I recently read the bestselling book by Geoff Colvin
entitled, Talent is Overrated: What Really
Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. This book drops a bomb on the myth that some people are born
with talent. Using examples from sports, business, and the arts, Colvin
describes the process that leads to exceptional performance. Basically, what
most people describe as talent is the result of rigorous training, the critique
process and thousands of hours spent in deliberate
practice.
He explains a prodigy like Tiger Woods as someone who had
the advantage of superior training at very early age and invested the time so
that by age 17 he was a lot better at golf than most people his age. What was
rare was that he also had the drive to excel.
I recommend this book to anyone considering a career in
the arts. I have always maintained that talent will only get you so far and success
is the result of years of hard work. I would even go so far as to say that a
natural aptitude towards something could hurt a person's development. In my own
life there were always people in high school and college that were far better
artists than me. The difference has been that I had to work harder and
therefore learned how to work hard. When something comes easily to you, you
don't learn how to work. What advantages I had came from many hours spent making
things, especially sewing my own clothes. Sewing taught me patience and I was motivated to improve because I liked nice clothes. I also had parents that
encouraged me and paid for lessons and materials. I was lucky to live in a town
where we had good teachers and examples of good professional art I could look
at. I enjoyed making things so I spent a lot of time doing it.
The doorknob locket is a pendant I made when I was a senior
in high school. It came about because I was able to talk my way into a jewelry class
for college upperclassmen at what was then Central Washington State College. The
professor, Ken Cory, allowed to me to attend his class on the condition that I
buy all my own tools. I think he thought that would get rid of me. It didn't
and the opportunity to work with people who were far better than me was a huge
asset. Ken pushed me to put more thought in my art. The heart image is also student
work I made at Central in around 1977. I am a living example of why we need to advocate
for the arts education in the public schools.
