Is everyone creative?
What exactly is creativity and why are so many people convinced they aren't blessed with it?
A couple of plumbers visited my home recently, and since the job took hardly any time, they had a moment or two to look around and notice some of my paintings on the walls.
Chiaroscuro oil on canvas, 36x36"
Variation on Convenience Store oil on canvas, 24x48"
White Horse on Black oil and acrylic on tissue, 42x42"
They were very interested in my process, mostly how long these large canvases took to finish. The more I talked, the more they recalled about their art classes in high school (yeah, they were a lot younger than me), and the more curious they became. Okay, so I got to talk at length about my art and art in general, be still my heart, but they both concluded they had absolutely no artistic ability, mostly because they could not draw. I proceeded to confuse them greatly with the confession that I can't draw either. And that's exactly what I told the woman who taught me to paint. Fortunately, I allowed her to disabuse me of the notion that drawing was a prerequisite (though a lot of art schools and programs still adhere to that approach).
So, my plumber friends were convinced they were not creative because they were not artistic. I think a lot of us grew up confusing the two concepts. My youthful creativity, mostly in the performing arts, was acknowledged but not really encouraged. I got the usual piano and dance lessons, but no real effort was made to help me focus on my actual talents and gifts. I abandoned any foray into the visual arts in the fifth grade. I drew the head of a kitten . . .
. . . after a sketch in a magazine - remember those old ads for a correspondence art school? - and entered it in my school's annual art contest. When I didn't see the kitten displayed on the wall with the other entries, I asked my teacher what happened to it. She very gently took me into the hall, put the drawing into my hands, and told me it had been rejected by the contest judges because they decided I traced it. No amount of protest on my part, nor pointing out that the sketch in the magazine was only about the size of a quarter and my drawing was much bigger than that, could alter the conclusion that I cheated. Is this episode the root of my reluctance to learn to draw? Hmmmm.
I daresay that, if pressed, the plumbers could have come up with some area of their lives in which they are creative. One of my sisters concocts wondrous desserts. A friend is an accredited orchid judge and designs gardens. A new acquaintance is pursuing his dream and learning to design and build tiny houses and treehouses. Don't all these activities require creativity?
Maybe we should define that word. Generally, "creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality." (creativityatwork.com) Psychologists make a distinction between the kind of creativity that "includes everyday problem-solving and the ability to adapt to change" and the more rare type of creativity, which "occurs when a person solves a problem or creates an object that has a major impact on how other people think, feel and live their lives." (apa.org) There are two processes involved in creativity: thinking and producing. "If you have ideas but don't act on them, you are imaginative but not creative." (creativityatwork)
Ah. Maybe the plumbers had a point. We can have incredible ideas, but if we don't act on them, we're not, technically, creative. The way I read the above definitions, there's also an element of originality involved. We've all had that million-dollar idea at some point. If I paint a picture of a horse, something that's definitely been done before, is it original because it's mine or because that particular combination of brushstrokes and colors had not existed before I put brush to canvas?
Sorry. This took a turn for the philosophical that I didn't plan. To sum up, I've always maintained that everyone is creative in some way, but maybe the truth is that all of us are imaginative, not necessarily creative. What keeps us from the production part of the process - the part that tips it over into creation? I think I just landed on a segue into my next post. Until then, keep imagining and explore ways to make it a reality.
A couple of plumbers visited my home recently, and since the job took hardly any time, they had a moment or two to look around and notice some of my paintings on the walls.
So, my plumber friends were convinced they were not creative because they were not artistic. I think a lot of us grew up confusing the two concepts. My youthful creativity, mostly in the performing arts, was acknowledged but not really encouraged. I got the usual piano and dance lessons, but no real effort was made to help me focus on my actual talents and gifts. I abandoned any foray into the visual arts in the fifth grade. I drew the head of a kitten . . .
. . . after a sketch in a magazine - remember those old ads for a correspondence art school? - and entered it in my school's annual art contest. When I didn't see the kitten displayed on the wall with the other entries, I asked my teacher what happened to it. She very gently took me into the hall, put the drawing into my hands, and told me it had been rejected by the contest judges because they decided I traced it. No amount of protest on my part, nor pointing out that the sketch in the magazine was only about the size of a quarter and my drawing was much bigger than that, could alter the conclusion that I cheated. Is this episode the root of my reluctance to learn to draw? Hmmmm.
I daresay that, if pressed, the plumbers could have come up with some area of their lives in which they are creative. One of my sisters concocts wondrous desserts. A friend is an accredited orchid judge and designs gardens. A new acquaintance is pursuing his dream and learning to design and build tiny houses and treehouses. Don't all these activities require creativity?
Maybe we should define that word. Generally, "creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality." (creativityatwork.com) Psychologists make a distinction between the kind of creativity that "includes everyday problem-solving and the ability to adapt to change" and the more rare type of creativity, which "occurs when a person solves a problem or creates an object that has a major impact on how other people think, feel and live their lives." (apa.org) There are two processes involved in creativity: thinking and producing. "If you have ideas but don't act on them, you are imaginative but not creative." (creativityatwork)
Ah. Maybe the plumbers had a point. We can have incredible ideas, but if we don't act on them, we're not, technically, creative. The way I read the above definitions, there's also an element of originality involved. We've all had that million-dollar idea at some point. If I paint a picture of a horse, something that's definitely been done before, is it original because it's mine or because that particular combination of brushstrokes and colors had not existed before I put brush to canvas?
Sorry. This took a turn for the philosophical that I didn't plan. To sum up, I've always maintained that everyone is creative in some way, but maybe the truth is that all of us are imaginative, not necessarily creative. What keeps us from the production part of the process - the part that tips it over into creation? I think I just landed on a segue into my next post. Until then, keep imagining and explore ways to make it a reality.
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