“Art is making the invisible, visible!” ~ Marcel Duchamp
An artist, then, makes unseen things seen, reveals that inner, secret self in a tangible form that is as personal as a diary. It is our way to communicate about being human and it speaks from one life to another. So, creativity is something we cannot avoid, we have to be creative and we will find a way to do so. But how do we see ourselves an artist? And does the specific label ‘Artist’ matter?
For many of us our creativity is tied to our identity. It is a thing of passion and drive that motivates us to create something; making connections that cross time and place. It can be an all-consuming focus that takes us out of ourselves, but also into ourselves, into that liminal space waiting to be made concrete. This is the first point around creativity - it isn’t a natural ability but a natural passion and is something we do.
The doing pulls many of us in different directions. We often have to work another job or do the dishes or walk the dog! Sometimes our very identity feels torn in two: Artist and/ or educator, Artist and/ or partner, Artist and/ or parent. Resolving these identities can be a constant struggle but also the friction to spark our creative lives. Perhaps it is these invisible threads and connections that make our creativity flow?
Art is something we experience in the doing and in the seeing. It is not something that we can think about first, the thinking comes later when we can start to verbalise what has been made. I often find my creative self is way ahead of my cognitive understanding. My best work comes when I trust the creative flow and energy.
Children are naturally creative but need to be taught the skills to keep this alive. Schools were established for the needs of the industrial revolution; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics have always had a head start. These are rational and process driven subjects with repeatable outcomes that have an intrinsic, objective value. But great inventions and developments have required creative thinking, a move sideways, making connections that cross time and place! Creativity and innovation are currently driving science, technology, engineering and mathematics!! Learning to draw teaches us to look and to understand the world around us, once again underpinning STEM, as well as our expressive selves. Art has its value too; often outstripping the value of rational subjects.
This is why teaching creativity is so important as they are skills that EVERYBODY needs. We need to be taught the process of exploration, of experimentation, of failure. We need confidence that wasting time dreaming or thinking or playing isn’t a waste; everyone needs to be an artist sometimes - either personally or professionally.
To make the invisible, visible.
Seeing Yourself as 'An Artist'