📜 The Art Nerd Manifesto

Written by the Winged Canvas family

Artwork by Gabriella Guo, Grade 10 - 12 Contest Finalist 2019

We ❤️ Art Nerds

Calling passionate artists, art students, and art enthusiasts from all over the world: our school is dedicated to you and your creative journey.

Manifesto

👋 Welcome to Winged Canvas!

Where myth and fable are brought to life by artists with stars in their eyes and worlds in their hearts. Where brave souls wield creative tools to wage war upon their inner critics. Where Art Nerds gather — but wait, what is an Art Nerd? 🤓

We figured the easiest way to answer this was to share our manifesto; the declaration of our all-encompassing love for art.

We’re no stranger to the ups and downs of the artistic journey.

We have days when we look at our art and think, “I’m no good.” When our creativity doesn’t flow and it’s blocked up inside, desperate to escape. But then...then there are the days when it sparks. Our creativity comes alive and is set free artistic expression we choose.

We work hard. We make mistakes, but we always try again. We keep learning and getting better. Yes, there are the days when we feel defeated, but there are amazing days too — days when we know that art means everything to us.

Art nerds aren't afraid to get their hands dirty . We wear our paint stains proudly!

Art nerds spend long hours perfecting their creations -- and their portfolios.

But hey, the life of an artist isn’t easy.

We’ll speed through feverish bouts of creativity, our imaginations alive and ideas leaping out with ease. But we’ll also suffer through the hazy fog of creative block, struggling day in and day out to do anything at all.

However, it’s this duality that defines us. It’s our ability to experience those incredible highs and soul-crushing lows that makes us human and defines us as artists.

Through each brushstroke and every mark we make, we translate our experiences into something meaningful.

Even though it can be difficult, the life of an Art Nerd is awesome.

When we’re in our creative zone, we lose all track of time. We get lost in the process and suddenly realize it’s dark out and we missed dinner. When we visit art galleries we get star struck — to see the work of those who inspire us is like seeing a celebrity.

We’ll spend hours staring at the art, considering it, sketching it and simply taking it in. Art is part of everything we do. When we eat candy we organize it by colour. We buy items based solely on their stellar label design. We live this way because it is the only way we know how.

Nothing excites an art nerd more than the opportunity to create!

So here’s to the Art Nerds.

To trying and failing and trying again. To the ones with paint stains on their jeans and fingers stained black with ink and charcoal. To that sketchbook with the embarrassing doodles in them, the ones that will never see the light of day but mean so much to us. To those Eureka! moments. To all those recycling bins filled with crumpled up attempts and ideas.

You are our people — our soul mates. At Winged Canvas, we ❤️art nerds because we are art nerds.

So join our community — there’s an empty canvas waiting just for you.

We invite you to add your own colours to our story (if you want to organize those colours, we totally get it!)

And hey, we all make mistakes, but we know it’s part of the artistic process. The result of those trials and tests is a beautiful space brimming with our hearts and souls told in every form, expressed in every line, felt in every brushstroke. And it’s these feelings, these ways of being, that encompass the Winged Canvas philosophy.