The five step process for creativity has become standard in the realm of Psychology: preparation, absorption, incubation, illumination and verification. I find the artist, Kimberly Brooks', 8 steps to be much more art friendly, and well, "creative". She begins with a vision, that star of inspiration that beckons from the land of "what if" and follows with the island of hope that a new painting/collage/ altered book, etc. can "be so". One can hang out here with lots of dreamers for a long or short stay, but sooner or later the artist must "dive in" and become immersed in the waters that will carry her over to the distant shore of excitement where there begins an intense engagement with materials and the new project has begun to take shape. Soon enough it might began to look like an ordinary house of sand. Here there is suspicion that whatever is forming is not the castle intended and will probably need to be scraped. But wait! Try again. Look deeply into what new life is trying to be born. Feel it. Sense it. Stay with it.
A certain clarity will begin to emerge. Something with a pulse of it's own. What is needed is a little light here, a shadow there. (A maternal obsession is brewing, a birthing taking place.) And then suddenly voila! Sometimes, even before we are ready to move on, it is finished. Of course, the artist can become "stuck" at any of the steps, but from a long view, when a piece has become successfully resolved, the 8 steps become apparent.
For everyone out in ART BLOGLAND I wish happy journeys through the creative process in 2010.
3 comments:
and for you as well, Marie! Happy New Year!
Wow, Marie. This is fabulous! My castles often have a lean I did not intend! Wishing you a Fresh New Year!
I like so many things here. Your bio quote moved me so much. I sometimes feel like a useless mutant in this world of commerce and Big Name Artists. I like the rendering of the ee cummings poem. Beautiful. And I like your choice of word for the new year. It gives me somthing to think about.
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