's been living in his car for the past six months, & all he wants is to find a way to make just $5 so he can buy a fast-food hamburger. So he sits there on a Saturday night & creates masterpiece after masterpiece. Does he deserve any less attention than what he gets, simply because his studio consists of cars honking for him to get out of the way, & of people yelling at him and calling him a bum? Should he go unnoticed?

What about the kindergartner, who just created his very first masterpiece with some Play-Doh, & has begged his teacher to call his Mommy so she can get his favorite fridge magnet ready. You know the one, the Cookie Monster magnet that he plans on using as part of his new sculpture. He wants it to hold up his sculpture on the fridge, so everyone can see it over & over again when they go to get something. He doesn't know that Cookie Monster isn't strong enough to hold up his masterpiece, he only knows that the fridge holds everything that gets people to that one spot, over & over again. Should he get less attention, just because of his age? Should we overlook him because he chose out of many materials to work with, some simple silly Play-Doh? Or, maybe he deserves less just because he didn't even know Cookie Monster is made of plastic, & was only $.50 at the local dollar store, & is in no way strong enough to hold up Play-Doh once it's dried.

And who can forget the mental patient, who sits by the window, & creates her masterpiece while scrawling the same circles on every page. No one knows what she's sketching, only that she sits in the same spot every day, & doodles out the same images while humming out the same tune. She probably doesn't even know what she's drawing, but does it matter? Does she deserve any less recognition just because her easel is a window sill that has her breath etched into the glass from sitting there for so long? Should her doodles go unnoticed just because her materials are a fat brown crayon & a $2.00 spiral notebook?

People have always sought out the answers to everything. They want to know why the Earth is round, & why lightning makes glass when it hits the sand. Most importantly, they want to know what is their purpose in life. The purpose of life is simple. Be creative. What do you think the Animals are doing when they're trying to attract a mate? They're being creative. As Animals ourselves, & most would argue probably the smartest Animals currently, we also have the power to be creative. We can wake up every day & strive to better ourselves, & work on improving our talents & skills, no matter what they are. We can put pen to paper, or smell the clay on our hands, & know that what we're about to do deserves just as much attention as the sand gets from that lightning. What we create deserves just as much notice as the Bird Of Paradise, as he struts & dances his way into hearts everywhere.

We are Artists, & our brains are on fire. We strive to create a different masterpiece every day. Not just because we can, but because we're all creative, & an Artist is an Artist. We all have the right to be seen. We all have the same purpose. To be creative.