At the start of one of my children’s summer camps, I dished out drawing kits, charcoal sticks, kneadable erasers, plus lots of paper. I then confidently announced the start of a fun, creative drawing session. After an unforeseen (but intensely interesting) discussion about where charcoal actually came from, we set to.
One camper decided to make a sculpture from his drawing kit and this made me think.
Initially, I had to hold myself from instructing the camper to stop messing about and use the tools for the purpose that they were intended. I then thought: now that’s Art, that’s Creativity!
Picasso once visited an exhibition of children’s drawings and observed: “When I was their age, I could draw like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them.” Children have been tested for divergent thinking (an essential element of creativity) with the vast majority of kindergarten children testing at or near genius levels. As children get older, this trait falls like a stone.
Creativity is in all of us. Submerged and knocked about by schooling, society and workplaces, it’s nevertheless there. I’m always a little baffled when someone comments to me, as they quite regularly do: “I don’t have an artistic bone in my body” or perhaps another old favorite: “So-and-so is the Artist in the family”. The official family “Artist designate” I suppose.
I can think of at least three reasons this situation persists:
Firstly, the day-to-day brain is in the driver’s seat to deal with that bottomless pit of schedules, commitments, errands and problems. The hum of life.
Secondly, by it’s very nature, thinking creatively is not a “serious” proposition. You have to have some fun with ideas and having fun is often considered “wrong” – a guilty pleasure that does not get much street cred at the water cooler.
The third factor is that many of us don’t know how-to anymore: Not long after kindergarten, it gets lost in the machine. My spouse tells me that she once got the strap for “colouring outside the lines”. Thankfully, times have changed somewhat but no one really believes that we encourage knowledge and practice of the creative process in our society. It’s not only that it’s not valued, it’s just lost to many.
In my case, creativity starts with a period of deepening disquiet. I might then play at something seemingly irrelevant before anything happens. There’s definitely a tension and this can act as a barrier to progress. It’s not always easy to stick with the unknown, options, ideas, unfulfilled aspirations and the tension of the unresolved. That’s all a valuable part of my creative process.
I’m really interested to hear your comments on what creativity means to you: Share your stories!
David, Such a wonderful blog topic! I think people really fear leaping into unknown territory… perhaps because they are afraid of what they might find out about themselves or fear making an “ugly” piece of art. All the while forgetting that it takes time, like anything else, to learn how to express one’s self. Many kids don’t have that fear (your student was a great example) because they haven’t been criticized over a lifetime like adults. Somewhere I was reading (a book titled “What it Is” by Lynda Barry speaks of this beautifully) we only need to reach age 11 or 12 and schooling has sufficiently knocked out that courage we had as youngsters to leap into the unknown and be creative… the majority of us are left feeling very ordinary not special… we give up on being creative entirely and lose out on a very rich and fulfilling aspect of life. As young girl and “slow” learner, I came to reading, colouring and drawing “late” in my life between ages 6-8. The day I learned how to read with confidence, however, I decided to write my own book… I had the necessary tools: paper, pencil, crayons and I could finally write… I traced pictures, coloured them, based my story on another I had read and voila my first book! — no worrying about anything… just enjoying the act of creating for itself… getting a kick out of seeing the finished product and knowing I had made it! That’s what we have to do. Not worry about what things will look like. Just “do it” like that Nike saying… just to do it and see what happens…
Hi Michelle, Thank you so much for your thoughts and sharing your personal experiences, finding your learning style and learning through doing. Our fear of failure is so real, but more often just opportunity in disguise. I’m delighted you feel strongly about the topic and I certainly will be posting again shortly. Hope you where able to keep hold of that first book! David