A Guide to Everyday Creativity from You Are an Artist

Book Review: You Are an Artist by Sarah Urist Green

A warm and welcoming invitation to explore creativity through curiosity, resourcefulness, and everyday life

In You Are an Artist, Sarah Urist Green offers a refreshingly inclusive take on art-making. The book doesn’t assume readers have formal training, fancy supplies, or even a clear sense of themselves as “creative types.” Instead, it meets them exactly where they are. With an open heart and a curator’s eye, Green invites readers to explore more than fifty assignments from contemporary artists who challenge conventional ideas about what art is, where it lives, and who gets to make it.

Rather than telling you how to draw or paint, this book asks you to see differently. It offers prompts that are equal parts playful, thoughtful, and gently subversive, encouraging readers to use whatever materials are at hand, and to allow their lived experiences to guide their creative responses.

What the book promises

You Are an Artist promises to democratize creativity. Green’s central belief is that art is not a rarefied skill but a way of being in the world. She aims to remove the barriers that keep many people from trying to make art, including perfectionism, elitism, and the pressure to be impressive. Instead, she offers projects that are accessible, adaptable, and grounded in personal meaning.

Each assignment is rooted in a contemporary artist’s practice. The prompts are not merely exercises. They are entry points into ideas, materials, and experiences that invite reflection. The book’s promise is simple and powerful: if you are a human being, you can make art.

What the book delivers

Green more than delivers on her promise. The book is structured around a series of artist-generated prompts, with each assignment accompanied by a short profile of the artist’s background, their process, and the intention behind the prompt. These range from simple acts like taking a rubbing of the ground beneath your feet to more layered projects like reinventing your identity or creating art from discarded objects.

There is an emphasis on doing rather than knowing. You don’t need to understand art theory to begin. You just need to be willing to observe, play, and respond. Assignments vary in tone and complexity, but each one is designed to spark personal insight and open up a new way of seeing the everyday world.

Green’s own voice is threaded throughout the book. She introduces each artist with warmth and clarity, often drawing from her personal encounters as a former museum curator and host of the PBS digital series The Art Assignment. Her role is less that of an instructor and more of a trusted guide. She brings the reader into an ongoing conversation with artists and encourages them to participate on their own terms.

Style and structure

The structure of the book is both clear and flexible. Each chapter stands alone, so readers can flip through and choose the prompt that speaks to them in the moment. Every assignment includes practical steps, tips, and suggestions for variations, making it easy to adapt the work to different needs, materials, or moods.

Green’s writing is grounded, conversational, and generous. She avoids jargon and explains each artist’s intention in a way that feels approachable and sincere. The tone is thoughtful but never prescriptive. It gives permission to experiment, make mistakes, and follow creative instincts without judgment.

The design of the book supports this accessibility. Each assignment is visually distinct, often accompanied by documentation from other participants or examples from the artist’s own work. The layout invites exploration. It feels more like a creative journal than a traditional how-to book.

Where the book shines

You Are an Artist shines most brightly in its inclusivity. Green makes art feel possible. The assignments speak to a wide range of life experiences and identities, and they do not require special materials or settings. Many prompts ask you to reflect on your body, your home, your memories, your relationships. This makes the book not only about creativity, but also about presence and self-awareness.

The variety of artists included is another strength. Green features creators from different cultural backgrounds, disciplines, and career stages. Their prompts span everything from sculptural experiments to sound walks to interventions in digital space. This diversity helps the reader see that there is no single way to be an artist, and no one right way to respond.

Another standout element is the underlying sense of care. The book does not ask the reader to be clever or impressive. It asks them to be curious. In doing so, it creates a sense of intimacy between the reader and the act of making. It treats creativity not as a performance but as a relationship.

Light limitations

The book is intentionally open-ended, which may feel unfamiliar to readers who prefer structured progression or clear outcomes. Some assignments may seem abstract or ambiguous at first. For those who are new to creative work, a little more hand-holding in the early chapters might be helpful.

A few of the artist statements assume a level of familiarity with conceptual art that may not be shared by all readers. While Green does an admirable job of translating those ideas, some readers may need to pause and re-read certain introductions to fully grasp the artist’s intent.

Because the book is organized around independent assignments rather than a linear arc, there is less narrative flow. This works well for its purpose, but readers looking for a cumulative learning experience may wish to pair it with a journal or guided course structure to help track insights over time.

Final thoughts

You Are an Artist is not a book to rush through. It is a book to live with. Sarah Urist Green has created a collection of prompts that are at once accessible and expansive. This is a book that quietly restores a sense of agency to those who have been told, directly or indirectly, that they are not creative.

Its strength lies not only in its content, but in its philosophy. Green does not just invite you to make art. She invites you to trust yourself, to look more closely, and to value the act of expression for its own sake. In a world that often measures value by productivity and polish, this book reminds us that meaning is made through attention and intention.

Highly recommended for educators, community facilitators, expressive arts practitioners, and anyone seeking a creative practice rooted in reflection rather than perfection.