A handful of times recently, I have been told that I am a talented potter. Although flattering, this comment is almost laughable. If I were a talented potter, it wouldn’t have taken me nearly a decade of practice to start getting that compliment. As I become more skilled, my work reflects it, thus giving me the facade of having talent. But trust me, I have plenty of ugly pots from my first few years throwing that would beg to differ.

I hear the same about my sister, Winsor Kinkade, or my dad, Thomas Kinkade, who are both considered talented oil painters. Though well meaning, referring to them as talented completely diminishes the thousands of hours they have spent to make their work so impactful! They weren’t born wielding a paintbrush well, rather they worked hard to build technique that allows them to bring their ideas to life.

An artist’s “talent”, if there is any at all, might be better identified as dedication or passion. The artist’s drive to continue to return to art even in the beginning stages when the art lacks impact, doesn’t receive positive feedback, and is really challenging to make. Sure, some people have a natural inclination toward art, music, science, you name it. Even so, someone with a predisposition to be artistic (excluding the rare exception of the art savant) will make no masterpieces without making hundreds of mediocre works of art that come before. 

At a certain point, an artist’s skills become so deep that the process looks effortless and can be mistaken for talent. My pottery students have joked that I make it look easy when demonstrating skills. This is because I have centered a lump of clay thousands of times and it has become second nature, not because of some inherent talent I possess. It has not always been so effortless!

I feel strongly that no artist has a leg up because of talent. In fact, I think holding the artist on high as talented is a quite damaging belief, as it separates them from the rest of the “untalented hordes”. In reality, they have a skillset that anyone could build and in most cases lack no special aptitude other than a desire to keep making art. To separate them as exceptional gives the non-artist an excuse as to why they aren’t also excelling in art (or anything for that matter). 

I hope we can all adopt an attitude of appreciating an artist’s dedication and commitment to building a skillset over a lifetime, rather than pointing to talent as the root of their abilities. Pointing to skill rather than talent opens the door for anyone to pick up a paintbrush or lump of clay and get making. It provides the possibility that we can all make beautiful art with enough practice! So let’s get making!