My name is Simone Bruyere Fraser, and I have Artist. I think I was first diagnosed with Artist around 11 or 12, but I showed symptoms of it as early as four years old. The hours of make believe in the backyard, the dress up costumes, the stories, the shows I'd put on, dances I made up. A lot of this could be chalked up to normal child behavior but when I was 11 or 12, I started showing serious symptoms. I would give up entire summers when other children were playing at the beach or going to gymnastics camp to write plays which I would then cast, act, direct, make sets, costumes, and write songs for. My parents were supportive, but I also think they thought it was something I wouldn't necessarily do my whole life. A funny childhood passion. I was good with many things social work, animals, communications, business. I could have done anything.
Why do I feel the need to talk about this now, because it is clear to me that I will live with artist for the rest of my life. There are times I thought that I would outgrow it, there are times I have tried to suppress the symptoms hoping that I would forget about them, and there are times that I have tried to cure it. But the truth is artist will not go away, I was born with it. Some of the symptoms of artist are very challenging and I think can leave many people who do not know about it, or who are close to someone with Artist both confused and perplexed. It can equally be just as confusing for the person living with it. I would like to bring more awareness about artist to our world and so I would like to share some of the major symptoms and common concerns/traits so that you may be aware of them when dealing with people who have artist.
Every story that you may tell them, every experience that they may have is the possibility of a great piece of art in the making. It is very common for them to blurt out, that would make a great movie after you have shared with them some treacherous story about your life. Do not take it personally, they still care they just can't help it. Similarly every person they meet becomes a character study. They watch with tremendous detail the way people walk talk and gesture. It is not uncommon for them to go home and try to mimic these things in the mirror. It is also common for artists to hop between different creative genres and often at a moment's notice. For example for someone who has spent years doing opera singing suddenly to think they are a genius photographer as well. They can't help it they think that artist relates to all creative genres, often disregarding the unique craft with each art. People with artist can have unusual eating and sleeping patterns. For example sometimes in the middle of eating a fruit salad they may look at a kiwi-fruit as if they have never seen one before in their life and then in the middle of eating bring the kiwi into the light and have an incredible urge to paint it with oil paints on a large canvas. Sleep can also offend be disrupted as artist symptoms seem to worsen between the hours of 2 and 4am. Some of their most flamboyant creations will come out at this time whether it be music, monologues, dances, or paintings. While others may tell them to go to bed they often believe that if they do not do it right at that moment all will be lost. The inspiration is no less than a direct connection to the divine and they are the only porthole to be able to transport it into the living realm to save humanity with this masterpiece. Another symptom of artist is that anything they see - they could believe they can make themselves. They go to Ikea and see shelves and believe that if they go home and also take some wood and nails they can make the same shelf, only better. It is the same with greeting cards, clothing, home decor, acting, dancing, and anything alike. Unfortunately often this is not the case and leads to some disastrous and dangerous circumstances for themselves and others.
People with artist often struggle around situations of money either having none of it or tremendous amounts of it not knowing what to do with it until they spend it on everything and then have absolutely no money again. Hence the term starving artist as they often will give up everything for their art, and buy fancy Artist supplies instead Artist's paying rent. Artist's tend to struggle with any conventional norms and ask why more often than other people. Why should I get married, why should I buy a house, why should I work a job, there is a piece of their brain that can't compute social convention. Along with not with not Computing social convention they simultaneously over sympathize with others pain. Is very common for people with artist to see them fighting and picketing for different groups often groups that they might not even identify with naturally. Yet they are incredibly impassioned with others causes and feel that it is their obligation to fight for them. People with artist tend to overly resonate with experiences designed for children. If you are at a park and they say you must be below a certain height to go on a ride you will often find artists disregarding these rules and jumping on the ride anyway. Please be wary of inviting Artist's to your child's birthday party. If there are crafts involved they will not be able to withhold them self and they are not good with modeling sharing for the younger children. If they are working on the coloring project they will pick the color they want and use it until they are done and even then they know sharing is a good thing, they will not be able to help them self from finishing what should have been your child's art project. Lastly people with artist many show a strong and widely diverse emotional range that the majority of the population do not show. It is not uncommon to have them laughing hysterically and then if you turn around they may be in the corner crying about something from their childhood.
Times in my life I was frustrated that I was with artist. I tried to get normal jobs hoping that they would suppress symptoms for a time, I got a Masters in Business and Communications hoping that it would cure or ease artist. It did not. Once when giving a presentation in Business School I stood right in front of the projector light that was projecting our slides to the classroom for the entire speech. I couldn't help but "find my light" and stay in it regardless if it meant the people watching had no visuals for the talk.
My Hope Is that anyone sharing in this will have a benefit in two ways. One is that if you are close to someone or know of someone who is close to someone who has artist, perhaps you can help share these signs and symptoms so they can be more well-informed of what they are dealing with one being close to someone who has artist. And the other is that if you are reading this and you are having an epiphany that you yourself may be have artist I encourage you to love it. I joke, but truly it is the most tremendous of diagnoses. I Have Artist. Embrace it because it gets worse if you suppress the symptoms they must be expressed to keep any semblance of sanity while working with this condition. And, when you do, if you do, you will experience the richest, fullest, wildest, most diverse life ever created. Where would our world be if we did not have artists boldly and honestly going where no man has gone before, and enriching humanity with these these tremendous gifts? The examples in music, dance, writing, painting, sculpture, and acting are countless. I could not be more grateful that I have artist now even on the crazy days. Art comes through the heart, and the world needs much more heart and more art.
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Photo by Allen Wyler |
It is believed that some of the factors that indicate if someone has artist is in their genes. Neither of my parents were artists, I thought I was immune, I too thought perhaps it was a childhood curiosity I would grow out of. But I came to realize later that both of my parents have very strong recessive artist jeans that came together to make me a full-blown artist. I should have seen the signs all along. There was that novel my dad was always talking about writing about his time as a parole officer, his fascination with Italian art, and then when certain music came on he would erupt into dancing that was exceptionally good for an older white man - everyone commented on it. And there was my mother, who I was told when she spoke globally at conferences lit up like a Christmas tree when she was on stage and her pointing at the slides looked more like enthusiastic jazz hands, she would dress in the appropriate wardrobe/costume of the country. I always knew when she would be speaking with a colleague from overseas because she would take on their specific dialect, even though she was on the phone with them from our living room. Whenever she had two seconds to draw with me when I was little she would draw unbelievable horses that looked like they could run right off the page.
Why do I feel the need to talk about this now, because it is clear to me that I will live with artist for the rest of my life. There are times I thought that I would outgrow it, there are times I have tried to suppress the symptoms hoping that I would forget about them, and there are times that I have tried to cure it. But the truth is artist will not go away, I was born with it. Some of the symptoms of artist are very challenging and I think can leave many people who do not know about it, or who are close to someone with Artist both confused and perplexed. It can equally be just as confusing for the person living with it. I would like to bring more awareness about artist to our world and so I would like to share some of the major symptoms and common concerns/traits so that you may be aware of them when dealing with people who have artist.
Every story that you may tell them, every experience that they may have is the possibility of a great piece of art in the making. It is very common for them to blurt out, that would make a great movie after you have shared with them some treacherous story about your life. Do not take it personally, they still care they just can't help it. Similarly every person they meet becomes a character study. They watch with tremendous detail the way people walk talk and gesture. It is not uncommon for them to go home and try to mimic these things in the mirror. It is also common for artists to hop between different creative genres and often at a moment's notice. For example for someone who has spent years doing opera singing suddenly to think they are a genius photographer as well. They can't help it they think that artist relates to all creative genres, often disregarding the unique craft with each art. People with artist can have unusual eating and sleeping patterns. For example sometimes in the middle of eating a fruit salad they may look at a kiwi-fruit as if they have never seen one before in their life and then in the middle of eating bring the kiwi into the light and have an incredible urge to paint it with oil paints on a large canvas. Sleep can also offend be disrupted as artist symptoms seem to worsen between the hours of 2 and 4am. Some of their most flamboyant creations will come out at this time whether it be music, monologues, dances, or paintings. While others may tell them to go to bed they often believe that if they do not do it right at that moment all will be lost. The inspiration is no less than a direct connection to the divine and they are the only porthole to be able to transport it into the living realm to save humanity with this masterpiece. Another symptom of artist is that anything they see - they could believe they can make themselves. They go to Ikea and see shelves and believe that if they go home and also take some wood and nails they can make the same shelf, only better. It is the same with greeting cards, clothing, home decor, acting, dancing, and anything alike. Unfortunately often this is not the case and leads to some disastrous and dangerous circumstances for themselves and others.
People with artist often struggle around situations of money either having none of it or tremendous amounts of it not knowing what to do with it until they spend it on everything and then have absolutely no money again. Hence the term starving artist as they often will give up everything for their art, and buy fancy Artist supplies instead Artist's paying rent. Artist's tend to struggle with any conventional norms and ask why more often than other people. Why should I get married, why should I buy a house, why should I work a job, there is a piece of their brain that can't compute social convention. Along with not with not Computing social convention they simultaneously over sympathize with others pain. Is very common for people with artist to see them fighting and picketing for different groups often groups that they might not even identify with naturally. Yet they are incredibly impassioned with others causes and feel that it is their obligation to fight for them. People with artist tend to overly resonate with experiences designed for children. If you are at a park and they say you must be below a certain height to go on a ride you will often find artists disregarding these rules and jumping on the ride anyway. Please be wary of inviting Artist's to your child's birthday party. If there are crafts involved they will not be able to withhold them self and they are not good with modeling sharing for the younger children. If they are working on the coloring project they will pick the color they want and use it until they are done and even then they know sharing is a good thing, they will not be able to help them self from finishing what should have been your child's art project. Lastly people with artist many show a strong and widely diverse emotional range that the majority of the population do not show. It is not uncommon to have them laughing hysterically and then if you turn around they may be in the corner crying about something from their childhood.
Times in my life I was frustrated that I was with artist. I tried to get normal jobs hoping that they would suppress symptoms for a time, I got a Masters in Business and Communications hoping that it would cure or ease artist. It did not. Once when giving a presentation in Business School I stood right in front of the projector light that was projecting our slides to the classroom for the entire speech. I couldn't help but "find my light" and stay in it regardless if it meant the people watching had no visuals for the talk.
My Hope Is that anyone sharing in this will have a benefit in two ways. One is that if you are close to someone or know of someone who is close to someone who has artist, perhaps you can help share these signs and symptoms so they can be more well-informed of what they are dealing with one being close to someone who has artist. And the other is that if you are reading this and you are having an epiphany that you yourself may be have artist I encourage you to love it. I joke, but truly it is the most tremendous of diagnoses. I Have Artist. Embrace it because it gets worse if you suppress the symptoms they must be expressed to keep any semblance of sanity while working with this condition. And, when you do, if you do, you will experience the richest, fullest, wildest, most diverse life ever created. Where would our world be if we did not have artists boldly and honestly going where no man has gone before, and enriching humanity with these these tremendous gifts? The examples in music, dance, writing, painting, sculpture, and acting are countless. I could not be more grateful that I have artist now even on the crazy days. Art comes through the heart, and the world needs much more heart and more art.
