Art vs Design

Last night, my kids school put on an art show and it turned out to be pretty remarkable.

In addition to all the great work produced by hundreds of young students, a few of us were asked to donate some art work for the school to auction off.

As a designer, I’ve never really thought of myself an artist… Design often feels too commercial to be considered as truly artistic.

But the more I’ve documented my creative process on this blog and shared my personal experiments on platforms like Instagram, the more I’m beginning to associate with the idea of actually ‘being an artist’, whatever that means.

So despite being sick with the flu, I managed to print and (badly) frame up two pieces, which collectively raised a couple hundred dollars for much needed musical equipment.

To be honest, I was blown away by the response, but not because my work managed to sell for reasonable amounts.

It was the conversations I was able to strike up with parents and teachers I’ve known for years but never really engaged with previously… Conversations that led to talking about creativity with kids, something that lights me up even on the darkest days.

I won’t lie, of course it felt cool to have people haggling over my artworks.

But that feeling was nothing compared to seeing my kids race over to their friends and hear “wow, that lady just bought your dads art for like a million dollars!”, sparking dozens of excited questions about art, design and why the school needs the money more than we need to buy lollies or stuffed toys.

The two images I sold last night

For decades, the chasm between art and design felt too big for me to jump… Believing I needed to paint or sculpt in order to consider myself a legitimate artist may seem silly to some, but just wait until you see my stick drawings - you’d be embarrassed too.

But last night felt different.

The art was just a vehicle to have more interesting conversations. And maybe, just maybe, that means I don’t need to draw stick figures after all.