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Lesson Two |
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Art is an outward reflection of what both the artist and the audience consciously chooses to focus on inside themselves. Artists, with every decision they make during the creative process, decide what they want to focus on and present to the world. An artist’s focus can influence the focus of their audience. However, in the end, it is up to the audience to decide what they will focus on. As an artist, you have the freedom to choose your subject, your medium, your canvas, your palette, and most importantly your overall focus and presentation. But, as an artist, you are simply a guide. Artists create maps to the paths of their spirit, through their focus. They are like an information booth in a big city, they provide maps and points of interest. However, in the end, it is up to the observer to choose what they will see by what they will focus on in art as well as in life. Art is an expression of the freedom of choice and one of the main choices an artist as well as their audience has is focus. In art, a picture, with no regards to focus, reveals very little. Whereas a picture with a focus can reveal the smallest of things and even turn those things into the big picture. We all have the freedom to choose what we focus on, in art and in life, it is a freedom that can never be taken away. So, we should choose wisely as your choice could effect not only you but countless others. Focus reveals the spirit of a person. As artists, and as people, we need focus. Our focus creates our vision and our reality. If your focus is too nearsighted, you will lack the vision to see the big picture. If your focus is too broad, you may miss seeing all of the little things that make up the big picture. Your focus can determine what you see and what you don’t see. Your focus has the power to create and destroy. For example, one day Violet and a friend were walking down the street together. Later, when another friend asked them about their journey, Violet told the friend about how many butterflies she had seen and the friend that accompanied her on the journey just complained about the graffiti. Violet never saw the graffiti, the girl that saw the graffiti never saw the butterflies. That is how powerful our focus is. Focus can eliminate something from your view or bring it to the forefront of your reality as well as the reality of your audience. We are all free to make the choice of what we focus. Though, with freedom comes responsibility. We all should be mindful that all of our choices not only reveal our spirit and determine our reality but possess the power to influence and affect the big picture. With every freedom, in every work of art and in every life, we have responsibility (the ability to respond). Once you realize you have freedom to choose your focus, it is your responsibility to choose both knowledgeably and wisely. In art, just as in life, the artist, as well as the audience, the creator of an action as well as the recipient of the action, has the choice and therefore the responsibility of choosing their own focus. It takes both the artist and the audience to make good art as well as to make art good. We all have the choice of what we focus on in life and in art. But, the freedom of choice in art and in life are meaningless, unless you give that choice meaning through responsible expression of focus. The focus of the artists participating in A Piece Of My HeArt Project is that, even as individuals, we are part of the big picture. We are using art as an educational and inspirational tool to bring people together and reveal that we are all connected in some way and that even the smallest person doing the smallest of things not only matters but affects others so we must choose what we focus on with knowledge and wisdom.
What do you choose to focus on creating in your art and in your life? How do you think these choices will affect others? Are your choices of who you are and what you choose to focus on and create an accurate reflection of your spirit?
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