Creativity

My friend Faith & I have been having a discussion about art, some of you may have been following it on this blog. Anyway, I went back this morning & re-read her comment about art, 

In my mind, I am trying to think of artists (of any medium) that were "fighters". There are certainly those who were disturbed, but I don't picture "fighters".

I was surprised years ago to discover that Hitler was actually an artist. I found out too that North Korea's infamous leader Kim Jong Il is an art lover, but he is an art practitioner? I highly doubt that Hitler created much art. I thought that too that Stalin had some connection with art that got thwarted at some point. My personal experience is that if you don't honor your creativity & find some way to express it it will find an outlet. I watched a great PBS series called Craft in America & one of the artists was so great at articulating this. He said that there are many things he's angry about & that he fuels that into his art. He makes a conscious choice to put that energy into art rather than into destruction. I was so impressed with him & his honesty. And you know what? You can say, "Oh, he's not doing anything to help the world - he's "just" an artist." And honestly, perhaps sometimes I think this way, but after watching him & listening to him I thought what a brave thing he is doing. Rather than fight with guns and bombs he makes commentaries through his art.