Allowing yourself to Fail

One of the main conditions that affect Artists is ( no, not carpal tunnel syndrome ) but “Fear of Failure”. This condition has debilitated more creative people than the swine flu, H1N1 and the common cold rolled up together each and every day. Why? It’s the obvious question and not easy to answer but I’ll give it a try.

A hundred years or so ago and for centuries before that all an artist was expected to do, once the decision was made that their talent was obvious to everyone, was to learn from a master artist the tricks of the trade. They would learn how to use the tools and practice with them until they were ready to become the master of their art. Then with the help of some local patrons and a church or two an artist could make his living doing what he did best. So what has changed? Well for one the world economy has made it so that living from your art is a crap shoot at best and has very little to do with whether or not you are the most talented or proficient. Secondly a little thing called the impressionism art movement changed the world of visual artists forever, not just because they gave us a licence to interpret the world we see into our own language but it is what happened as a result that started the problem. You see from that point on each artist wanted to explore expressing his or her self in a unique and different way. For the next one hundred years art as we knew it changed and morfed into many different and unique forms of personal expression with each artist taking it to the next level. It was because of this that pressure to be unique has been put on the shoulders of visual artist and I would surmise to say all other creative people as well.

Where once we had been satisfied to measure up to our peers now we have to outdo them and be different, unique and never been done before in the history of the world creative people. It is no wonder that we have an anxiety attack while working on our latest project. I have seen it over and over while teaching young and young to painting artists. They will sit and stare at the blank canvas afraid to start, and then they worry, fret and hesitate through the whole experience afraid to make a mistake. Even my constant assurance that if it doesn’t work out we can just cover it up and start again gives them no comfort. Sound a little familiar. It gets worse if you are really good at something then you have to add expectations to the formula of pressure.

So, what do you do? It is easy, so easy you will wish you had said it first; let yourself fail! Actually I hate the word “Fail” instead let’s try to look at it like this; no matter what happens you will produce a result and the result will be one you will either like or not; it is the way experimentation works – cause and effect. Each time you set out to paint, sculpt, write or perform give yourself permission to experiment and then decide that based on the result if this way works, if it does then go with that for a while, if not then you know you need to adjust things a bit. We are by nature experimenters, so don’t try to change your nature embrace it!

Sandra Taylor Hedges