Seeing the Meaning of Mark 13: A Narrative-Critical Approach

Abstract

One of the foundations of artmaking is the realization that human beings are flawed, and so the products they make are flawed as well (Bayles & Orland, 2023). Perfectionism is an obstacle to artmaking, because it prevents an artist from accepting their human errors while striving for something as superficial as creating art without a soul (Gallucci et al., 2000; Villanova & Rinaecunha, 2020). They may experience self-doubt, anxiety, or art block when attempting to create meaningful illustrations that represents them and resonate with others. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between perfectionism, self-esteem, and creativity in collegiate visual artists. The study aimed to investigate four hypotheses using Pearson’s correlation, independent sample t-test, and multilinear regression: 1) self-esteem would be negatively associated with perfectionism, 2) perfectionism would be negatively correlated with creativity, 3) self-esteem and creativity would be moderated by perfectionism, and 4) the age of an artist would be positively related to self-esteem. The results confirmed the first hypothesis, suggesting that identifying one’s own self-worth allows the individual to be more accepting of their imperfections. Furthermore, the findings partially confirmed the third hypothesis in which perfectionism moderates self-esteem and everyday creativity, as well as scholarly creativity, which implies that perfectionism will not suppress a person’s level of these creativities when self-esteem is high enough to regulate them. Future studies should further investigate the significance of each correlation between perfectionism, self-esteem, and creativity with a larger sample of visual artists.