The “Why” behind All Hands Art

Question: Why does All Hands Art exist?

Answer: To encourage you to devote some of your time and energy to creative work, when the messaging around you would have you finish the laundry and wash all the dishes and run every errand and clear out your inbox first.

Why? Art matters. Your art is important, even if you can’t yet call it “art.” The act of making it will draw you into a deeper relationship with yourself. It will cause you to slow down and pay attention in new ways. It will ask a lot from you: dedication, humility, resilience, and love, to name a few.

This, frankly, is why so many people avoid making art. Not because it’s been demeaned as frivolous and extra-curricular and not a serious endeavor, even though it has indeed been labeled those things. For lots of people, it’s easier to discount the value of art than to face all the mental muck that rises up when we sit down to paint or write a line of poetry. That inner critic is mean! 🤬 What’s the point, you might ask, if this art form is not going to earn me money or fame? The ROI does not look good in economic terms, and economics is the lens we’ve been taught to use to evaluate our decisions.

I prefer using Soul terms, and the effort is always worth it.

Other people simply bought into the dominant hierarchy that ranks almost every occupation above “artist” (🙋🏽‍♀️), pursued a path that was responsible and respectable, then after denying their own deep impulses for a couple of decades and facing some tell-tale health issues, started inching their way back to art.

Yep, I spent about 25 years working through my own mental muck until I was able to own my creativity and start modeling that for others. My goal is that, working together, we can get you there in less time. 🤪