The Human Touch Within Handmade Art

A Symbol of Courage Amongst Perfectionism

I was thrifting one day over in Mesa, when I came across these pieces of art that had been donated. They caught my eye because compared to everything else around it, it very clearly was handmade. At times, I think the eyes of society have trained us to look for mistakes, imperfections, any signs of a human being involved in an object’s creation, and to then value it less.

We even will make fun of our own art, focusing on all of its flaws. This inner judgement can even prevent us from feeling the inherent joy of creating. This inner conflict shows up when we look at handmade art, as when we view imperfect art made by others, we are reminded of our own imperfections, and it triggers feelings related to whether or not those imperfections are tolerable. I would bet that if you hate handmade art, you struggle with perfectionism, and hold yourself to an impossibly high standard. When we allow our inner judge to retire, we can finally see the courage within art everywhere, and we value the imperfect human creating it even more.

Becoming a small business owner myself, in these pieces of art I see all of the hard work, hopes and dreams that this artist has. It is so vulnerable to put your effort into something, display it out there for people to judge, and to allow them to place value on it with their money. I see the level of courage that this creator had to have had when selling these drawings.

While there is always skill involved with any service, piece of art created, idea put out there, there is also always a person behind it. With artists, it is their vision, their perspective, the feeling that is communicated through their art that people are buying from them. Anyone who works in a service industry, like therapy is, knows that only part of what people are buying are the end results. We know that another really significant part of what people are paying money for is the vibe you bring during the service, i.e. how you make them feel when you work with them. Essentially, what is being purchased is YOU.

When you show up authentically, and others don’t click with your vibe or your vision, it can feel like they are rejecting who you are as a person. Where it feels as if you as a person aren’t valuable, you aren’t worthy. Owning your own business takes a lot of confidence and believing in your own self-worth, because ultimately it is betting your income and safety, on your skills and that people will like how you make them feel. It is terrifying, financially and emotionally.

Curious about these pieces, I was delighted to find a sticker on the back of each drawing, sharing who created them: Jotastic LLC. Much to my delight, my internet research helped me find out that they were created by a younger artist, someone who would have been maybe age 14 at the time she drew these. She created her company around the age of 13, and just 4 years after opening her company, she opened her own in-person boutique in Coolidge, Arizona! (Check out her website at www.jotastic.com)

I don’t know her at all, but my eyes are tearful in the happiest of ways, connecting how I had already felt to now knowing the story behind the art. Her bravery is inspiring. Her art is a beautiful reminder to me about how showing up, with all of your strengths and imperfections, allows the world to love you. They can’t support you if they don’t see you, so don’t hide! Sure, there will be people who walk past, or make an unwelcome comment now and then, but if you spend all of your time hiding from haters, your biggest fans will never find you.