Learning from the process of creating art

Great article about learning to be an artist, or rather make art. I particularly like this part:

We don’t start out as “creatives”. Few of us have such gifts at birth, and frankly, I’m unsure that creativity is something that is naturally ingrained. I do believe that these stories work well in film, and tie-in to the mythology which Hollywood is so renowned for; however, I’m convinced that good creative comes from training, just like good athletes become so as a result of focused coaching and hard work. Some may have a greater propensity for creative work than others; yet, I tend to believe that this rarity is overemphasized in our culture.

Read the entire article:
http://www.ideasonideas.com/2006/06/creativity_learning/

User Centric Art

I just read an interesting article here. It is focused on creating change within your corporate hullabaloo, whatever it may be. The article encourages focus on the user, the real people that use your site/product.

Don't focus on what the user will think about the product, focus everyone around you on what the user will think about himself as a result of interacting with it.

Do we apply these methods to art? Art has always been for me, a means of expressing myself. I think even the term 'expressing yourself' is one generally associated with artistic pursuits. Or at least, it was associated with art until the 'blog' came along. Now we blog instead of painting. It's much more direct and to the point.

Is art just a complicated soap box? Is art the podium for the creative mind, our channel for voicing our own quirky impressions? Or do we have a responsibility to an audience greater than 1?

Or when I blog should I just talk about what interests me? From a capitalistic point of view, if you want to be financially successful blogging or painting or sculpting, you're going to have to cater to some demographic. But financial success is hardly a sound benchmark. People and money are fickle.