Blog / 2016 / Hurting an Artist

In the article about Crime Against Nature the book that’s shown in the video, Allison Meier says that my “writing is pretty straightforward” and that my “strength is definitely in the art.” When I first read that, I was crushed. I had worked so hard on the book, pushing myself out of my comfort zone by doing it, and Meier was highlighting my weaker point.

But, looking back at what she said later, I realized that it was good feedback about my writing and that, furthermore, she had paid me a big compliment about my visual art. Right after the article came out, I emailed Meier to thank her for the review, and I thank her (in my mind) whenever I think of it. My writing is still straightforward and analytical, but that’s okay. I find the poetry where I can. I work at it.

When I made this video encouraging people to talk about art and listing all the reasons why talking about art is good, I didn’t take into account that artists can be unpleasant with people who do talk about their art. From all of artkind, I’m sorry if an artist has ever been hurtful to you when you talk about their art. Please don’t let them stop you.

If you’re an artist and you’d like to practice listening to people talk about your art, this article talks about how to get an honest critique of your art.