My Artist Purpose When Completely Distracted
My podcast cohosts and I recently had the chance to interview Catherine Lash this week. My cohost Jessie from Crafted to Bloom had taken a workshop with her when she felt distracted and disconnected from her own creative direction. Jessie mentioned feeling unsure of her focus and I related to that a lot. If I'm honest, I assumed I already knew my purpose as an artist. I make things, I’m creative, isn't that enough? But when I actually sat down and asked that question to myself, I realized I don’t know how to put that into words. Lately, I’ve been feeling distracted, between doom scrolling, "this is what's trending" videos, the pressure to chase virality, and the constant comparison to follower counts and engagement numbers, I was quietly lost with why I create at all. I kept getting swept into whatever the algorithm said mattered that week.
I’m so glad I decided to officially take Catherine Lash’s workshop myself and in hopes to finding my artist statement of purpose. She made us circle through a handful of words that felt true on a gut level. Mine were to create and experiment. There were a lot of words but these were my gut instinct. When I sat with them and asked myself what they actually meant to me, the words that I defined were about making freely, trial and error, and to not limit myself. Honestly, my first reaction was everyone else's words from the workshop sounded so profound and so clearly artist like material while mine felt a little random but as the workshop unfolded and Catherine was evaluating it started to click.
Here's roughly where I landed. I'm at my best when I create and I’m free to make without restriction and when we can experiment and let trial and error lead the way. That freedom, not limiting is what lets me communicate what I believe in. And the "why" behind it isn't really about me. It's about giving other people permission to do the same. To experiment, to try and fail, to stop limiting themselves in life and in art. That's the difference I want my art, my content, my purpose to make.
What struck me most was being reminded that an artist's purpose isn't inward facing. It's not just about what creating does for me, it's about what I want someone else to feel or take away when they encounter my work. I want people to walk away from my art wanting to experiment more freely themselves without the fear of getting it wrong.
Catherine Lash also told us to look back at our own creative journey and see how this shaped us. Every project where I felt boxed in or was making something purely to pay the bills, I could feel the disconnect. It wasn't fulfilling. The projects where I felt most like myself were always the ones where I had room to make freely and follow the process wherever it went. I'd been inching toward this purpose for years without even knowing. I still don’t know where this will take me and how to fulfill my purpose but I do know I could look back to these words that resonated with me at my gut instinct and see if it aligns. Maybe, sometimes it won’t, sometimes it will but that’s where I will be fulfilled, thanks to Catherine for finding these words for me.
I still catch myself getting distracted by social media noise but now, when I feel distracted or unsure which direction to take a project, I have something to come back to. That one sentence has become a filter for the work I take on, the goals I set, and the projects that are actually worth my time.
If you've ever felt distracted, unsure of your creative direction, or overwhelmed trying to figure out where to focus your energy, I can't recommend this workshop with Catherine Lash enough. Finding the words for your purpose won't hand you a five-year plan but it will give you a clearer path when everything else feels loud.
