Day 52 - Chapter 1 - Art Thinking

Life gives us plenty of things to learn without the intention to learn them.  One can observe their environment and experiences, to begin to see how these things are in relationship to each other.  In this first chapter the author begins to expand her metaphor when looking at creativity.  In her definition of creativity, Whitaker wants to broadens her reader’s view as creativity includes "doing" as well as "being."  Having a studio primes the creative pumps, yet should not be used to pressure one into creating something.  It is a safe place to incubate ideas.  A place to explore, a safe place to risk the next thing.  A place to show up, to see what emerges.  She gives several categories of creativity:  social, organizational, civic, analytic, spiritual, kinesthetic, aesthetic, physical, narrative and harmonic.  She defines each one for the reader to understand that creativity is not only about producing artwork or the next best novel.  Society gives a mythical view of an artist as genius.  While one might be flattered by someone coping their work, to learn how it’s made.  Only to copy misses the evolving growth one can obtain.  It is through Emulating, that is, not copying, but taking the form, pattern and adapting it to another idea.  Whitaker encourages the reader to follow what they love, not to worry about wasting time or materials.  That nothing is ever wasted.  No matter whether the learning is immediate or takes a little more time…even taking time off, as rest is not idleness.  It is all practice.  It is all learning.

I encourage you to buy a copy of Art Thinking for a better understanding of your own creative process.  Whether you're a master artist or beginning artist, this is an excellent book.

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