 When can a crafter or hobbyist call themselves an artist? What's the tipping point? I'm Sandy Olnok, and I looked online for the answer to this question Because there's so many crafters who find it really hard to say they are an artist. I was kind of horrified by some of the things I saw online So today you're gonna get the straight skinny from my heart to yours about when you can start calling yourself an Artist let's get started I've talked with a lot of people about this kind of a topic over the years Way back in my college days when I first encountered the schisms in art Graphic design was in competition with fine art, and it was a huge topic among my classmates When I decided to take up graphic design as my major Basically, so I could find a job and eat and put a roof over my head My friends who were painters and print makers Accused me of walking away from art and selling out. They called it commercial art They didn't win me back. However, it taught me what it meant to be on the other side of the wall From that thing called quote fine and quote art. I mean if only painting and printmaking were fine Did that make my chosen area of specialty? Unfine It's made me sensitive to these divides between art and craft But the weird thing is that craft Seems to have rolled over in this debate and allowed creativity to be segmented in extremely unhelpful ways So I want to deal with this head-on today. I may step on some toes So you might want to be sure you're wearing some solid shoes, okay? I Personally have three criteria for what qualifies a person to call themselves an artist and also Three that are not necessary to be called an artist first an Artist must make things. I know that seems pretty straightforward and pretty simple But you need to be a maker of things Not one who just thinks about it and never does anything or watches a lot of YouTube videos and doesn't create That would be a dreamer or an admirer and that's great if you're one of those I love having you around here But an artist puts colors lines words pictures film clips thread and fabric clay recipe ingredients whatever it is they work with they put their materials Into a new form. They did not have before Second criterion an artist must also want to make things If there's a kid who's taking a mandatory art class in school and they reluctantly glued some macaroni Onto cardboard as they were instructed They are most likely not an artist The desire to create having some level of passion It doesn't have to be all consuming passion, but some kind of interest in creating is necessary This looks different for each person Some people have something they want to say with their content something with a deep meaning Other people want to express the beauty of something Other people might have an emotion they want to create in whatever they They showed to the world and so the person who sees reads it or otherwise Experiences their creation would feel something The third requirement to be an artist is that one must be brave Brave enough to take that thing that's inside of you Whatever skill level that you have to express it with and put it out into the world It takes courage Once we're adults When we gather up something that we've treasured inside our hearts and we give it form and we put it on paper Or in whatever form it's going to be in That form can be seen by others and it can feel really scary to expose ourselves as Somebody who has something to offer we think we have something to share and it's normal To worry about how that will be received So being an artist requires some level of bravery Being an artist is being a maker Being a willing maker and being a willing maker who is brave enough to create Now before we get to what is not required to be an artist Let's hear a quick message from our sponsor, which happens to be my brand new stamping class Okay, the pattern stamping class at art-classes.com is a unique class Taking art impressions watercolor stamps and turning them into something that you've probably not seen before patterned papers You can make your own nine by 12 or even go larger if you wish patterns Using grids that I will share with you and templates that you can follow along and create your very own patterns Once you follow the ones in class you'll learn how to adapt them how to change things move things around Change the stamps change the colors to create whatever you'd like We're going to learn how to take some of these stamps and turn them into specific flowers like a carnation a rose and hear some fireweed Lots of different stamps can do these sorts of things and get more life out of them than just the Original intent that they were made for that's really what I wanted to do in this course to open your mind to see them differently some students may choose to just use flat stamping inks and Not do any of the watercoloring portion and that is perfectly fine Absolutely, whatever you'd like to do you can also instead of making the entire page Learn how to make some of these elements and put those elements simply on a card make a vignette of a bouquet of flowers or a strip of leaves or something that you've learned from class that you can take and use just a small portion of and Get lots and lots of use out of all the techniques. You're going to receive in this course The free pre-class lesson will tell you all of the distress inks and the stamps that you'll need for this class You may have a lot of materials already and not have to do much shopping Which makes it a very cost-effective class to take and I'm super excited to see what everybody's gonna create In this class. It is so much fun. I'm kind of obsessed So I hope you'll join me in pattern stamping with art impressions watercolor Let's talk about what is not required in order to call yourself an artist My first thing would be proficiency Just because you aren't at an experience level that you want to be at or that someone else is at doesn't mean you're not an artist You're on a long spectrum goes from very very beginners to very very advanced and beyond You're simply at a different space on that spectrum. It doesn't mean you're not an artist because everyone on that spectrum is one And I suggest anytime you reference a skill that you momentarily lack like I can't draw Always add the word yet. I can't draw yet Because yet leaves room to grow and deposits hope in your heart that that can change Number two, you don't need to make income from your art to be an artist. Heck, you don't even need anybody to see it Many famous artists spent most of their lives selling few or none of their works And some of the pieces created in their anonymous years are worth a bundle now But they didn't get anything from it. Does that mean it was bad art? No You can be someone who works in a paying career by day and is an artist at night All in the very best tradition of artists as we have done for centuries And number three the third thing you don't need to call yourself an artist is a studio I know plenty of people who create on a corner of their dining room table or a card table in the shed Yes, the studio is a great convenience, but it's not a necessity Whatever space you work in I recommend calling it a studio because that's gonna help you learn to call yourself an artist. I Mentioned earlier that craft has rolled over in the debate over whether or not it's art While history relegated craft to step-sister level Today manufacturers retailers and influencers in craft are much to blame for keeping craft in that status Retailers will sell the supplies for artists on the same shelf as Children's beating kits and sticker sets and foamy's While we might have picked out a decent set of colored pencils It feels cheap because it's sitting next to the macaroni art supplies and that cheap feeling Follows those supplies home with us and we start to think we're using cheap supplies Our art must be cheap too and it reinforces that perspective on our work And then we have influencers who will tell us things like well I can't draw a stick figure so I just stamp which makes stamping sound like it's a second-class citizen and it's not It's just a tool Or they'll say I'm no artist like insert name So I'm just gonna do this little thing. They make their creation sound like that little stepchild apologizing for it Stop repeating those words to yourself What you say inside your head tells your heart what's true and then when you want to make art Your heart says oh wait a minute. We have heard what you've been saying up there You told us that we can't draw. We can't make art. We can't watercolor So let's just shut this thing down before we even start And then you wonder why you get panicky when you sit down to create you have trained your heart to be afraid of it So stop attaching those dismissive and insulting words to what you're creating stop saying you're not an artist Your heart will believe it. So don't even whisper it under your breath Every step you take is something to learn from and you're gonna just keep growing as an artist on that spectrum It's possible. I'm all alone out here with my perspective on what art truly is But honestly The pattern background I made during this video and the cards that came from it are art to me If this is your kind of art then check out the link to class in the do we do the description area under the video and You too can make art like this Now I create all kinds of things from small and mailable items to large frameable pieces and While everybody every artist has their own very favorite methods mediums and objects that they create It's all art. It's simply on that spectrum And I want more people to see that spectrum and recognize themselves as part of it Be sure you're subscribed to the channel tap the bell and ask YouTube to send you notifications for all And then leave me a comment about what you think makes someone qualified to be called an artist and I don't promise not to argue with you Thank you so much for tapping the like button as well And I will see you again in my next video So in the meantime get out there and create every day because you're an artist and that's what you were made for