Did you know that you don’t have to make art for profit? Often, as adults, we think making art must have a purpose. It’s either to create a specific item for a specific purpose, like a pottery bowl to hold something, or to sell for profit. We’re naturally wired to make the most out of our activities. We typically believe that creative outlets should be money-making opportunities. However, the creative process on it’s own can be beneficial, even without selling our creative work.
The practice is inherently productive
The practice of art making is inherently productive because you always end up with a product. The nature of taking materials from their original forms and combining them to create a piece of art automatically means that you will end with a finished piece. The practice, rather than the finished product, also has inherent benefits. Those benefits include expressing emotions freely, communicating your message to others, and stress relief.
When you consider what you will do with your finished product, you may choose to keep it as a memory, or recycle the parts based on what the art means to you. Just because you don’t sell your finished work doesn’t mean it isn’t serving a purpose.
The effects making art for profit has on the creative process
When we decide to sell a piece of art or product that we’ve created, the process of making that art changes. Knowing that someone is going to pay for our art causes us to pay more attention to line, shape, color, and overall aesthetic or function of the art. When we make art for ourselves, for seemingly no specific purpose, we are more freeform in what we express and how we use the materials.
Knowing that we’ll sell our art interrupts the creative process and limits our use of materials and practices so that the work can be profitable. Creative expression is meant to be an exhalation of our thoughts, worries, and emotions. We interrupt our ability to communicate these concepts when we stick a price tag on our art.
The challenge to create freely
For most adults, the challenge with creating artwork is in the ability to make art for seemingly “no reason.” But this is something that I encourage when working with all of my art therapy clients. You don’t have to sell your art for it to be valuable. As an art therapist, I believe that you should not base your worth off of the type of art you create. If the release of emotions comes through art, that is plenty. You are doing more than enough.
In your next creative endeavor, try to work on your piece with the mindset that your art does not have to have a practical purpose. You don’t have to sell it. Changing your perspective might help you have surprising realizations about what you created and it’s personal value within your life and healing process.
Learn more about the author, Sam Nolan, MA, LPC, ATR-P here.
Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash