Reflections on the Motivations to Be an Artist

I have always just assumed I was meant to be an artist, and that was that.  In part, that may be true, as I feel the intrinsic shimmer of the artist inside.  However, the seed of this identity was planted when I was very young by encouraging adults, as a sensitive kid who was pretty good at drawing, and it became something to both nurture and fight for as I grew into grown up.  So, yes, it is who I am, but why do I want it?  This question gives me agency in my artist identity.  This question can be fertile ground for reflection, creativity, and a deeper knowing of yourself as an artist. 

The motivations to be an artist are perhaps easily identified on the surface, though quite complex when a multitude of internal and external factors are considered.  There are several societal and systemic barriers that artists face: unsupportive and dismissive stereotypes are often placed on artists; livelihood obstacles with unique stressors in the creative fields; and, power imbalances within the systems of the art world (Daniel, 2018) and in adjacent professional, creative realms.  Common stereotypes, such as poor or starving or tortured, have long been attributed to artists.  Together, all of these barriers form a steep slope.  So, why do artists want to scale it?  The author of a small study that included a sample of art students and artists working in the field found that five common themes of motivation to be an artist emerged, including: inner drive, therapeutic benefits, understanding of self, intrinsic reward, and external recognition (Daniel, 2018).  Notably, artists often experience the process of making art as a support for mental health challenges, such as, low self-esteem, trauma, and emotional regulation (Daniel, 2018).  This is not to say that living the life of an artist is therapy, or that it is not.  It is not a profession, and perhaps it is.  This is for you, the artist, to define for yourself.    

The motivations of contemporary artists can be explored and validated, for both theoretical and clinical purposes, through three models of motivation that were developed in the findings of a small research study of contemporary painters: Visionary Artist Model, Self-Actualized Artist Model, and Commodity Model (Elias & Berg-Cross, 2009; Daniel, 2018).  The visionary model places emphasis on creative acts to reduce mental suffering; the self-actualized model privileges creative acts as a way to achieve health and happiness; and, the commodity model is concerned with creative acts for the sake of financial success (Elias & Berg-Cross, 2009; Daniel, 2018).  These models could help counselors and therapists find exploratory directions and interventions for artists based on the artist model that resonates most for each individual client (Elias & Berg-Cross, 2009).  Of course, many artists will find motivation in all three of these models, to varying degrees, which could be an interesting overlap to explore in terms of values and priorities.

One is not typically born into artist identity, and a process of self-formation unfolds within the contexts of intersectional identities, including, but not limited to: race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality (Travis, 2020), and spirituality.  When I think about artist identity, I am not thinking about innate or acquired talent.  I am thinking about the choice to privilege or equal the artist in the mix of all our other intersectional identities, without overlooking our most salient identities.  Artists exist in time and space and culture.  The thrilling thing: through their work they can transcend these boundaries, as well.  Arts education has often privileged skill development in terms of discipline, yet artist identity formation is more deeply connected to sociocultural factors, likely much more so than the emphasis that is placed on mastering technique and material (Travis, 2020).  If this has been your experience, as an educator or a student or both, then there is opportunity for deeper discovery in knowing yourself as an artist.  Of course, there are abundant sources of inspiration for this deeper knowing through the painting, music, poetry, cinema, architecture, on and on, of other artists and creatives.

Artists can be both outsiders and insiders, which is a dynamic dual role.  Artists may bolster myths of marginality, which in turn leads to artists constructing their artist identity; and, by doing so their artist identity becomes more salient by stepping into perceived expectations of the role, which can in turn support well-being (Chen et al., 2020).  In other words, artists support the notion of outsider status received through the collective imagination, which gives artists both direction and freedom in defining their own artist identity, and that can feel creative and validating.  This may happen in part due to the expectation that artists may have on perceived work stress as a familiar condition of the life of an artist (Chen et al., 2020).  Artists work hard; there is no doubt about it.

Despite the widespread perception in the field of psychology that creative people are more vulnerable to psychopathology, referred to as the so-called “mad genius” premise, the outcomes of research in this area are contradictory (Baas et al., 2016).  Bass et al. suggest that the inclination of psychopathology in artists and creative people could be a matter of basic motivational approaches and avoidance systems, and that the differentiation between these influence creativity in contrast to one another—namely that motivational approaches impact some diagnoses, such as bipolar disorder with increased creativity, and avoidance diagnoses, such as anxiety and depression, show up as a reduction in creativity (2016).  That said, the “mad genius” theory is thought to be debatable in terms of generality and validity (Baas et al., 2016).  However, it has been found that artists with a mental health diagnosis are supported in their mental health challenges by enacting agency to contribute to culture and their communities by engaging in a choice to create a personal narrative to be an artist via meaningful work as an artist (Gwinner et al., 2015).

Some artists might feel that this kind of examination of motivation to be an artist would potentially dim the magic of just deeply knowing that one is an artist.  I do not think it is a must to know your motivations.  However, it has the potential to guide your creative practice in new or newly committed directions in service of your well-being and the well-being of others.  If that resonates for you, take your time and ponder these questions:  Why do I want to be an artist? and What does it mean to live the life of an artist to me? 

References

Baas, M., Nijstad, B. A., Boot, N. C., & De Dreu, C. K. W. (2016). Mad genius revisited:

Vulnerability to psychopathology, biobehavioral approach-avoidance, and creativity. Psychological Bulletin, 142(6), 668–692. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000049

Chen, C., Wang, K., Chen, S., Zhou, Y., & Zhou, M. (2020). The linear and curvilinear

relation between personality and subjective well-being in visual artists: Perceived

creation stress as a mediator. PsyCh Journal (Victoria, Australia), 9(4), 533–543.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pchj.329

Daniel, R. (2018). Motivation to be an artist: Insights relevant to mental health. International

Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 4(03), 21-32.

Elias, D., & Berg-Cross, L. (2009). An exploration of motivations of fine art students in

relation to mental and physical well-being. Journal of College Student

Psychotherapy, 23(4), 228–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/87568220903163850

Gwinner, K., Knox, M., & Brough, M. (2015). A contributing life: Living a contributing life

as a person, an artist, and an artist with a mental illness. Health Sociology

Review, 24(3), 297–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/14461242.2015.1058176

Travis, S. (2020). Flashpoints of artist identity formation. Art Education (Reston), 73(5), 16–25.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2020.1781438