Making Tea, Making Art

My performance is art because I made the tea with the intention of the action being art. The more I made the tea the more I learned about making tea. With each repetition I discovered something I could do differently, somehting to change- to improve. Making tea became fluid; it became habitual. I would pour the water from the Brita into my kettle, then set up the tea bag and cup while waiting for a boil. I poured the water carefully, learning the easiest way to pour without burning my hands with the steam. Then I let the tea steep for a few minutes before consuming it. Another cup could not be made until the first was gone. This is art because my every move was calculated. I was making tea for the purpose of art and thus it became so. Art is expression. Art can be anything, there are no bounds except that it must be known that it is art. Making tea was my expression of myself. Tea is something that reminds me and connects me to my mother and my sister. Making tea in this way expressed this connection just as a painting of sculpture might, but instead I was living art. The difference between art and life is in the mind set. When I ritualistically make tea at night it is not art because I don't perceive it to be so. When I make tea for two hours straight with my sister's help it becomes art and I become a part of the medium through which it acts.
An audience was not necesarry in this case, though there could be one. If this action were perfomred in front of an audience I think it would become more mechanical. I would feel that the audience was judging each movement insteqad of the freedom I feel when not under scrutiny. I think that having an audience would not change this as an artistic exhibit. Again, it is art because I have chosen that it be art, audience or not. Art is a way of growing, exdpanding your knowledge and creativity. Repetition like this is a great way to grow and to look critically upon you actions.
I thought I succesfully was able to make an everyday action ( making tea) into art. The repetition allowed me to look into my actions in different ways and to evaluate my purpose as well as the meaning behind my actions and I feel that this is what art is meant to do