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"Usually, the ones with the art in them feel it. Some dabble, daydream or hobby-out their passion. They sing in the shower, scribble verses on napkins or sell their drawings at craft shows a couple of times a year. But the irrepressible ones crave creative. They bend wires into sculptures for 12 hours at a time. They write rhymes before dawn to get ready for a poetry reading at 7:30am. The arts call them, which doesn't always mean it pays them, merely that it takes them to another world. Or grants them communion in this one. 'We can either be artists with a capital A, or we can make art with our lives,' says Patti Digh, author of the book Creative is a Verb. 'It's so beautiful when you're in the presence of someone who is letting go of outcome and making a strong offer to the world.' Some would-be artists had inner critics, or third-grade teachers, or father figures who told them to settle down, so they put their creativity away. The irrepressible ones, who make art like they breathe, never really can."

excerpt from Washington Post article by Lonnae O'Neal Parker, 3/26/11