Personal. Performance. Why Choose Just One?

Bringing personal elements into your work can enrich your creative expression

This is part of my “Art of Noticing” series, in which I learn, find, or discover the things around me that usually go unnoticed and turn them into an endless source of creative inspiration.

Today (okay, “recently”), I saw one of my favorite performers bring his father and young daughter onstage to perform with him. It made me think about fun ways to interplay art and personal life.

Hopefully I don’t need to tell you by now who Bob Schneider is. I’ve talked about him often enough here.

(But if you don’t know, he’s an Austin singer/songwriter. Who is awesome and hilarious and very cool.)

I was at a concert recently, and for one song, Bob brought his father onstage. Apparently Bob Schneider Sr. was a professional opera singer for a lot of his life. Then, he brought his daughter Scarlet onstage. She’s something like 10 years old, and he’s had her onstage before. The girl keeps getting better and better, this time doing a rap-like number that I’m sort of guessing she wrote herself based on the lyrics. (They didn't sound like Bob lyrics.)

It got me thinking—why do so many creatives feel they need to separate their personal lives from their professional or creative lives when combining them can add such richness and authenticity? The audience loved having three generations of Schneiders in concert. It was great, not something we accepted.

Here's how this "noticing" can benefit my stories and art:

Adding Personal Touches to Characters and Their Relationships

You don’t have to bring your family all the way onto your figurative “stage.” You can, instead, just pull elements from your personal life and stick them into what you do. I know I’ve done it, then pointed it out to my kids. It’s fun, and it makes things feel more real.

If there's one thing stories thrive on, it's authentic characters. When you stuff yours with elements from your personal life, those details feel more real … and as a bonus, the story’s emotional stakes rise. Your audience will probably feel a deeper connection to the characters' interactions even if what you do isn’t overt.

It also makes for a good “trait grab bag.” Pulling traits or quirks from your own family members can add layers to your characters, enriching your story without complicating its plot.

It’s For Visual Art, too

This can be a rich source of themes for visual artists as well. Your relationship with your family, or how you perceive them, can serve as a poignant backdrop for a painting or sculpture series. Again, you don’t have to be literal and include the exact real people, although you can do that, too. Instead, you can borrow here and there, like I described above.

Art should be at least a little personal. The whole idea is to convey emotion. For that reason, audiences usually enjoy art more that they can understand on a personal level. By integrating personals stuff in your work, you're opening doors to conversations and interpretations that might not arise if you keep things impersonal.

The wall between your personal and professional life doesn't always have to be high and impenetrable. Tearing it down a bit can offer your audience a glimpse into your world, making your artistic endeavors that much more engaging and authentic.

And, as a side benefit, they’ll also connect to YOU more, as a creator they can at least partially understand and relate to.

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