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Creativity
is woven into the fabric of simpler times. And there
are as many paths to creativity as there are human beings
on this planet. You can be a creative homemaker and
mother (I am married to one.) You can also be a
creative builder, a creative gardener, a creative hang
glider. There is creativity in solving personal
problems, in overcoming obstacles, in keeping
relationships warm.
Creativity is not optional equipment. It is a
built-in potential, a seedling planted deep in the human
personality. And like any other human possibility,
creativity can be helped to grow and flourish.
Because both my happiness and my livelihood depend on
maintaining my own creativity, I have a vested interest in
understanding it. So I have watched other people and
taken note of myself, and I have reached a few
conclusions.
First of all, creativity is contagious. You catch it
from being around other creative people. That's what
was happening with my girls one night in my studio.
My girls saw me making something new, and they were
irresistibly drawn to make something, too.
That happens to me all the time. My own creativity
thrives when I expose myself to what others are
doing. I love to wander through galleries and
museums, to read art books and monographs, to let myself
be uplifted and inspired and humbled. I love to be
around other artists, to talk together or even to paint or
sketch together. . . .
Creativity is contagious, but that's just the beginning of
the process. Motivation needs to turn to ideas, and
ideas need to be incubated. You need to move things
around in your head and with your hands. You
experiment. You move your mind around, allowing
yourself to look at what you're doing from different
angles. . . .
To be creative, all you need is room to play, room to
think, room to just be.
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