A Story for the Days You Forget Why Your Art Matters
By Thea Fiore-Bloom, PhD
Ever wonder if your art really matters?
Every artist wrestles with that question at some point.
Here’s a story that reminds me why creating art is both a privilege and a gift—and why your work matters more than you may ever know.
It begins like this.
A monumental thing happened the day Ellis defended her BFA thesis at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
And it happened before a single professor’s toe crossed the threshold into that gallery.
The first piece viewers saw in Ellis’s show, “Do You Count?” was a six-foot interactive abacus with Neolithic goddess sculptures for beads.
Ellis made the work in an effort to humanize individual women battling against domestic violence and sexual exploitation in her community and the world.
“The exhibit was intense,” said Ellis.
“Especially because the show was being exhibited in a state that has some of the highest domestic violence rates in the country.”
What Happened Next
As Ellis was setting up for her thesis defense, understandably a bit nervous, a class of sixth graders came in to view the show.
The group’s teacher gathered the students around Ellis’s table of handheld goddesses (below).
“The goddesses were not priced,” said Ellis.
“In the description near the table, I had challenged the gallery visitors to place a value on the lives of people who have experienced violence.”
Audience members could place money into the jar and take home their own goddess.
Ellis donated the money to a specific, nearby domestic violence shelter.
After the teacher explained this to the students, a young boy spoke up and said that he and his Mom had stayed at that very shelter Ellis named in the description.
The boy beside him turned to him and quietly said, ‘I didn’t know that about you.’
Then one of the girls across the table from him said, ‘We love you.’
The girl next to her echoed her classmate’s words, ‘Yes, we love you.'”
The energy of care and acceptance that welled up in the gallery was palpable, and there was not a dry adult eye in the room.
Why Our Art Matters
“The teacher thanked me for my exhibit,” Ellis said.
“Then she explained that they cannot talk about topics like this in the classroom, but my show gave them the opportunity to discuss it.”
(Ellis, her community, and those pocket-sized goddesses ended up raising over $1700 for the shelter the boy had stayed at.)
The Honor of Being an Artist
“That day I got to feel what a profound honor it is to be an artist,” Ellis said. “My defense became minor compared to the moment I was able to witness with that circle of sixth graders.”
“As artists, we are given this platform to talk about subjects that others find difficult to voice, subjects that need more light shed on them,” Ellis said.
Ellis’s story reminded me of something I’d forgotten.
All creatives deal with this tension between longing for approval from outside authority figures and honoring the internal voice of our creative spirit, a creative spirit that insists on having its own, sometimes outrageous, true north (for good reason).
But if we negotiate the bridge of that tension, and stay upright long enough to make the art that our spirit insists on producing, despite our fear of disapproval, we are often richly rewarded.
Rewarded with the knowledge, we’ve given voice to those who are having a hard time speaking.
Rewarded that we may have made it easier for even one little person to deal with what has happened to them.
That’s a whopper of a reason why our art matters.
(BTW, good news. The professors approved Ellis’s thesis that day, and she went on to graduate from her university Magna Cum Laude.)
A Question For Artists for The Road
Olena’s brave topic choice for her thesis exhibition compelled me to ask myself:
If I bypassed my own fear of ridicule; if I followed my own heart without reservation, what would I create?
What would I be happy to hear a little boy or girl muster up the courage to voice when standing before my work?
What would you?
Let Olena or me know if you relate to her story in any way in the COMMENTS below.
Olena Ellis was a recent artist in residence at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts in Ojai, CA.
Read about how Beatrice can help your art life blossom in this Charmed Studio post.
You may also like these other Charmed Studio posts:
Rachel Carson: A Fairy Godmother For Artists & Writers During Tough Times
Transcending a Troll: O’Keeffe Shows Us a Way Out
Why You Need a Feel-Good File: The Emotional Rescue Tool No Creative Should Be Without
Artists and ADHD: Myths, Realities, True Stories & Resources
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This post is dedicated to maverick Lithuanian archaeologist Dr. Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994), who “contributed to the biggest watershed moment women’s studies has ever seen.”
Gimbutas conducted digs and authored several books that shed first light on the role of The Great Goddess in Neolithic history.
Mythologist Joseph Campbell wrote that Gimbutas should be as respected as the man who decoded The Rosetta Stone.
Oddly, Gimbutas’ work was and still is dismissed by many academics I’ve encountered.
Decide for yourself.
Peek inside Gimbutas’ Language of the Goddess.
Or watch the documentary Marija Gimbutas: Signs Out of Time.
Want to read or listen to more about why it’s so important for artists to rein in our need for approval? Check out my post based on a strange morning at the beach: Letting Go of Approval: A Story for Artists.
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. This means if you buy books or stuff via my blog I may receive a tiny commission and do a happy dance. There is no extra fee for you. I only link to items I personally use and love; products that I think help heart-centered artists.
Wow. I don’t know how I missed this post before, but I guess I wasn’t ready for it yet! I heard the podcast today- what a beautiful story about Olena’s powerful work. Thank you both.
Kirsten, you are so kind to let me know. I will pass your words on to Olena.
This is a beautiful story. I have all of Marija Gimbutas books and refer to them often for my art. I recently finished a Goddess art timeline that I created by painting 98 tiny (1.5”x2”) Goddesses and assembled them in an old printers tray.
Oh Janee, your work sounds amazing! Can you please leave a link to where we could see it?
And have you also been inspired by the Goddess Timeline Poster set by Constance Tippit?
Thanks Thea, I just uploaded some images of the Goddesses.
https://janeewardart.org/2021/05/08/98-tiny-goddesses-a-goddess-timeline/
OK, I am speechless. So amazing, your drawing of IXCHEL alone is incredible… I want to post it on the site. Will be in touch. Thanks.
What a beautiful story, and what a teachable moment! A shining example of the healing power of art, and what happens when we share our art–and out story–with the world.
Thanks Luann,
Letting our art and stories out into the world can help us heal and heal others can’t it? Thanks for taking time to leave your comment. You made my morning.
Thea, thank you for bringing Olena’s art and her story to the forefront. Olena, your poignant work is soul stirring for many of us who dare not give a voice to the pain and shame we experienced. I remember writing a paper in a psychology class about sexual abuse.The professor stopped me after the lecture to thank me because she had experienced it. Shame prevented her from coming forward. Love & Light
Sylvia dear, thanks so much for telling me that story. Our stories strengthen and heal more people than we will ever know right? But every once in a while it is wonderful to have someone come right up to us and confide in us that our story impacted them, because it makes us more affirmed to continue giving voice to the voiceless through our art and words. Good on you. 🙂
I will pass your comment onto Olena and I am sure she will want to answer you as well.
Thanks so much,
Hug to you, Thea
Sylvia,
Thank you for your beautiful words and story. I believe if we step beyond the shame and support one another, true healing happens. I have been in the place of not being strong enough to use my voice, so feel honored to hold space for those growing stronger. Your story is so powerful and thank you for sharing it. Love & Light
Olena, I thank you!
It’s stories like these – where vulnerability meets strength – as these children show in this story – THIS is where magic happens and it restores my faith in humanity.
Beautifully put Melissa; “Where vulnerability meets strength.”
I am beginning to get it that my strength comes from my vulnerabilities and from standing up for the vulnerabilities of others. Both you and Olena restore my faith in humanity.
Oh my God Thea this is incredible!! Incredible writing on your part and that exhibit is explosive in intensity. I’m so moved by the children responding in ways that are always far superior to our adult ways. Honestly I know insane amounts of work go into a thesis but after creating an abacus of women’s lives clicking from one side to the other like they are nothing more than a stick of wood… and piles of women that a price can’t be put on. After that I don’t think i would really give a sh*t what some egghead professor thought. I also realize I have not followed previous blog post telling me not to make a sentence a paragraph long! LOL . You are so awesome! This post was deep and difficult and you did it justice with you heart felt vision and knowing exactly what was important. You’re the best girl!!!
Thanks for your affirming my choice to write the piece. I am so glad I went with my intuition that people would be interested in the story. It is dawning on my as a writer that the “little stories” are big.
Thanks for your work with kids, you are making a difference every day.
Thank you for this article, Thea, and for your art, Olena. It is important to be reminded of why we share art, why art is important. Art touches the soul in a way that nothing else can, we connect on a level beyond mere expression, it is a mix of what we experience with the art and what we have experienced in life. I think that makes sense as what I mean. Anyway – it is such a great honor when you get to see your art touch someone – reach someone on a different level as you describe here. Also, it is important to remember to use art to tend to the soul in and of the world and that is what Olena’s art does – it makes a real statement about a serious matter that needs to be recognized and it starts conversations that are on a more soulful level. I’m always glad when I have a chance to read one of the posts on this site.
Thank you for your comments and I agree that the audience brings their own life experiences with them when interacting with art and art does touch our souls in a way that is not easily defined. Tending the soul is important individually and globally, as it is where we meet one another with love and empathy. I definitely feel honored and humbled with the responses to my work. Thank you.
Tracy thank you for writing in , means a lot to me. Your comment makes me understand better the importance of weaving the teachings of Pacifica Grad Insitute (were we met) into the mix of the blog. I was just pondering on the phrase soul tending last week. I love Olena’s work because she is unapologetic about tending to soul. As are you. Hurray! Once more into the breech ladies!
I had the great pleasure of experiencing Olena’s thesis exhibition in person and I can attest to the great emotional impact of the interactive components. Olena’s artwork is relevant and unafraid but executed with such care and empathy, a rare combination! I am inspired by Olena to assess the directness of my own work as an artist and be less afraid (just in general) but also of presenting subjects that can lead to confrontation.
I bet it was Anvil, I love your description of the Olena’s artwork. You seem to have a powerful art practice yourself. Just popped over to your site. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it. What was a work or body of work you took an emotional risk making? (If you want to share) 🙂
In some ways every piece that I make visible to others is an emotional risk. As a very introverted and wholly introspective person it can feel so exposing to hang your work for others to see and potentially reject or scrutinize or just dismiss entirely (I know I’m in good company there!) My tendency is to be less straight-forward which is why I admire Olena and her work so much!
Specifically, I have several pieces planned for a show in 2020 that deal with pretty literally with loss and longing. My anxiety towards their completion and exhibition is very real. Like many (most?) artists, personal experience has a primary role in my work but that’s what adds the level of emotional complexity. They say writers should write about what they know, I think successful artists do the same.
Being more emotionally vulnerable has only ever lead me into deeper and more meaningful conversations/relationships, I strive for that, it does not come naturally!
Yes, I agree. I hear you about vulnerability! So difficult but essential right. Every piece I make that is worth its salt is an emotional risk. ( Both in my writing and in my mixed media sculpture boxes.) Your comment makes me realize the articles and art pieces that I consider flops, take little or no emotional risks. It is so hard to be vulnerable in our art, and perhaps even more so in the describing of our art. Part of the reason I was drawn to Olena’s work and wanted to do a post on her was because she took risks in her gallery descriptions. Her essays on her show were clear and powerful, there was no abstract disambiguation. I am a self-taught artist, and I want more and more to describe my work in a real way, as she does. But it seems to me like many of the established artists that are repped by galleries that I’ve interviewed over the years for magazines are often encouraged to do just the opposite in the writing about their art, burying the deeper meaning of their work in art speak and vagaries. What is your take on that? Perhaps the death of most galleries is allowing for new kinds of written expression for artists?
The way we make and consume art is evolving! People want (demand?) accessibility and transparency in just about everything nowadays. I think that both gallery death and the change in art conversation could be a result of this cultural shift. (Perhaps a rabbit trail for another day!)
It wasn’t too long ago that artists needed gallery representation to survive. No longer! Though the right relationships are still important, we are not dependent on galleries to publicize and promote us anymore. Thanks to the internet we can be our own promoters and gallerists (and keep the change.)
Of course, this is MUCH more work for the individual artist, who, if they are like me, was taught in school to nurture tenuous relationships with museums and galleries instead of create a professional website, balance a studio budget or design an attractive publication.
I am always fighting against my training to use exaggerated ‘art speak’ and just be human! I fail sometimes. I don’t want to drive away my audience with perceived pretentiousness or nonsense word-salad but also, I want to be taken seriously and the field to be respected.
Thanks for your explanation and inspirations for future posts! I want to ask you more about your intriguing last sentence.
“I don’t want to drive away my audience with perceived pretentiousness or nonsense word-salad but also, I want to be taken seriously and the field to be respected.”
As I said earlier I am a self-taught artist so ask you with sincere curiosity and zero snark: what do your peers need to see in your writing to “take you seriously” or to “respect you in the field?” Is writing about your art directly and vulnerably seen as unprofessional and if so, why?
I hope my peers expect of me what I do of them!
Intent, honesty and substance. (In my experience, honesty usually begets substance.)
I want to believe that the decisions an artist makes are intentional. If I need their writing to get me there, it should probably be readable.
I know that I, personally, respond best to words that have a thoughtfulness to them and are written from a place of sharing instead of explaining. I want to be brought alongside the artist, not estranged by either eccentric language or lengthy prose.
That’s the beauty of writing about your artwork, you can intentionally create an art piece that makes the viewer feel alienated (if you want) but then write about it in a way that invites them into your perspective instead of further alienating them.
The temptation is to puff up our words into big beautiful balloons, hoping to lift our art up to the level we aspire to reach. But it’s all about balance! An inflated balloon can’t hide its flaws and over-inflation never ends well. At the end of the day is your message still plump and floating gently across the sky or has it deflated over a lake? (Ok, I might have taken that metaphor a bit too far… there’s a joke in there about being full of hot air that I’m sure will come to mind as soon as I hit “post”.)
It just feels arrogant to me to write about your art this way. Arrogance might not necessarily be unprofessional but I do find it unbecoming. I think being too personal in your writing can also carry the same sort of self-importance.
Using personal narrative is probably the quickest way to sound like an expert and experts get taken seriously. It’s so tempting. Again, balance, intent, honesty.
I like my standard, maybe someday I’ll actually reach it, (at the moment I’m still patching my balloon.) 😉
Eureka, I finally am beginning to understand this now thanks to you Anvil. So there is a balance we may feel most comfortable inhabiting that lies between the hyper-“professional” and hyper-personal in our art writing. That sits right with me. I never thought about your valid point that overly personal narrative, much like its arch nemesis art-speak, may not serve the viewer of our art. I think this would be a helpful guest post topic for The Charmed Studio, if you want to write it, (nudge, smile, nudge.) I think many artists are flummoxed about how to write about our art and this is a great middle road.
Me too! Eureka…something shifted. 🙂 Thank you Thea and Olena and Anvil. I have been thinking about this blog and these posts for days. I am just awestruck. Have life’s catastrophes brought us in very subtle ways a way to be more real in the world? More real with ourselves? Not using puffed up words. Addressing our pain and the pain of others in a palpable, visceral way that brings light and change and growth to our lives? If we allow ourselves to be still and just be where we are,..happy where we are. No climbing, clawing, reaching when it is just better to experience, to be mindful, to create in the moment, things that bring love, light, pain, creation into being. Let them float in the breeze, enter the ethers. Be part of the soul of the time. In art, which is pieces of our soul we allow it. We don’t subdue it, change it, shame it. We let it rise and grow and breathe and change us forever because we realize we are one. “We love you” said the classmate and the next and the next and they are one, we are one. Healed and strong. Thank you Thea. I love you. Thank you ladies. Artists!!!
Thanks Gale! I am seeing more now why established artists with blogs that I had interviewed in the past have told me the same thing about the value of writing a blog, again and again in different ways, which is this:
Have a blog, tend to it: Tend to it not because you think you are an expert with all this wisdom to impart, or because you think it will draw in sales, but because it will teach YOU about your art and it will teach YOU about community. They were right. Thanks for being one of my teachers.
Yyyyyeeeesssss!!!! Thank you The for being light in the darkness and helping us collectively remember what in the world/universe what we are doing!.. Your blog is a real .” You are here” . Brilliant! ☺☺
Charming readers like you affirm the choice I made not to NOT make this a blog about marketing for artists. I wonder if I would have burnt out and stopped writing the blog in 6 months if I had done that.
Anvil, Thank you for the love and wonderful comments in response to my work. Waking up this morning to your beautiful words and support makes me thankful for our friendship. Artists supporting other artists, making the world a better place to live in! You are a powerful artist with mad skills and I am so excited to see the changes you will initiate in the world.
What I will create are several landscape paintings of trees. The exhibit will include stories about how trees communicate, protect each other, live within a hierarchy, suffer … I might try to create a slideshow with audio that talks about the paintings and the place trees have in our world. This is not controversial unless we consider and accept that most people value trees because they can be burned for heat and milled to make lumber. Few people, including myself, really know much about trees. I’m learning, though.
I enjoyed the post. Thank you for sharing Olena’s work.
Congratulations Sharon, I think it is a controversial or at the very least BOLD and important undertaking. Many people haven’t observed a group of trees in a long time, let alone know about how they communicate. I am a big nature person (love our natural parks and the writings of John Muir and Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods) but I barely have touched on the research about the kinds of things you mention in your thoughtful comment. How do trees protect one another? I have no idea. How do they live in hierarchy? A slideshow with audio sounds phenomenal. We are all connected to trees on a soulful level. But we are becoming more and more disconnected from the natural world with each passing generation. Tree stories show up as such a constant in global mythology historically. Yet how much quieter time have we truly spent observing any? I want to learn more 🙂 (The immense mythical tree of life-Yggdrasil- of the Norse sagas that connects their 9 worlds is one that has always fascinated me).Thanks for commenting Sharon.
Thank you for your comments on my idea. I have secured a place for the first exhibit that will be in October, so I have a lot of work to do. Growing up in northern Minnesota, I was surrounded by trees and I doubt that I could live in a place that lacked trees. I’m reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. It’s fascinating! I have another of his books on order and will get it when the translation is published this spring. Wohlleben worked as a forester in Germany.
Never heard of him before. Thank you Sharon. Okay, just watched an interview with him, he is enchantingly authentic. I am ordering a copy now.
Sharon, YESSSS!!! Sounds like a fantastic exhibition. I believe each human “needs” 7ish trees for oxygen per year, seriously, how many trees is that for our current population? We need trees!!!! Not to mention sitting under a tree for shade and reading on a sunny day. Our daily guardians who do not get the credit they deserve. Ready for your exhibition and to learn more. Congratulations and Good Luck!
This is so wonderful! I love this story. You are my Marianne Williamson of creative inspiration. I have some things up my sleeve that will hopefully help young people realize that you’re never to old to make a fool of yourself and have fun. And always remember you must keep that child within you no matter how old you are! My Facebook Page AGING Defiantly WITH HUMOR is part of that. But stay tuned…
Wow, what a compliment. I am putting that up on my fridge. 🙂 BTW, I would love to do a post one day on WHY until the very recent past, that long, wonderful quote by Marion Williamson was always attributed not to her, but to the Dalai Lama. You know the one that begins: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us […].”
Anyway, so excited to see what your new page will birth. I am a big fan of The Fool and fools in general, they have been symbols of the holy since the first peoples walked the earth in the Americas and beyond. Only the unwise, fail to honor the wisdom of a jester. A toast to holy fools.
Thea! Yes, to a post on: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us […].”
I am putting it in my draft ideas section right now. Maybe some kind of collaboration with you on it would be a good idea. 🙂
Thea, Count me in! 🙂
Denise, Thea has crazy skills bringing stories to life and I agree with you that she gives creative inspiration. Love your topic of Play! As adults, it is easy to lose our playful side with belly laughs. Have you read “Deep Play” by Diane Ackerman? I read it years ago, however it still resonates with me. Best wishes on your FB page helping us all to stay in touch with our authentic selves, the child within.
Thank you! Loved your story and your bravery.
Really nice article. I love art that says something so specific about real things – unfortunately real things as well. The way she makes her work so interactive is so crucial for this topic. It is asking the audience to act, first as part of the project but also maybe in the real world.
I really like that she also enables people to take something home to remind them of her project and what it stands for. And what a great commentary to let people decide what price/ value to put to the statues. Really nice concept on the whole. It was hard to look at some of the sculptures, especially the ones that copy to ancient goddess statue but with tools on it. Of course that connects to the reason she made the project, her subject is hard to look at. At the same time I appreciated the little statues that were ‘for sale’ because while they were not as violent, they felt very delicate, unique and vulnerable.
I agree with you, Thea has mad writing skills!
Thank you for commenting and engaging with my art. The interaction during the exhibition was important to me for the audience to have the opportunity to connect with the subject of domestic violence and to have the space to feel their reactions. The abacus with the goddess beads invited the audience to interact and move them. One person signed my guest book saying that they had moved the goddess beads, however, upon reading my description of how women are objectified, they had difficulty touching them afterward making them question their own objectification of women. I think starting these conversations so that we can be our best selves is important.
You are not the first person to feel that the sculptures with tools were hard to look at. These tool sculptures were made with the intention that we all find social, emotional, and even physical tools that we use in life to get through or champion experiences and they become a part of our physical and emotional makeup affecting how we move within the world. Once these tools were added with the goddesses in the exhibition space, they took on an element of violence to some. I was specifically asked by one of my professors if it would bother me that some may see the tools as violent and I responded that it would not, as it is part of the reality of the subject. The violence is one of the reasons that it is so hard for us to look or discuss these topics and the damage it causes other humans.
You absolutely picked up on the “delicate, unique and vulnerable” elements of the handheld goddesses for sale and the gentle reminder that we are kind to others. All humans start in this world being vulnerable and how we interact with one another can uplift and encourage others. It is our choice. Thank you again for your comments, I really enjoyed reading them. Olena
I’m so happy to hear from you directly, I never would have guessed you would read my little comment!
I can understand why people didn’t want to move the goddess beads after reading the meaning…That’s what is so cool about this project, through the interactions the audience has to face their own ideas on the subject.
These days people are always “entertained” in this case it’s by your work, but it’s very interesting that through that playing or being entertained – it made some feel guilty that their own pleasure is at the expense of something else. I think we forget what things mean these days when everything is made for our entertainment and in a kind of entitled way we consume it without thinking.
Thank you for replying to my comment, you have inspired me to try and create some more meaningful art that considers our society in a meaningful way.
You hit on an important part of this exhibit, entertainment is not always engagement. Our art and ourselves grow by engaging and hearing what others have to say. The more we connect with our communities, the more we grow. The more we truly connect with ourselves, the more we grow. Growth is important in my opinion, as I believe we are here to become our best possible selves and that will most always include growth.
I have really enjoyed your comments because you are thinking about the meanings and putting yourself in the gallery space. Your comments are beautiful and thought provoking, there is nothing “little” about them. You are a true creative and I look forward to seeing your art and the growth you will inspire.
Your project is what made me think of that, thank you – I haven’t even seen it in person but your message(at least what I’ve interpreted from your artwork) has spread for sure. I get caught up in my own art and how to share it, forgetting to ‘consume’ art in areas that aren’t directly connected to my own. It’s so important – like you said, to grow.
It’s so delicate to deal with social themes like this as it’s so easy to get overly zealous(understandably but it can be off putting unfortunately) and maybe overly intellectual. I’ve always been afraid to tackle these topics because of this problem.
I really liked was that you didn’t make it so abstract that no one would understand it! The story about the children getting right to the point was touching to read – It’s difficult to talk about with adults so I can’t imagine trying to talk about this with children.
Thank you for your encouragements –
Kikoe
I did not see the opposition of the vulnerability and the impervious nature of the “metals” (made of clay) in the exhibit until you mention this. I personally found the tools to be inviting and associated with history as in the neolithic era, as opposed to being violent. But it’s understandable that they could be interpreted that way. I love Kikoe’s observation on the importance of taking a seed of the exhibit home via the hand held goddesses. There is so much I hadn’t thought of until I had the benefit of reading your exchange with Kikoe. Thanks so much for being available to comment.
Thanks Kikoe for taking the time and thought to write this. I am learning so much from the exchange between you and Olena Ellis. I never thought that the exhibition’s interactivity extended to the person taking home an actual part of the show until you mentioned that. So cool. I stopped at the abacus, but now I see the path goes much further.
Thanks for writing the article! I would not have known about it otherwise – it’s amazing how interactive this project has become.
Thanks Kikoe. It’s great to see the community we’re creating, together. I believe what Chavez says:
“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” — Ceasar Chavez