You Are an Artist

Where do great artists get their inspiration? And how could they help you unleash your creativity?

A few years ago, curator Sarah Urist Green left her office in the basement of an art museum to travel around visiting a diverse range of artists, asking them to share prompts that relate to their own ways of working. The result is You Are an Artist, an invitation to invent imaginary friends, measure your cultural history, become someone else, but mostly, become a truer version of yourself. Your challenge is to filter these assignments through the lens of your own experience and to have fun along the way.

You don't have to know how to draw, paint, or take a picture. This book is about expressing who you are through art, regardless of age or experience. The only materials you'll need are what you already have to hand or can source for free.

You Are an Artist brings together more than 50 assignments gathered from some of the most innovative creators working today, including Sonya Clark, Michelle Grabner, The Guerrilla Girls, Fritz Haeg, Pablo Helguera, Nina Katchadourian, Toyin Ojih Odutola, J. Morgan Puett, Dread Scott, Alec Soth, Gillian Wearing, and many others.