By Janet Sellers
“Every artist was first an amateur.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Amateur is a word from the late 18th century, from French, from Italian amatore, from Latin amator “lover,” from amare “to love.” A person that does something for the love of it is an amateur. What a wonderful and happy moniker!
In art, an amateur can challenge what art could or should be without the constraints of professional norms and create outside the mainstream, the orthodox, and the conventional. It is a freedom deeply connected to personal fulfillment. It also allows an artist to be authentic and adventuresome, since there are no trends or expectations placed upon them, and offers a freedom of play and exploration not often available to professional artists who often must keep their art tied to its commodification, for its buying and selling value. And often professional artists face public scrutiny for their lives and art that an amateur will never have to consider.
Art for human expression has made its art path from ceremony to religion to historical record and commodity. This traces human creative history, useful technologies, and commerce. Some of our most profound discoveries and pleasures arise from the love of doing something fulfilling in many fields.
We humans have been making art for a very long time, and it has been a central part of our culture and technical development. Even before that, when we consider the Neanderthals and modern humans are both hominids that have made art, Neanderthals created the oldest known cave paintings in the Spanish caves of La Pasiega, Maltravieso, and Ardales. The paintings date back at least 64,000 years and include abstract images of animals, dots, and geometric signs. Neanderthals may have made jewelry, such as eagle talon pendants, from the Krapina Neanderthal site in Croatia. These pendants date back about 130,000 years.
What separates an amateur from a professional in the arts, and is that important? Professionals often have a deeper understanding of their medium and more developed technical skills. Formal education with an artist or in art school can offer training that might take a lifetime to acquire on one’s own. Professionals tend to have a greater output, quality, and consistency for their art, largely because it is their livelihood and career.
Importance of the professional vs. amateur depends on perspective
To be a professional in the arts can carry importance in terms of credibility, respect, and market value. The term “art professional” can carry a certain value; the professional has to keep the intended audience, intent and output (collectors, galleries, the public, art history, and even critics) in mind, whereas the amateur has the freedom to make art at will. The true value for either exists within the authenticity and commitment of the artist. But the lasting value lies within the art itself. We will protect and keep what is valuable to us and our lives. We take care of what is meaningful to us.
Janet Sellers is an artist, writer, educator, and speaker specializing in creative endeavors for health and communities through her indoor and outdoor sculptures, landscape, and nature art, and offers local forest bathing hikes. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.
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