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| Michaela Warhurst Self Portrait |
When we think of creativity, inspiration, and other artistic
aspects we tend to focus on the spontaneity in finding our muse. Even when Hyde
talks about creativity, he ends up accidentally implying that artists cannot
think about where their talent comes from as that will inhibit their creative
side. What he really meant was that if an idea comes to us, we should follow
through with it and not think about how weird, awkward, or silly others might
perceive it to be. This is what he meant by “Premature evaluation cuts off the
flow” (Hyde 188). Being too self-critical of our work will prevent us from
doing anything. And as we know from previous chapters, hording ideas to
yourself will prevent you from developing your abilities and it will inhibit
the continuation of the gifting cycle and sharing of creative works necessary
to creativity.
As great as this message is, I would also like to focus on
something that Hyde says is of secondary importance to inspiration. Hyde
briefly mentions that besides this “unwilled reception” of creativity, “All
artists work to acquire and perfect the tools of their craft, and all art
involves evaluation, clarification, and revision” (Hyde 187). In other words,
artists improve upon their initial creation. Creativity is not a one draft
thing. The point here is that inspiration is not just random, it is developed.
In all creative endeavors the individual is inspired,
follows through with that inspiration, and develops their skills to better
convey their vision to others.
Knowing all of this, I would like to talk about my sister.
Last winter break my sister (17 at the time) was willing to draw a picture for
me to use for my stories. She did not have much time to do this as she had
other work to do. It was also going to be a painting which was something she
was unused to doing compared to normal pencil drawing. I asked her to draw a
picture that involved nature, technology, and medieval armors and weapons but
with something that had “UN” written on it. It was also supposed to be
ambiguous and mysterious so that nothing seemed particularly good or bad. While
constantly needing to have me clarify what she needed to draw, she completed
the work in about three hours. She shaded the drawing Monday March 17 1014. The
result was to me one of the most amazing and unique pictures I had ever seen.
For her, she felt it did not live up to her standards and
needed a few more drafts.
My sister started drawing around the same age I started
writing. I might not be an expert writer but I have constantly improved. She is
improving all the time. Still, she does not think she is good enough to be a
professional artist and does not think she has the passion to match others.
This is even though she has invested years developing these skills and drawing
hundreds of pictures. She is far too critical of herself for her own good. And
honestly, so am I. There are a lot of times I produce something which I find is
substandard that others find to be great. And yesterday in class it seems
everyone was afraid of showing their works even though we all liked a lot of
what everyone else wrote regardless of genre or style. The phrase, “You are you
own worst critic” comes to mind.
This is not necessarily a bad thing but often inspiration is
just about being able to follow through on an idea. Infinitely drafting a
single work until it is “perfect” or not showing anyone anything you are doing
only hinders you and prevents you from developing yourself further.
Therefore, my takeaway from Hyde is that inspiration is
something that we naturally acquire just by doing what we innately enjoy.
However, the key is having the ability to display that idea by developing the
skills needed to display it. It is also about not being self-critical to the
point of refusing to show others or putting ourselves down to the point where
we refuse to acknowledge what we have. And from this class I can definitely say
that inspiration and creativity are things we all have.
I have to say that this blog really resonated with me, and I think I can safely speak for the rest of the class, too, that I'm sure they were able to relate to it as well. You really hit the nail on the head when you talked about how people are their own worst critics. I know for myself, going into this project, I was really the biggest road block for myself. I have never tried my hand at writing a fiction story before and I was worried that it would be terrible or that no one would have any interest in it. Luckily, I have to say the responses I have been getting are great, and they have giving me confidence to see my work through.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this blog, I was also reminded of my poetry writing workshop that I am currently taking with Professor Chandler. That class has a similar format to ours in that each class a handful of students have to present a poem that they've written and the class critiques their work. Sometimes, if someone has a poem that isn't "quite there yet," Professor Chandler will suggest that they put it in a drawer for a few days and then return to it with fresh eyes to see how they can improve it. I was reminded of this, when you wrote about how creativity isn't just about having the first draft be the final draft and most perfect, art can always be improved upon.
My favorite lines from your blog were: "Therefore, my takeaway from Hyde is that inspiration is something that we naturally acquire just by doing what we innately enjoy. However, the key is having the ability to display that idea by developing the skills needed to display it." For me, I'm sure I could have inspiration to paint some beautiful place that I visited in Italy... unfortunately for me, I don't have the skills of a painter, and I'm not even sure I could develop them..... But! I do have some pretty decent writing skills that allows me to take this world I've created in my imagination and put it on paper and weave a tale that I can share with others.
I really liked your post, and also, if your sister ever needs to be reminded, I think she's an awesome artist!
I found your blog entry to be very thought provoking and personal as you talked about your relationship with your sister. I agree with the points that both you and Kathryn make regarding inspiration and drafting. I think we are inspired by the things we enjoy that surround us, but we should do something with this inspiration: to display it and share with others. I feel like if we are truly inspired by an idea, and it affects us some how, we should respect the idea enough to produce something. We might not "get it right" the first time, but I'm not sure if it's necessarily suppose to work that way. We can always return to an idea and improve upon it as long as we feel inspired to do so.
ReplyDeleteKenneth, great post! Sometimes, "me" gets to me, and when i mean sometimes, i mean all the time. I am extremely critical of myself when I write, constantly drafting over and over again. Being afraid of judgement is a natural thing that happens to me when I display my work, almost like standing naked in front of a crowd. You're vulnerability is out for everyone to see. This class has definitely made me more aware of my creativity and to really keep going because there will always be people behind me that constantly encourage me and help me keep going. The gift of creativity is a combination of past experience and making choices based on everything you've learned, whether it be consciously or on a whim. It has a way of making us vulnerable, but feel very much alive at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI could really relate to this blog in many ways. I do think I critic my work harsher than others. I also think I could do something to make it better. With making my book cover I kept looking at it and thinking of all the things I could change. Something’s that would be different if I started over right now. I think it is good that we critic our own work so harshly. It makes us come up with something even better the next time we try to do it. I think making several drafts of things is how you come up with an amazing piece of work. I know when I draw I first just doodle it a couple of times, then make a couple of real scale sketches then, once I see what I like the best, I do a final drawing. Usually by then I am pretty happy with what has turned out. I think we can be too harsh on ourselves though. Some things we do are really great and we do not recognize or want to show anyone because we think it is “not good enough”. I think being critical is good to a point but we also need to be able to come to a time were we say, “wow I actually did something pretty good”.
ReplyDeleteAlso Kenneth your sister’s art is amazing! She is super talents!
I really liked your post Kenneth. First of all I think your sister is a wonderful artist! Also, everything you said about critiquing your own work and being harsh on yourself if very similar to myself. I am a perfection, or a maximizer as I recently learned, which means I am constantly searching for the "best thing". I draft and redraft things obsessively and I am never really satisfied with my work and have a difficult time parting with it to show others. It's important to step back and realize that the drafting process is a way of gaining further inspiration and not to be hard on yourself during the process. I think that everyone can benefit from others commentary because I know for me, sometimes having others see or read the work I've done actually raises my confidence more than I could do for myself.
ReplyDeleteWell Michaela Warhurst is quite the beautiful artist, thank you so much for sharing those pieces of art with us Kenneth! Going into talk about Hyde and inspiration I really agree with the fact of never letting anything hold us back, no matter how weird, strange, abnormal or out of this world it may seem. When you have an idea, put it out there and play with it. The most beautiful things come from what is not expected and most certainly from what is different. I always feel most inspired with music on; most of the times different music for different feelings. Music makes me think in weird ways sometimes in ways some people might find eccentric and abnormal and if we let that stop us, the “gift” might stop. We should always allow our emotions, inspirations and creativity flow. Just like we do the critiques in class, my favorite part about it is the sharing of ideas. We all share something we work hard on, something we put tons of work and thought into, and allow others to read and critique it. These are “gifts” we all have, first the one doing the writing and sharing their work, and then those reading and critiquing; finding the beauty and what could use some help. I feel that part is a “gift” to. We give our opinions and emotions about the piece of writing.. keeping the “gift” moving.
ReplyDeleteKen I really liked your entry. For me this is the thing I perpetually struggle with, to not inhibit my creativity. This is often exacerbated by the idea of having to show or present some final project. I think it is also worth noting what could be considered creative and unlocking that piece. For me in a way it is my excel charts. I express my creativity in creating clean efficient spreadsheets which tackle a particular problem. I enjoy making them and do it in my everyday life to solve a myriad of problems. However once it becomes part of an assignment and I have a group who points to a screen and tell me “make the numbers go” I feel stifled and it feels like a process. Then as you mentioned the self-critic kicks in and I am perpetually second guessing choices and how the table works. All and all I think it is interesting how creativity is a sort of ethereal resource that seems to come to us when we aren’t searching for it.
ReplyDeleteKenneth, I really identify with this blog post. Like Kathryn said, this reminded me of my Poetry Writing Workshop class with Chandler. I'm always extremely nervous before sharing my poems with the class, but when it comes time to share it, I feel at ease and comfortable, because it's what I know how to do best. I have always been inspired by writing creatively and expressing myself with words, but would always stifle my creativity by refusing to share up until this class. The idea of writing a fictionalized novella of my grandfather's story is terrifying, but when I get down to actually writing it, it all comes very naturally to me. I also have to get past that idea of being my own worst critic. I'm a perfectionist in many ways and have had to accept that the first draft isn't final.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your sisters paintings, they are beautiful!!
I think the way you provided instructions and your sister carried them out really says something about creativity. Knowing your story, I would have made a very different picture. And you were probably expecting something very different as well. But it just goes to show you how fragile creativity really is. If your sister had known more about the story (I am assuming she didn't know much at that time) I bet the picture would have been very different. Our perceptions and circumstances can have such drastic effects on creativity. Not always for good or bad, but it is interesting to note the sensitivity.
ReplyDeleteThis also goes along with what you said in the beginning of your post about how we evaluate our work. This work, this creativity, is so sensitive to our evaluations. It changes so easily based on so many factors. Alright, I think I have re-iterated my point enough!