How do you picture your childhood artistic life? Was art the place of sanity for you, the place where you got to remove yourself from the turmoil and the dramas around you and retreat into your imagination? Or do you think that your art-making activities isolated you from others and proved a certain kind of impediment to social growth and good relating? Or, perhaps, both!
I would love to hear how you conceptualize the relationship between your art-making activities and your childhood mental health and your current mental health. Did your art-making activities “save” you or “harm” you or something else again? Or were you perhaps discouraged or even prevented from being the young artist you wanted to be and, if so, how did that effect you, do you think?
If you feel like sharing your story, post a comment or drop me an email at ericmaisel@hotmail.com
That is a very interesting question. Usually, I don’t answer, but since I am going to change my art bio and give this exact info, I thought I might as well answer now. I think I did get some sanity out of art as a kid. I am a story teller, so all my art work has a story behind it. As a child I would sit and make up a story, wright it down and then add a sketch of some sort. I am an only child, so isolation wasn’t new to me. What helped me keep my sanity was putting all those stories in my head down on a piece of paper.
Greetings Eric…..wonderful writings on your part…very thought provoking…..interesting reading between painting. Looking forward to following your literature.????