This week, as we celebrate the beginning of Spring, I want to provide you all with some refreshing inspiration that I always find helpful, myself. About two years ago in a very new spin on painting class, we took a field trip to our art building’s media room. Our very young and trendy teacher sat us down to watch a speech. We kind of looked at each other and wondered what exactly a speech had to do with our painting class. She explained it was given by author Neil Gaiman to the graduating class of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts. Things then started to make a bit more sense. So we got comfortable and she started the video. I had never known much about Neil Gaiman other than the fact that he wrote the book “Coraline”, which inspired the animated movie I had seen only once before. After that brief thought, he was being introduced and welcomed to the stage. Once he began, we were all immediately engaged. He spoke of his struggles as a writer, not being “good” enough, having small menial jobs, but knowing writing was something he had to do. Something housed in every fiber of his being.
“And now go, and make interesting, amazing, glorious, fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good Art.”
—Neil Gaiman