Permission to be an artist

Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis painting in her tiny Nova Scotia home (credit: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia)

Do you feel like you need external validation or permission to call yourself an artist?

I hear people say over and over, “I’m not an artist” or “I’m not a real artist.” They list all the things they don’t know how to do (like drawing or painting realistically); or lack confidence in (like writing); or haven’t done (like go to art school).

They also tell me how they loved making art as a child, how creative they were before such and such a teacher or parent told them they weren’t good enough. How they yearn to create but don’t feel they can because it’s too late. Or maybe they have notebooks filled with poetry or drawings that they keep to themselves because they don’t trust their work is good enough to share.

These people are invariably highly creative—they dress with colourful flair, or doodle endlessly in the margins of their notebooks, or love to sing or dance whenever they get a chance. But old hurts hold them back from fully embracing their artist identity.

I remember my father, who yearned to be a writer, tell me as a teenager that if I saw myself as an artist and called myself an artist, then that’s all that mattered. I was an artist.

If you are dancing this same dance, dreaming this same dream, know that you too are an artist. If you need permission, here it is.

Artists are people (just like you) who are called to create. Whatever our chosen medium, we are observers and reflectors, expressers and connectors.

Artists come in all shapes, sizes, colours and abilities. We come from every family configuration, nationality and socio-economic class.

Some artists go to art school and earn multiple degrees, others learn from mentors and teachers. Some spend hours looking at art in museums and galleries, watching movies, or standing in front of mirrors pretending to be silly characters.

Some artists start playing as children and never stop; others forget how to play along the way and then remember later in life.

Some artists use a lot of expensive materials and technology, others use what they find in nature or in the recycling bin. Some artists draw highly realistic figurative portraits (and enjoy the process), while others don’t bother drawing or painting at all.

Fundamentally, being an artist is about being and doing. It’s about following your curiosity to see where it takes you. Art is one of the few professions where how you show up and what you create is what matters most. The road map is created by each traveller.

SARK is an artist and writer whose books on creative process and living a creative life have sold millions of copies. Her insightful instructions on how to be an artist include taking lots of naps, believing in magic, drawing on the walls, driving away fear, and playing with everything.

If you want to be an artist (and call yourself one), ask yourself “what’s holding me back?” Or better yet, “what can I create right now with what’s in front of me?”

After, you can point to it and say, “See? I’m an artist!”

If you’re looking for inspiration, here’s a small sampling of amazing artists who followed (or are following) their creative calling, many despite tremendous odds. For what it’s worth, none of these artists went to art school.

Miranda July – American writer, director, and artist who wrote the critically-acclaimed novel, All Fours, published in 2024
Raymond Pettibon – Contemporary American artist working with drawing, text and artist books, he has a degree in economics and worked as a high school math teacher before pursuing art full-time
Frida Kahlo – Mexican artist (1907-1954) whose self-portraits explore her Mexican identity and her psychological journey after she was severely injured in a bus accident at the age of 18
Maud Lewis – Canadian folk artist from Nova Scotia (1903-1970)
Henri Rousseau – French post-impressionist painter (1844-1910) who worked as a government employee and tax collector before starting to paint in his 40s
Bill Traylor – African-American artist (1853-1949) born into slavery who mostly lived as a sharecropper before living on the streets in Montgomery, Alabama, he started making art at the age of 85
Vincent van Gogh – Dutch post-impressionist painter (1853-1890)