The Time to Create

The irony of free time for artists

By Hannah Sheridan

With the transition to online classes and shelter-in-place, we have more “free time” than ever before, but during the first few days of the switch, I didn’t feel any relief. Messages flooded social media encouraging people to use this time to go outside, exercise, and create. When I read the Kitty O’Meara quote, “and the people stayed home…” I pause at the statement “and made art” every time. I don’t get past it to the final sentiment of calm.

There’s a pressure for people with hobbies or passions to lean into them and produce; that with this gift of time you should create those things you have been meaning to. Soon after the University of Minnesota declared the COVID-19 emergency, we saw calls to create. Artists love what they do, and this is a positive thing to share, but it’s ironic that this sentiment of living peacefully is so deeply rooted in the drive for productivity. Our society moves fast, and in a sense, this may be another way of defining productivity. 

COVID doesn’t magically erase society’s sense of urgency, or our timelines, we’ve just been given the space to redefine them.  For artists and makers, shelter-in-place isn’t being discussed as a pause, but an opportunity. 

It makes sense. Before I began seeing these messages, I had already planned to commit to collaging. However, being told by the internet that I should is something different. I’d like to point out that it doesn’t have to be a time to create because that doesn’t exist. If the time to create was only when we had a surplus, what would that say about our valuation of it anyways?