I’ll be talking about footprints and art
so before I begin I’d like to give a bit
of an introduction I’m an artist you
might have guessed that I don’t know but
you might have seen some of my artworks
hanging in the hallways for all high
school art has been my life I have
participated in several competitions
throughout the year and almost every
single weekend and winter break I spent
just painting and painting and painting
but I have a confession there have been
times when I didn’t understand why I was
making art at all in fact I hated it I
hated the pressure the stress the
constant artblock
I just I just wanted to quit I felt like
I was always painting for other people I
felt like I was always being pressured
to win and I wasn’t drawing for myself
anymore and even if I did I was always
too embarrassed to show it to other
people but that’s not what art is about
so let me show you something this is a
piece that I’m pretty proud of obviously
um very detailed it was my highest
selling piece but I’m not here to brag
let me show you something else this is a
piece that I’m more proud of you might
be thinking well what’s the difference I
don’t I mean they both look like just
paintings to me well let me tell you
what I see from an artist point of view
I think the Blues not the right shade of
blue there’s not enough depth of field
and the cowboy is a bit too big in this
one point perspective so you might be
wondering why then why am i more proud
of this piece well that’s because if not
for this piece then this wouldn’t exist
this is the piece when I first started
stepping out of my comfort zone instead
of simply just copying a photo I decided
to try to be more creative I took
several photos and I tried to piece them
together and I had to make a background
straight out of scratch and honestly I
wanted to burn this thing so many times
when I was working on this I just
thought wow this is terrible this is not
going the way that I thought it would be
going
isn’t how I imagined it to turn out at
all but I persevered and I repainted
over and over and over and in the end I
came out with a product that I could
live with not necessarily that I was
happy with at a time but I could live
with it but now now I’m extremely proud
of this piece because I challenged
myself and I succeeded and I think we
should know we should learn that it’s
important that we challenge ourselves
and we pull through we succeed it’s not
about excelling but it’s just about
making it through so to me this is what
art is about art is about stepping out
of your comfort zone and it’s about
trying new things and challenging
yourself finding new paths and leaving
footprints but there’s a problem in
today’s society I feel like art is
severely underappreciated I think for
most people in my age group our is kind
of just something that you do because
everyone else is doing it’s more of a
hobby or something to put on your resume
and I mean everyone’s focused on getting
good grades going to a good school
getting a good job making more money
that they don’t have time to really
appreciate art for what it is you know
people just look at the results and they
don’t have time to stop and think about
the thought and all the process that
goes behind all of this but I don’t
think we realize how pervasive our is in
our everyday lives art isn’t just
paintings and drawings art is in the
architecture of the buildings that we
see it’s in the design of the consumer
goods that we buy it’s in the films that
we watch the music that we listen to
even in the books that we read any form
of creative expression is art and I
titled my speech the world of art but
I’m not here to talk about an exclusive
world of painters and poets and
playwrights I’m here to talk about the
world around us the world that we all
live in because art is everywhere and
not only does art leave footprints on
other people but it also has the ability
to leave footprints on us so take a look
this Monet painting this series is worth
over eighty million dollars that’s a lot
if you ask me try to take a closer look
try to put yourself in the landscape see
how the colors seem to reflect every
subtle change of light it’s a really
calming atmosphere and that’s what art
is about art is about the feeling of an
instant captured for eternity and you
know speaking of how art can bring up
all these emotions try to imagine your
favorite movie scene it can be an
exciting action-packed scene or a
touching heartwarming scene most likely
the music came in at the most impactful
moment moment rising and falling with
the events of the movie now try to
imagine that same scene without the
music is it the same is it still your
favorite I mean try to imagine this
scene without Celine Dion’s my heart
will go on just know music sound effects
may be some wind waves a little bit of
dialogue it’s awkward isn’t it and I
repeat is it the same now if you haven’t
figured it out from the caption already
the answer is no it’s not the same the
music is what gives life to the movie
and so the truth is we need art art
makes life interesting it gives us
emotions to feel and it keeps us sane in
this world of cold hard facts and in
some cases art can be a form of healing
as well has anyone heard of art therapy
it’s a form of psychotherapy that’s
actually been used to treat and patients
with anything from cancer to PTSD to
Alzheimer’s and you can actually be um
licensed professionally to practice this
but even if you’re not licensed you can
also do it just not in a professional
setting so this guy Bob Ross most of us
have probably heard of him with his joy
of painting and happy little trees if
you haven’t heard of him already
I’m going to tell you a bit more about
him and even if you have heard of him
you might be surprised by what you hear
Bob Ross joined the US Air Force when he
was 18 years old he eventually rose to
the rank of Master Sergeant and he was a
guy who screamed to everyone to get up
out of bed make your bed clean the
latrines well he did that for about 20
years and he decided you know what I’m
done screaming at people so he quit and
he became a painter instead and
surprisingly or ironically he became
known for the gentle soothing voice as
he painted the happy little trees and
someone asked him about this and he said
I paint because I can create the kind of
world that I want and I can make that
world as happy as I wanted shoot if you
want bad stuff watch the news so I think
of Bob Ross as a practice some one who
practices art therapy he’s he’s drawn
people’s attention away from all the bad
things in life and through art you can
kind of just have this therapeutic
practice of just you know letting go
having a creative outlet and
unfortunately he passed away in 1995 but
reruns of his show are still being
played today and he’s really shown
thousands if not millions of people the
joy of painting music – is something
that we need as Carl Paul nack director
of the Boston conservatories division of
music once said music is a basic need of
human survival music is one of the ways
we make sense of our lives one of the
ways we express feelings when we have no
words and a way for us to understand
things with our hearts when we cannot
with our minds On January 15th 1941 this
basic need was fulfilled a piece titled
the quartet for the end of time
premiered that day outdoors and in the
rain for an audience of about 400
prisoners and guards the piece was
written by a man named Oliver Amazon
using smuggled pen and paper for
whatever instrument and musician just
happened to be available so it was
really roughly put together Ensemble but
later he recalled never
was I listened to with such rapt
attention and comprehension oops here’s
the picture so the reason that I
strongly feel art can leave lasting
footprints on our minds is because art
is what draws us as human beings
together we’ve seen how it drew these
people who didn’t even speak the same
language together in a Nazi war camp and
today we have teenagers bonding over
shared music tapes we have online book
discussion groups made up of people who
are complete strangers in real life and
art has become a form of communication
for people who wouldn’t under normal
circumstances be able to understand each
other at all now let me tell you a
secret anyone can be an artist that’s
right
anyone can be an artist we’re just
afraid of being judged by others and
that’s understandable because making art
is like taking a piece of yourself and
bearing it out in the open but we can
learn to get over that there’s a quote
that I’m rather fond of by Neil Gaiman
an English writer he said go and make
interesting mistakes make amazing
mistakes make glorious and fantastic
mistakes break rules leave the world
more interesting for you being here now
isn’t that just lovely
this whole fear of being judged it’s
actually a psychological thing you can
trace it back to the amygdala which is a
region in your brain to almond shaped
regions that kind of control your
emotions and scientists have been
researching this for over 40 years and
they’ve actually found that adults
brainstorm a lot better when they’re on
their own than when they’re in a group
it’s all because of that subconscious
signaling in their brains so you know
everything people have been telling you
about group group brainstorming may or
may not be wrong unless um you know if
you’re just really comfortable with your
group and you’re okay with saying the
stupidest ideas that come to your mind
most likely you’re going to have a
little bit of a filter and that’s what
stumping the creativity
and what’s even more interesting is the
researchers found that children
brainstorm a lot better than those
adults on their own who brainstorm a lot
better than adults and groups so in
other words children are owning the game
here I mean they’re amazing the
creativity that children have is really
something to be treasured think back to
when you were a kid your imagination was
just wild and crazy and you didn’t
really care about what other people
thought you didn’t care about social
standards and that kind of stuff and
Picasso said and I quote all children
are artists really it’s their
unrestrained creativity that makes them
so admirable they’re everything they do
from doodling to playing house to
telling stories it’s all a form of art
and they don’t care what other people
think they make their art on what they
think not what’s real or correct as we
like to label things in our adult world
so I think that’s something we can learn
from every Sunday afternoon I spend my
time teaching kids how to draw and when
I first started working I was really
surprised and reminded of how much you
could just enjoy art for what it is you
had all these different kids just making
our having fun obviously some were
visibly more talented than others but
that didn’t matter they you know they
were just using this as a creative
outlet and enjoying their time and I
think we this is a fantastic mindset and
we should really learn to take from that
you know it’s not about necessarily
being the best it’s just about you know
being yourself having fun so next time
it’s someone’s birthday or it’s Mother’s
Day or Father’s Day do something special
for that special someone make them a
card sing them a song or write them a
poem and I guarantee you as long as
you’re putting in the effort as long as
you’re giving them a little piece of
your own mind it doesn’t have to be a
masterpiece and they will definitely
appreciate it more than something you
picked up at the CVS a few minutes
before you went to their birthday party
it’s really
you it’ll leave a stronger impression
it’ll leave a footprint so how do we
preserve this culture of creativity how
do we keep encouraging people to create
art well that’s where you guys can make
an impact you can support artists by
going to the local art museum to
theatres to local musical performances
and I know a lot of us are guilty of
this but you can choose not to torrent
things you can support artists by
actually buying their works and it
doesn’t matter if it’s an indie artist
or a large famous artist every small
thing that you do to support them can
leave a footprint because ultimately art
is a medium through which the world can
change you and you can change the world
thank you [Applause]