God-given. Gifted. Blessed. These are adjectives and nouns we use when referring to someone as talented. We are suggesting that talent was a gift the individual received before he or she was even born. So if a creative produces a breathtaking work of art, and she is talented, why would we complement her by suggesting […]
Read more
Archive | Visual Art RSS feed for this section
3 Steps Off the Path of an Art-Committed Life
May 16, 2013 
68 Comments
It is one of my greatest fears. I have abandoned my creativity before; this blog is my chronicle of returning to an art-committed life and working to stay there. That is also a central theme of the travel memoir I am in the process of polishing to final. But it is so easy to drift away […]
Read moreOwn Your Identity as an Artist
April 23, 2013 81 Comments
I savor the comments readers leave on this blog. But often they are apologetic in tone, along the lines of “I’m not really a writer,” or “I aspire to be a writer.” In the technical sense of the word “writer,” at least as I see it, these statements are a lie. They “wrote” a comment, […]
Read moreHow Technology is Advancing the Arts
March 21, 2013 11 Comments
Every artist on some level understands that the actions of an artist are dictated by technology. Before Gutenberg invented the printing press, writers were far more limited in page count with wound codexes. The sound amplification technology provided by a piano allowed compositions intended for far larger audiences than a harpsichord. We focus on Kindles […]
Read moreThe Importance of Creativity in Education
February 19, 2013 45 Comments
For the last decade I have repeatedly emphasized a correlation between the encouragement of creativity in childhood and professional, personal and economic success later in life. I have done so here on this blog, and previously as a think tank senior fellow and artist’s rights advocate. I have not been alone in this belief. I […]
Read moreHow Do You Define an Artist?
December 14, 2012 14 Comments
Here in Washington, D.C., we are all swept up in amazement and wonder with the Redskins’ rookie quarterback, Robert Griffin III. He is as flawless off the field as he is on. It becomes difficult after a while for writers to find new ways to describe how amazing he is, but in yesterday’s Washington Post, […]
Read moreAre We Living a Golden Age of Creative Instruction?
November 26, 2012 16 Comments
So the countdown begins. Having been admitted to her art college of choice, in a few months my daughter will be a 10-hour drive away, living artistic instruction day and night. It’s a dream for her, and I’m thrilled (my pocketbook is perhaps less so). I’m also a bit envious–at how clear her creative path […]
Read moreCultivating Creativity in the Sonoran Desert
May 29, 2012 53 Comments
Today I’m honored to provide a guest post by Melissa Crytzer Fry, whose blog What I Saw never fails to inspire. I was first drawn to her blog by her amazing photographs of the Sonoran Desert; it was there that I grew up, and Melissa’s blog allowed me to return. But what struck me was […]
Read moreWho Has Your Creativity Sold Out?
April 27, 2012 71 Comments
Is your creativity selling out someone in your life? Joan Didion famously wrote that “writers are always selling somebody out.” Songwriters, painters, novelists and other creatives channel their life experiences when producing their art. Take my post on Tuesday, in which I passed along advice I heard at a recent writer’s conference about building a […]
Read more
Kudos to the Artist’s Road Commenters of 2012
The Artist’s Road is, at its heart, a conversation with its readers. It draws its strength from the quality and depth of its comments, left by thoughtful, reflective commenters. I am continually amazed at the wisdom left there; I love that my blog posts allow me to learn from my readers. So I’d like to […]
Read more