I hate it when people respond to my mention that I am an artist by saying, “Oh, you are so talented. I can’t even draw a straight line.” I hate it because:

1. I am not sure that I know what talent is or whether I have it and I believe talent can take a long time to manifest itself. 

2. I think they are assuming that talent means being able to recreate the appearance of the natural world faithfully, and I do not believe that necessarily indicates talent. 

I know that I seem to be contradicting myself. First, I say that I don’t know what talent is and then I say that drawing well does not necessarily indicate talent. I agree, I am contradicting myself. 

All I can say is that talent seems to be like Supreme Court Justice Potter’s take on pornography, “I know it when I see it.” But, the problem is that we are trying to describe something that is a general characteristic without concrete criteria. Qualities of mind and character are difficult to pin down. They appear on a continuum and so where is the point that goes from not being talented at all to being terribly talented? What are the hallmarks of that? 

Like many personal characteristics (generosity, intelligence, conscientiousness, patience) our appraisal of someone’s talent depends upon having demonstrated examples of what they have done and comparing those to other people’s output. 

Just to keep this from spiraling out of control here. I am going to limit my discussion to visual art rather than all of the other endeavors where the word talent can be applied (mathematics, basketball, acting, politics, carpentry, etc. etc.) So what makes an artist talented?

I believe that it includes the ability to see things in a unique way and communicate that to other people. It is the ability to take basic knowledge and expand upon it to create something that is unexpected or challenging or engaging. 

But now I end up needing to clarify whether “talent” and “creativity” are synonyms or if one of them is a component of the other. I have done some research on this and there does not appear to be widespread agreement. Some sources believe talent is aptitude and creativity is being innovative. Others believe, like I do, that creativity is part of talent. 

To my mind, talent is a combination of aptitude, both facility and creativity, and experience. I can paint but that is because I practiced a lot. My paintings are competent but not necessarily inspired. I believe that painting that goes beyond the expected shows talent. I aspire to that but don’t know if I have it. 

In my opinion, to make good art, you must be able to see and interpret the world in new ways. Merely replicating what is before your eyes without bring something unique to it does not result in particularly good art, and it doesn’t show talent. Having some technical skill is not a sufficient criteria to call someone talented. If I ever produce work that is really creative and technically strong, I will be able to say I have talent. Until then, I can only say that I have a bit of technical skill and I think I may have something to say occasionally. 

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