Our guest speaker, Jenny West, showed me an interesting point of view on art. Most people see art as something therapeutic and enjoyable by some people. However, Jenny saw art as a career. Though she doesn’t make much money off of her career, her passion and love for her work more than compensates. She explained that she has side jobs to support herself, as most professional artists do. Some people believe that an artist’s life is like Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel, and spending days making a sculpture. However, we fail to recognize that they have the same needs as the rest of us. When Jenny first explained how she works to support herself as well as doing her art, I was admittedly surprised because of that commonly preconceived notion. I don’t know how I thought she would support herself, but I guess I imagined she would sell her work. It was nice to find out that she doesn’t make her art for the purpose of selling them. Like how parents don’t have children solely so they can get jobs. Her art is more of a work of passion and creativity rather than something she puts together to make a quick buck. This made me realize that a career in art, at least physical art, is not necessarily one where someone will make a ton of money, but its one where the artist can freely express themselves and have some kind of passion for their work. It reminds me of the saying that if you really enjoy your work, its not a job at all. Jenny West seems to be happy with her work. That’s something anyone would be envious of.