Individuality is THE Key Component

Is it difficult to maintain a different view of art, or life in general, and still succeed? Difficult, yes, but still possible. We know that the most famous artists of centuries past, were not recognized for their talent until long after their deaths. If you choose this direction for yourself, you must be prepared for rejection. If everyone accepts your work immediately, it's probably what I would refer to as mainstream. By that I mean that your work does not truly reflect your personality, and the "new" will soon wear off. As you perfect your expression of art, and grow in your confidence and/or conviction, your vision will begin to resonate with others. I'm not talking about "Branding" as that is entirely different and comes later in the marketing phase, but developing a distinctive personal style is crucial.

In my opinion, being a non-conformist and being creative go hand in hand. To create, I imagine that one has a different thought process than the majority of people. We are the result of our DNA plus our life experience, including the aspects of our own culture and exposure to others, to form our individuality and our unique way of expressing ourselves. We do not necessarily long to be a part of some movement or some group. For myself, I loathe the idea of being identified with groups. It's just not me.

Not to say that we must all be loners and misfits. Creativity can certainly happen in a group setting, but the group is made up of individuals who each have an idea to contribute. Hopefully, a group would be open to ideas from all its members, and the end result of their efforts would be a composite of the best that each member has to offer.

Back to cultures for a moment - we can be positively influenced not only by the culture of our own country, but by those countries and cultures elsewhere. I love old materials, mainly vintage beads and metal components, from native American tribes and from African and Asian tribes. These "hard to find" vintage elements lend their character to my work. This affection that I have for old tribal beads has led me to this current place professionally, and to the name Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry. So rather than homogenize society and do away with every cultural tradition, language, and form of artistic expression, I would encourage anyone to savor them and celebrate the beauty of each culture.

Diversity is what makes our world such an interesting place, and without it we are destined to be bland and boring. No diversity in culture, viewpoint, or creativity removes everything of value from our existence, and reduces us to bots. We still have more in common by far, than we have differences. But the differences and the commonality are equally important in the balance we must keep in moving forward. Art, literature, theater are all forms of human expression, and we must value diversity in all of them.

Gloria

Pictured items from my Etsy shop.