The Rise of the Everyday Artist

This blog is published as part of the #KeepMakingArt campaign. The curated series features voices in the arts/culture, education, and social change sectors to capture the deep thinking and innovation occurring as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

If you’re reading this at the time of COVID-19, depending on where you are in the world, you’re probably in a state of lockdown, confined mostly to your home, spending the majority of time either alone or with those in your household.  

Now close your eyes and imagine this time without art. Without the songs, parodies, collaborations, dances, improvisations, and artworks all over your social media feed, or without artistic engagement in your home. 

It’s unfathomable, isn’t it?  

The arts are making us feel connected to our loved ones and to all of humanity. Art, dance, music, and theatre are actively uplifting our spirits and countering the physical and emotional isolation.

Fighting Isolation through the Arts

A quote attributed to Demetri Martin says “the earth without art is just eh’ (naturally it follows that this quote works better in image format). 

What we’re experiencing now is the living embodiment of that quote. The COVID-19 pandemic is an international crisis and world altering event that is forcing many realisations about society. One of those is something that artists and arts educators have always known: that the world, and our own personal worlds, cannot exist without art. 

Amidst the global crisis, the arts are making us feel connected to our loved ones and to all of humanity. Art, dance, music, and theatre are actively uplifting out spirits and countering the physical and emotional isolation. It’s allowing our synapses to keep firing as we bridge the divide between knowing that we are not so alone and feeling that we are not so alone, despite being confined to our homes. 

 

The Everyday Artist

Along with providing this pulsing, beating heart of humanity, we’re witnessing the rise of the everyday artist. Picasso famously said that “All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up”. In recent days I’ve seen many people make that beautiful return home.

Engaging art on social media is not always created by accomplished or professional artists. On the contrary, some of the most engaging artefacts have been from ordinary people at play. Some of the best humour and charm comes from a person or group proudly displaying their amateur artistic talents or turning the mundane into the extraordinary.  

Some of this is fostered by renowned art institutions, for example the Getty Museum and others are encouraging people to re-create famous artworks using household items. The results are astounding.  

Male Harp Player of the Early Spedos Type, 2700–2300 B.C. (left) and recreation with canister vacuum by Irena Ochódzka (right) (Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum)

This is not to negate the place of the artists and arts companies of all genres, readily sharing their work and skills online. It’s been a gift to see performances everywhere from Broadway to the Royal Opera House or John Legend’s lounge room. Local artists have been running local workshops and leading online collaborations with extraordinary results. 

Considering the Pitfalls

This is a double edged sword. I am an independent artist (dancer/choreographer), a sole trader running my own Bollywood dance company. I have been feeling immense pressure to put my work online and offer free workshops for the community. I’m really cautious because there’s a big difference between myself and a West End theatre. More than anything, artists want to bring people together and heal the community through art. But sometimes, our intellectual property is all we have, and we all know that working for ‘exposure’ rarely gives back. 

I’m in the extremely privileged position of having an income outside of my artistic work. But offering free online lessons would undercut my fellow artists, most of whom have companies on the verge of collapse. 

 

Impacts on the Arts and Artists

While people are being highly engaged in the arts, some moreso than at time previously, it’s important to encourage the public to pay for online lessons or tutoring if they have the capacity to do so. There is so much more than can be done to support the arts during this turbulent time, which is the topic of a separate article, but paying artists is an excellent starting point. Otherwise, post-COVID-19, these beautiful artistic engagements will no longer be available.  

COVID-19, while being unique, not an isolated example of the contribution of artists. Here in Australia, artists were one of the first communities to selflessly work for free, donating their time, skills and products to raising money for bushfire relief. 

Today, artists have made it their business to #KeepMakingArt despite the challenges. There’s no bailout for artists, and barely a safety net in most places, yet art continues to be created because it is what we do. A world without art cannot be countenanced.

It must be also said, nor can a world survive without exploding technological advances. In fact, technology has been the vehicle for glorious artistic moments to be shared. Nor can we survive without advancements in science which will beat this wretched virus. And central to it all is our ever evolving understanding of social justice that values the dignity and rights of every being. 

The arts continue to allow us to smile, thrive and continue joyfully for another day.

Arts. Technology. Sciences. Humanities. None are more important than the other and the best solutions are possible through a synchronicity these movements. But the arts continue to allow us to smile, thrive and continue joyfully for another day. Humans, at their best, are playful, creative and preciously bold. In the confines of our homes, to an audience of family, housemates, the walls and perhaps the webcam, we become our artist-selves again. 

Our role is to remind the world to #KeepMakingArt during crisis and beyond.