I've had a lot of professors, mentors, and friends encourage me to learn to disassociate myself from my artwork. They say it is the only way to survive in the art world: there will always be people criticizing your work, and if you cannot separate yourself as an artist from your work, you will find yourself quickly ending your career in art depressed and completely broken. And I think there is truth in what they say.

God loves us fiercely and entirely simply for the fact that we are his creation. Each human being is his masterpiece, completely beautiful and wholly wonderful for no other reason than that he breathed life into us. Our worth lies entirely in that identity: nothing that anyone (including we, ourselves) can say or do will add an ounce of worth, and nothing can be done to take any of it away. We simply are because he made us.

How do we know this? Beyond biblical proof, it lies within the heart of humans as lesser creators: it is revealed in the way that we so greatly care and fiercely love the art we produce. We love it so immensely because it is made of our time and thought and tears and joys: the worth of the work lies in what we give it as the creator. This is why when someone heartlessly criticizes the work, the artist can be so deeply hurt. It is not an attack on the artist, but it is an attack on something that the artist holds so dear.

How much more does our Lord, the creator in perfection, ache for the pain of his creation?

And yet, no matter what is done to or said about his creation, the worth of it is never altered. The only aspect that can change this intrinsic worth is the one who gave it worth: therefore, it can be altered by no one but God.

So, perhaps the only one who can take away the worth of our own art is ourselves. No critic, be it friend or foe, can take it away because they are not the ones who put it there. Therefore, I do not advocate separating ourselves from our art, simply so that we won't be vulnerable, so that we will have thicker skin, so that we won't get hurt. This is a hedonistic survival technique.

Instead, let us take a cue from our Father, who lovingly and jealously protects us, defends our worth, and continually whispers in our ears just how much we mean to him--for no reason except that we are his. Let us remember and know within the deepest of our creative souls that the work we produce has a worth that can never be added to or taken away. And let us love and be one with our creation, as God so completely loves and partners with us, his most precious creation.