Change and risk-taking are normal aspects of the creative process. They are the lubricants that keep the wheels in motion. A creative act is not necessarily something that has never been done; it is something you haven’t done before. — Margaret Mead
“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.”
— Julia Cameron
“We are the yin and the yang of the creative process.”
— Cynthia Weil
“Imitation is at least 50 percent of the creative process”
— Jamie Buckingham
“Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.”
— Bill Moyers
“Of all the qualities in your being, that which is most god-like is creativity” – Pir Ilayat Vilayat Khan
“It moves me when anybody is just wandering through life, sleepwalking, and then wakes up. It’s like the caterpillar to butterfly thing – the chrysalis. It’s just so moving because they’re not going to go to their grave with a slipping down life.” — Lili Taylor
I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?” — Chuang Tzu
“I embrace emerging experience.
I participate in discovery.
I am a butterfly.
I am not a butterfly collector.
I want the experience of the butterfly.”— William Stafford
“The butterfly’s attractiveness derives not only from colors and symmetry: deeper motives contribute to it. We would not think them so beautiful if they did not fly, or if they flew straight and briskly like bees, or if they stung, or above all if they did not enact the perturbing mystery of metamorphosis: the latter assumes in our eyes the value of a badly decoded message, a symbol, a sign.”
— Primo Levi
I’ve always been fascinated with the process of change. I remember as a kid doing things like letting berries ferment in water, literally turning water into wine. I didn’t drink it, just enjoyed the process of it and the smell. I would bury things in the yard to see what happened to them, play with the moss that grew in the fountain. I was fascinated by things like my dad’s compost pile, seeing yard clippings change into fertilizer. I loved it when ice formed in the fountain and I could take it out in big sheets. I love watching the changes in my garden, watching plants grow, seeing the little chrysalis form when the caterpillars who munch holes in my passion flowers are ready to change to gulf fritillaries.
I suppose I come to the creative process the same way. I’m not too worried about the results, I just enjoy trying different techniques and materials and playing around with them to see what happens. I admire and appreciate artists who aren’t afraid to do something different, and I think that is ultimately why we consider an artist great – because they create their own unique approach. I was trying to show a friend why I love impressionistic art the other day, with the bright colors and the way the impressionist uses dark and light color contrasts to create movement in a painting. He seemed surprised I knew so much about art. But I would say I know about the art I enjoy, and try to figure out why I enjoy it. My husband is a fabulous art critic, something I didn’t know until I started asking him what he thought about my art. He always mentions something I didn’t even consciously realize I was doing, which is great.
So change and art go together naturally for me. But the risk to show myself through my art – ah, now there is the challenge…
3 Responses
visiting toronto in the 1980s, i happened upon a store named “courage, my love.” subsequently used that as title for a neckpiece with a very large moonsnail. your post brought me to rummage to find it and think about taking digital photos.
so, courage, my love, to you and thanks for using your lovely art and quotes to move me along. yours, naomi
I have no idea what “art” is, let alone “good” “art.” The general rule, when it comes to the “fine” “arts” is that if rich people spend lots of money on it, then it is “good” “art.” I do not find that to be a useful construct for me, and I care not a fig for what the wealthy think, nor what their pet “critics” think. I’ll do my own thinking, thank you very much.
Really, to me, “art” is just artifice, something made by the hand of a human. An omelet is just as much “art” to me, if well made (meaning tasty) as the Mona Lisa or one of Picasso’s execrable things.
Some people see some beautiful aspect of nature and call it “art.” It isn’t. The beauty of nature is sublime, and, in my view, referring to it as “art” is human egotism run amok.
I respect and admire “creativity.” Few things make me feel better than those flashing moments when I feel creative. Whether “creativity” leads to “art” is irrelevant to me.
Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark places where it leads.
~Erica Jong