By Donnine Canamar
Historically, artists have contributed to how we view and remember history the most. How we remember kings, conquerors, and leaders directly links to the artists that created them. It is an enormous power to create an image – not just an image on a canvas, but to create a memory in grandeur. Artists are important. We create expressions of what it means to be human. We create humanity in a sense because of what we choose to mimic in the world for others to experience.
As equally important as being an artist, knowing your motivations as an artist is crucial. In a world of greatly talented people, having a viewpoint and voice in your work can help you reach new depths to your work as well as distinguish your work from another’s. Your art is your livelihood, your work, and in a way, an imitation of you. Every piece is a part of you, and being an artist is a passion that you’ve chosen to marry, and keep investing in.
We have a finite time on this earth. In many ways, this is our reason for choosing to invest our time in anything we do. If we are choosing to spend our precious days on our passion, it has value – it is worth. Likewise, what you choose to use your passion for has worth as well. I chose to become an artist to tell stories. I want to tell my stories, your stories, and stories that only exist in fantasy. But why would I choose that? Why that career parth? That brings us to motivations.
I find meaning in the grand attempt of changing opinions for the better. If my work can make you reevaluate a deeply held belief, I consider my job accomplished. My own self-fulfillment comes from changing your perspective. That’s my motivation.
So when I create a campaign on acceptance, my goal is to make you consider acceptance. If my smaller goal fits into my overall goal, I have won. Every artistic decision I then make, everything from color to content, is serving a purpose. Artistically, the work then becomes more than a painting. It becomes a statement. It becomes the message.
Your message, or your voice, is how you fit into the world. The power you gain of knowing what that message is, or even beginning to ask yourself that question, is the power to enrich
and develop your own work. The moment your goal for your work is defined is the moment that you can form a bridge of how to get to where you’re going from where you are.
Whether your goal is to create children’s books to nurture joy or to design advertisements that create need, you are in control of that message. It’s time to consider what message you want to send into the world. What story do you, and you alone, want to tell?
Donnine Canamar is a Creative Visual Communications specialist from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Donnine’s interest in media comes from her greatest ambition to change societal opinions in a positive and enduring way. Inspiration is her greatest gift, and she wants to nurture that in others. Find Donnine Canamar on Linkedin.com or don9.me for more information!
Donnine is working as an Animator on an Animated multimedia book, Bella the Caterpillar (written by 7yr old Marisol Paramo) to be published in the late Fall by Community Publishing: From the Community For the Community!
Community Publishing brings local artists of all mediums together in creative collaborations for distribution as multimedia eBooks while promoting literacy in our communities.
We are proud to be a community partner and digital marketer at the Rail Yards Market.
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