Artists: The world’s greatest export

When I was a junior in high school, I wasn’t afraid of the future. I wasn’t surprised that I was nearly half way done with my required four years of “secondary education”, nor was I sad to be almost done with the whirlwind drama that was high school. In fact, during that in-between summer I was excited, anxious even, to finally get to leave that school and move on into my higher education at a college. It’s funny how things change. Now here I am, sitting in an apartment on an empty college campus on what is summer vacation for most students, and fearing the fact that I am now a junior. I am desperately trying to grasp the idea that I am exactly half way through college. I feel like I’m not ready for what comes after graduation; the job search, the probable rejections, and the race to make a living. And I still fear that I don’t know enough to even be considered a junior. It’s terrifying.

For me, this summer is going to be all about change. I have a new job at the happiest place on earth that I work nearly every day of the week, I’m meeting new people, I’m challenging my patience and improving my interpersonal skills, and I’m finding myself alone for the first time in my life. Though, despite all of these exciting changes and new experiences, I am still here in limbo. I know that in the next three months, while I may be having the time of my life, I am growing closer and closer to the reality that I am nearly done with schooling. And with that comes the reality of what majoring in Digital Arts truly means.

It may not be surprising to hear that a lot of people don’t believe that majoring in an art-related field is beneficial or important to society. I’ve heard it many times, including a random women at Starbucks who, upon overhearing I am studying animation, simply told me, “I’m sorry.” For those who are majoring, or ever have majored, in dance, the fine arts, film, digital arts, animation, painting, sculpture, or graphic design in college, I’m sure that you can agree it is frustrating to be told what you are doing isn’t a real career. Even on college campuses, the arts are often looked down upon by other students. Sure, they won’t argue that the talent level in the programs aren’t incredible, but more often than not the business majors, the computer science majors, the law students, and the medical school students still believe that those artists are majoring in a fake, impractical industry.

In their defense, it is true. Artists probably won’t become doctors. We won’t become mathematicians or leaders of a major corporation. Though majoring in art, or even pursuing a career in the arts, doesn’t make it any less of a rewarding career or any less beneficial to society. While artists don’t make a large multi-million dollar salary, their work is universally received and loved. The selfless nature and the passion of artists far outweigh the sometimes-meager salary they receive. Now, I can go into detail and spoon-feed you statistics on the number of individuals majoring in art, the current job market for artists, as well as the average yearly salary of various artistic professions and job outcome, but I won’t do that. Instead I am going to share with you why I believe that pursuing a career in the arts is not only rewarding, but is in fact beneficial to society.

Art is the universal form of communication.
Art has been around since the beginning of mankind. Cavemen would draw elaborate pictures of their daily lives onto cave walls, artists in the medieval era would paint portraits of important figures, and modern day photographers capture significant events as they unfold. Every culture has it’s own unique form of art, and every culture and tribe has it’s own artists. Art is the only form of communication that can overcome language barriers. It is always said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and it is indeed true. An excel chart and quarterly report of a major American corporation won’t necessarily be understood by a small tribe in a third world country, but a clip of Bugs Bunny dressed in drag to fool Elmer Fudd would be. Art is powerful and it tells a story from the artist about where they come from. Art doesn’t need language to explain itself; it purely lies in aesthetics, which communicates with others far greater than language alone.

Art is a strong healing power.
While artists don’t know how to perform a quadruple bypass surgery (though skilled figure drawers and animators can recite to you complex human and animal anatomy), they still assist their talents to help heal the sick. I have been volunteering at my local children’s hospital for a little over two years now and have been exposed to hundreds of children who are needlessly sick. I have found that art has proven to be the strongest healing power for these kids and in it’s own right can be the most powerful medicine. Art therapy combines both the medical and psychological effects of art into a powerful medicine. Art has shown to calm the nerves, and for many patients who cannot communicate their wants and needs as well as others, it allows them to communicate their innermost thoughts and feelings. I have seen that inpatient children can show you their true feelings through art rather than words. It’s an escape into human imagination that in itself is more powerful than any medicine.

Art is all around us.
There are many of those who believe that “art” is something only found in museums and that my pursuing a career in the “arts” you are simply painting or drawing something that you want to end up on the walls of the Getty. It simply isn’t true. Art impacts the modern day consumer in unfathomable ways. A key aspect of art is design. Every building you pass, every product you by, every logo you see, every chair you sit on, every “pretty” pattern on that sponge you use, and every movie you watch is the product of an artist. Art is all around us, and it influences the mind of the modern day consumer. An artist creates the world and environment we live in. You can walk a mile without ever running into a hospital, but you cannot walk five feet without seeing the end product from an artist. You probably just don’t notice it, and if you really step back to think about it that’s a lot of artists with a lot of different jobs. There are only so many medical positions in a hospital, but there is a limitless amount of jobs that require creativity from an artist.

Art creates happiness.
For me personally, one of the greatest pleasures in my life is making people happy. It’s the reason why I wanted to work at Disneyland, and is the sole purpose as to why I decided to pursue a degree in animation. Smiling is the greatest human export and just like art, a smile is the same in every language. Art is one of the few things in the world that can create such happiness. Films are one of the most popular forms of modern day entertainment as well as cartoons. It is easy to see the emotional impact of such forms of entertainment on humans across the world. In fact, Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny are recognized more universally than leaders of countries. When was the last time you smiled at a doctor’s office or when you are writing a large business report? Artists create smiles and they create emotions. The product of which is universally accepted and loved across the globe.

Art sparks human creativity.
Imagination and creativity are what separates humans apart from one another. While you can teach anybody how to administer a vaccine to a sick patient or bandage their wounds, you cannot teach someone how to use their imagination or be creative. You can’t teach someone how to come up with a cartoon character. The power of art is a sacred tool which challenges and pushes human creativity and imagination. By creating art you are using your imagination, which cannot be taught. An artist has to be creative, they have to be ambitious, and they have to think out of the box. You cannot teach someone to be that, and a world without creativity isn’t progressive or beneficial to anyone.