On Progress

I never was a great artist, but I always am.

When I look back on creations that fill my portfolio, each work directly reflects my interests at the time of its drafting. Many of them I consider to be great representations of my path, while others evoke cries of "what was I thinking?" in my head. However, when I created each piece, it was the greatest measurement I had of myself against the artists that interested me. The more distance I accumulate from the event of creation, the more I can appreciate what I learned from every single period of my progress. I call it progress because I have never once reflected and thought "I wish I could paint like that again." Each period is a lesson, and I see elements of all of them in my current work.
Entwined with this is my idea of what actually constitutes "Art". It grows and changes with me, and I see it in the young artists I encounter. For most, the definition of Art is always a selfish one, one constructed to include anything that they may devise in order to promote themselves as artists. This can be found, in a variety of forms, in the Artists Statements for many artists with little skill or experience of art. It is the simplest of definitions:"Anything created with the intent of it being Art, is Art". I once touted this motto when I was in the earliest stages of my learning, copying pictures from magazines with oil pastels and showing them in coffee shops. Then, as one studies and grows, the definition is narrowed until it represents a more accurate view of Art and its contribution to society, an artist's responsibility, as well as a certain skill of medium.
Each part of the path is significant, every success, every failure. The sin is in a lack of forward momentum. Progress is the key to great art.
I have seen so many artists become comfortable with a certain style they have discovered to be marketable, therefore acceptable to galleries, and a stagnancy occurs which eventually becomes evident in the work. While there is nothing undesirable about making money as an artist, this artist has stopped on a path of learning and is not contributing anything new to Art. They are merely illustrating a style that has already been explored. Stopping where they should be starting is not progress, therefore, it cannot be Art.
The path of progress makes one an artist, both in skill and knowledge.