Talent is a Myth
A few weeks ago I was sitting around the table for a dinner party. We were somewhere between soup and salad, when talk turned to my art. And then it happened, someone said it. You are so talented. For a second the words hung in the air, unanswered.
I never really know what to say in response to this. It’s meant as a compliment, but every time, it strikes me like a small blow. I mumbled thanks and changed the subject.
Because the truth is, I’m not talented. I work hard, drawing, painting, creating every day to build my skill. And that skill is not something I was born with.
I remember way back in grade school when I was asked to draw what I wanted to be when I grew up. I drew one of the many potential options I considered as a career (an actress Alanna!). My drawing was fine. Certainly not special or magical. I remember the way those compliments (“You are so talented!”) flowed so freely to some people, but never to me. That’s okay—I’d think to myself— I’m just not good at art, I’m not talented.
I would tell myself a story about how I loved drawing, but there was no real use in doing it. I would never be good and there was no use wasting my time. When it came time to sign up for high school classes, I didn’t choose art. I stuck with what I was good at. I signed up for drama, and all the extra English classes. Writing was something I was good at. People told me I had talent.
But I still spent every single gosh darn day doodling at the edges of my notebooks. My skills improved. I got better at drawing, and yet I still bought into that story that I just wasn’t good at art. I wasn’t talented. It’s an idea you see and hear everywhere. This idea that art cannot be taught. You are either talented or you should move on.
It’s such a modern and ridiculous notion.
Art used to be seen as a craft that required dedication and practice. Many of the artists we look upon today as geniuses (think all of the Ninja Turtles: Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo) didn’t think of themselves as capital ‘C’ Creatives, they thought of themselves as craftsmen. They were artisans, who trained and put in long hours in, to hone their ability to see and translate what they saw into their drawings, paintings, and sculptures. Not a divine gift, but something that could be learned by anyone with enough practice and patience.
It was only through practice that I started to see myself as a real artist, as someone not with talent, but with hard-earned skill. It’s one of the reasons I teach, to empower more people to throw away the idea of talent, which is just a big old myth that erases all the hard work artists do. Anyone can create beautiful things if they are just willing to spend a little time, each day, dedicated to improving their craft.
Which is why, when people at dinner parties spout out those words to me now (“You are so talented!”), I am going to respond with, “I’m not, but I sure do work my butt off”.
