Chapter One — What is Creativity?

What is Creativity?

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
Pablo Picasso


What is your most heartfelt desire? Do you know that you have the power within you to grant any and all of your wishes? Humans are natural creators. It is our birthright to be the creative architects of our lives, not just be a leaf in the wind, torn between our duties and our desires.

Most of my lessons about how to live come from my practice as an artist: in this I have learned to apply the simplicity and directness of these ideas and found that they work to create anything I want in my life.

Beyond this sense of personal power and control that comes with the practice of art in a controlled environment, the fringe benefit is a life filled to the brim with riches. It is impossible to be bored when the world is a playground filled with toys and tools for you to play with and use. Everything is potentially interesting and useful; every event is a launching pad for a learning experience — a spark for a responsive, playful intellect.

I would like to share some of these tools I have discovered with you, so you will be inspired to seek and find your own tools to gain the life you desire.



CREATIVITY — PLAY WITHOUT PURPOSE

Just what is this talent we call creativity? Is creativity natural to all humans, or do only some people have it?

Creativity is innate in all human beings. Creativity is not limited to art forms, and it is not a learned skill. When people look at art they are seeing the end result of the process of creativity. I like to say that an artist is like a snake shedding its skin as it grows. The shed skin is an imprint of who the artist was: this is the product or artwork that we see. It is merely a record of the creative process that develops the person making it.

Jeff Melvoin1 , in a comment about looking at art, “You’re confusing product with process. Most people, when they criticize, where they like it or hate it, they’re talking about product. That’s not art, that’s the result of art. Art, to whatever degree we can get a handle on (I’m not sure that we really can) is a process. It begins in the heart and the mind with the eyes and hands.” The real product is the evolution of the artist, not the artwork that she creates.

When I was in art school, one of the questions the instructors posed to us was “What is art?”. The real question is: “What is creativity and how do we develop it?”

Not all of us understand, first, that we all have this power of creativity; second, no one seems to know where it exists; and third, how to tap into this amazing power. If you watch a small child, you can see that he is naturally creative, a child spontaneously draws and paints, imagines worlds of his own, and make up stories. “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” — Pablo Picasso

This observation of children has convinced me that creativity is innate to everyone. We have this amazing gift of power until the very first moment that someone criticizes us. Then this marvelous power goes underground, so to speak, into province of the inner child.

The qualities that children exhibit are very close to those of the natural creative impulse (that most adults have learned to suppress). The hallmarks of creative action:

Creativity is play without purpose. A child simply wakes up in the morning and starts to play. He has no agenda, timetable or plans. An adult, on the other hand, makes an endeavor out of play; he cannot conceive of engaging in any activity without a goal or prearranged structure. The mind of a child does not think about problems or structures; instead the child accepts what is and spontaneously plays. It is only later, once creative freedom has been experienced, that a creative professional can harness the creative impulse to a defined purpose. However, any creative activity with a defined end never has quite the same taste of freedom as the practice of play without purpose.

Creativity requires a fresh outlook. The creative mind looks at the world with the eyes of a child, without prejudice or knowledge. At this standpoint, there is nothing that cannot be fascinating in and of itself. This is the value of creative focus, a kind of honing in and really looking at something with deliberate naiveté.

“Creative people tend to approach the world in a fresh and original way that is not shaped by preconceptions. The obvious order and rules that are so evident to less creative people, and which give a comfortable structure to life, often are not perceived by the creative individual, who tends to see things in a different and novel way. This openness to new experience often permits creative people to observe things that others cannot, because they do not wear the blinders of conventionality when they look around them.2 “Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self.” — Erich Fromm

An artist is a keen, detached observer. An artist will often feel as if he is watching a movie of life, detached from the participants. I, myself, often feel as if I am a “fly on the wall” observing human interaction, societal conditions, and also as if I can see “over” things, to see what others don’t see is happening at a subconsious or superconscious level.

Creative action involves the capacity for introspection and time for incubation. Without the ability to be alone with their thoughts, a creative concept cannot develop. I like to call this the “incubation period”. This period of time varies: from a few minutes to days to years. The creative mind is always working on something, often at the subconscious level. I can be doing something completely unrelated, but I am working on a piece at the same time. I am sometimes aware of what is slowly forming under the surface of my consciousness, sometimes I am not. Regardless, at some point, the concept will feel as if it is bobbing to the surface, and I have a starting point. “I slip into a state that is apart from reality. I don’t write consciously — it is as if the muse sits on my shoulder” — Neil Simon

Creativity is direct and spontaneous. Think about any child whom you know. When do they want to do something? Now! Not in the distant future. How do they want to go about it? In the most direct route possible. They do not want to consult with experts, read manuals, or talk about it. They create whatever they want with boundless enthusiasm, spontaneity and directness. Again, and again in my design practice I am reminded that the best route to the final piece is always the simpliest, most direct one.

Refocus for inspiration and knowledge. Creative inspiration is often sparked by a shift in focus. An artist is a master of shifting focus. Often called cropping by painters, a new composition with a new subject is achieved by simply getting nearer or father away; or by shifting the center of the composition. A creative person learns early to find interest and information by shifting focus. This practice makes for endless intellectual entertainment, and learning.


Work with a “limited palette”. Do not long or wait for better materials, or a better place to work, etc. A child simply accepts whatever is in front of them, as tool, toy, or environment, and proceeds from that point. Part of what is invigorating about the creative process is that it can start from humble materials, poor beginnings; in fact, sometimes it is those very things that spark incredible results. There is a term in painting called “working with a limited palette”; a deliberate choice to work with less colors than available. With these an artist can create a masterpiece because less colors actually enable her creativity. As a designer, I am often called upon to work with existing elements: logos, color palettes, slogans, etc. These constraints actually help me; it is often those very limitations which free my creative imagination.

To be creative is to think simple. The initial creative spark is always of a simple nature. In order to find that brilliant simplicity, one has to practice thinking simple. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci
“The art of art...is simplicity” — Walt Whitman

The creative process proceeds from the simple to the complex. The error most adults make is that they try to discover the simple through the complex. In a drawing, one starts out with simple shapes, say an oval to represent the face in a portrait, then as the drawing progresses, one adds detail. One does not start with the strands of the hair or with the detail of a single eye in the center of the page. Art students who do it this way, find themselves trapped by their own process: they have to erase the beautifully drawn detail because the rest of the portrait now does not fit on the page. There is plenty of time to add complexity later. The creativity is not in the complex finish of a piece, but in the simple inspiration. “When you start with a portrait and search for a pure form, a clear volume, through successive eliminations, you arrive inevitably at the egg. Likewise, starting with the egg and following the same process in reverse, one finishes with the portrait.” — Pablo Picasso

Creativity is a lifelong romance with knowledge. An artist actively nurtures his curiosity. As a child I liked to read scientific treatisis, however, I usually could not remember the conclusions of any article that I read. I like to say that it is the question that intrigues me, not the answer. A creative person is not a gatherer of data so much as a skater skimming the surface of information. The creative person dares to ask the simple question. They know that it is the question that is important, not only because the answers keep on changing, but because feeding the imagination is key to creative growth.

Creativity is allowance. Creative thinking cannot live in a critical environment. The initial stage of any creative endeavor can only thrive in an open, nonjudgmental environment. In the experience of “brainstorming” an artist does not censor her ideas; often it feels like a flood of concepts, sensations and thoughts that are going so fast it is difficult to put them down. In order to provide the necessary environment for the brainstorming activity, there has to be allowance for anything, and this often involves what Nancy C. Andreasen aptly calls “a tolerance for ambiguity”. “Creative people ... are quite comfortable with shades of gray. In fact, they enjoy living in a world that is filled with unanswered questions and blurry boundaries.”3

Sideways thinking. Thinking outside the box, what is referred to as lateral thinking. Both artists and scientists will often start out with a basic question: “What if...” to explore regions of the imagination or reality. Both are proceeding from amorphous and uncertain territory; this sometimes takes courage to do the first few times, but the rewards are great.

“Critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the truth value of statements and seeking errors. Lateral thinking is more concerned with the movement value of statements and ideas. A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas... Consider the statement ‘Cars should have square wheels.’ When considered with critical thinking, this would be evaluated as a poor suggestion and dismissed as impractical. The lateral thinking treatment of the same statement would be to speculate where it leads. Humor is taken intentionally with lateral thinking. A person would imagine "as if" this were the case, and describe the effects or qualities. Someone might observe: square wheels would produce very predictable bumps. If bumps can be predicted, then suspension can be designed to compensate. How could this car predict bumps? It could be a laser or sonar on the front of the car. This leads to the idea of active suspension. A sensor connected to suspension could examine the road surface ahead on cars with round wheels too. A car could have a sensor for determining when it was going to hit a bump that feeds back to suspension that would know to compensate. The initial "provocative" statement has been left behind, but it has also been used to indirectly generate the new and potentially more useful idea.” 4

Creativity is passion sustained. An artist uses her passion for her art, media, or subject to sustain her through the process of creating whatever she has decided to create. This is related to a kind of harnessing of emotions. Emotions are key to creative development, and expression. The artist uses emotions to help her manifest and channel her art. The power of her passion is often what communicates to her audience, not necessarily the work itself. One can see this when an ice dancer is so good that the audience is caught up in her feeling and starts clapping in time to the music. She is flawless then, they feel it; she cannot fall, she cannot err. Her performance is made magical by her passion, her mood of creative confidence gives her wings.

The creative mood is one of ease, lightness and play. Think of a child playing; he is focused, but not rigid or serious. He plays but doesn’t need the play to go one direction or another. When he is done playing with his ball, he goes to play with his paints or his toy car; no regrets, or attachments. The creative person can flow effortlessly from one thing to another. There is a natural flow and ease to everything. This is what Deepak Chopra calls “The Law of Least Effort”. “This law is based on the fact that nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease and abandoned carefreeness. This is the principle of least action, of no resistance. In Vedic Science, the age-old philosophy of India, this principle is known as the principle of economy of effort, or ‘do less and accomplish more.’”

Creativity is non linear. It is not data storage; it may use unrelated data and recombine these items in new ways. This synthesis is a completely different way of thinking than what we commonly use. It is more related to intuition than to logic and learning. In fact, in order to access the kind of insights and “silent knowledge” that come with creativity, one often has to forget all one has learned, even to the craft or skills associated with one’s chosen medium. “I do not seek. I find.” — Pablo Picasso


Ordinary Magic

If creativity is play without purpose, then it doesn’t really have a practical function, however, it does have an effect. Like the wind that ripples the water of a lake but remains unseen, it is best known through its influence. Creative thought might have evolved as a tool to help mankind survive, but this doesn’t expain the fact that many of the things that we create have no pragmatic purpose. In its purest form, creativity is uncontrolled and impractical. It is in this very impracticality that the true value of creativity resides.

It has been proposed that what distinguishes the human animal from all other animals is not opposing thumbs or language (other animals have those), but the creative impulse. credit scientist whose article was in Scientific American I feel that the true function of creativity is the evolution of the mind and of the self. The effect of creative thought and action is the good health of the individual in mind, body, and spirit.

In her act of creativity, the artist reflects not only her higher self, but the ordinary magic of the universe at large. Moreover, creativity allows us to actively participate in the ongoing miracle of life’s creation. An artist has a privileged occupation: the observation of and practice of magic.

--> more to come


-- copyright Aliyah Marr

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