I met a man the other day who recently lost his job. And, yes, it’s directly related to the tsunami of a financial crisis that began last year and keeps on going. He’s a highly educated computer scientist, no slouch, and he’s scared. There aren’t all that many jobs like the one he had for people with his level of expertise right now so he can’t see the way forward. He’s finding it a little hard to even think there is a way forward. His predicament made me think. Because I’m an artist, I’m used to living more or less comfortably on the edge of uncertainty. Making art teaches us to envision possibility and to have faith, even when the outcome isn’t fully known.
Most of us want positive change for ourselves and for our planet but many of us also feel disempowered or stuck. Lots of us feel afraid. How can we create the life we want? How can we change our world? When we move from a problem to a solution in art, we often take a quantum creative leap. At one moment, we’re facing the unknown, then, suddenly, we’re in a whole new place without having taken every plodding step in between. Sometimes we aren’t stepping forward but sideways. It might just be that to solve global challenges and personal ones too, we need to get our creative spark back again so we can make those leaps.

As a teacher, I’ve discovered something else. The simple act of drawing can spark us up, whether or not we’re artists. Lots of people say they can’t draw but this is a myth—no special talent is necessary. When we were two and someone gave us crayons, we didn’t hesitate to dive in. If we’ve given up drawing, we can begin again.

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