creatively frustrated

I have a question. I've been asking it for a while now and its voice has been louder recently and its unresolved echo is leaving me quite frustrated and a little depressed. The question is: What makes art matter? A more specific question that chases after is: does my art matter? Am I saying anything worth listening to in my paintings, my scribblings? Am I even saying anything at all?

I've been feeling stopped by these questions. I am fearful of creating things that don't matter. I keep hearing the echo of this voice telling me to stop wasting time on things that dont' matter, but am waiting for the voice that tells me what does matter.

I feel more or less free from criticism this semester, but I still feel the residue, the lostness of words and sentences spoken before. Who sets the rules about what art is and what we are supposed to make?

I've made things before that I thought were good, I started on things from my heart and felt the crush of words with too little qualification. I didn't understand and today I still don't feel like I understand. What is art? What makes it meaningful? Is there art that shouldn't be taken seriously? Does it have to be specific or can it simply be a part of the flow that leaves these hands? Is there something I'm not tapping into? Or am I tapping into the thing that does matter? I feel frustrated. Stopped. Crippled. Lost....