Dec 19
Creativity
Topic: Updates|
I have been wondering lately what is creativity? Is there a difference between being creative and crafty? Is it something that you are born with or is it something that is fostered throughout life? Do the people around you help or hinder your own creativity?
I have been told often that I am a creative individual. I don’t see myself that way, which is why I started thinking about this topic. Even with my photography I do not see myself as creative. I get ideas/images in my head and need to be able to see them in print/digitally. It becomes an obsession.
I would like to hear your ideas on these questions… Let me know your thoughts…
Ciao…
December 20th, 2009 at 4:20 am
I think we all are a little creative but if it’s not allowed to grow as children we lose it as adults. I’m crafty with certain things like crocheting, knitting and stuff like that. I want to be creative where I see in my head what I need down on paper or canvas. I need to harvest my creativity through school to see if I’m as good as i would like to be.
December 20th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I think you are right about all of us having it but if it is not allowed to foster and grow it kinda dies or goes dormant until it is fostered again.
Do you think it is the responsibility of those around you to help foster it or do you think that it should happen in a school setting?
She
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:10 am
Excellent post, Sheila! I’m psyched to see you pondering stuff like this. I was totally unaware that introspection or other matters of “depth” held any interest for you. Then again, I don’t see you but once or twice a year
I actually think of someone who’s clever or possesses guile when you say “crafty.” But I don’t think that’s what you really meant
I do believe it’s possible to utilize creativity when performing a craft (eg weaving, sculpting), but I do not think that creativity is a prerequisite for someone to be a skilled craftsman.
So creativity and skill at a craft are definitely different things. Your question of where either one of those come from is the classic nature versus nurture debate. I believe that it is a mix of the two with a larger emphasis placed upon nurture. The people you choose to surround yourself with will have an effect on you. And the effect of person A upon person B will not be the same as that of person A upon person C. That’s why it’s important for artistic people to find people who nourish their creative impulses. Hope that helps.
December 24th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Hello there, James’ Carolina here =) I’ll try to put my point of view, sorry if I get carried away or have poor grammar somewhere, not a native english speaker here!
Creativity is the ability to create new things, exploring the possibilities of a same object or theme into different ways. It is based on the culture we live on, and our experiences in life.
Age helps on creativity, and older people will have more chances to be more creative then the younger. That is because the older you live, the more you will see and experience, in theory. Same with any craftsmanship you might do: the more you train, the better you’ll get, or at least the chances to be better.
Creativity is in all aspects of our lives, even if you are not artistic motivated at all. Many times, decisions in our lives will lead to creative solutions, and to reach our motivations, we need our creativity to go thru the many barriers and difficulties we might face.
How much the other people will help or hinder creativity? I believe we need to look at ourselves first before coming back to this question. What motivates us?
Motivation comes when we want or need something. It is the energy and the orientation of that energy to the means of getting what we want/need. And then comes yet another question: why we want/need something?
Let’s consider two kinds of motivation: the “interior” motivation and “exterior” motivation. On the “interior” one, we want something because that will bring us feelings of realization, fun, personal challenge. On the “exterior” one, we want something to reach external rewards, or to avoid punishments. In example, an artist may be motivated to finish a painting because it has challenged himself to it, or maybe it has a deadline for tomorrow. Often, both things will play together, and it is a matter of ballance that we don’t let extrinsic motivations spoil our intrinsic motivations.
On that point of view, I believe that crafts and creativity could be different: the motivation of the crafter could be purely “exterior” to sell a same piece copied over and over again, and not require any creative thought for the work. Yet, I personally believe that a crafter cannot go too far without creativity so that it’s work can progress.
So let me try to put all that together in an example: I am brazilian, and I’ve never carved a pumpkin during halloween, put a candle inside and leave outside my house. That is because, in my culture, nobody does that. But then, I have acess to the United States culture, and having that knowledge I could simply go ahead and carve that pumpkin. But I still won’t, as my neighbors will find me odd. So, although I am motivated to do something I find fun, I know I won’t be well accepted, so I avoid doing it.
In that case, my possible creativity into creating a carved pumpkin was hindered. But it was ME, and not my environment, that hindered that, because the decision not to do it was mine. It was me who, based on my experiences in life, and balancing what motivation was more important that took the final decision to do something or not.
A person’s family, friends, admirers, enemies, fans, students can’t DO what the person does. I cannot take the picture Sheila took, but I can say it is good or bad, and that MAY have an affect on the photographer or not. So my point is: whenever you feel your creativity got hindered by someone or something, stop and think about how really important that person or thing really is for you. Sometimes it really is important enough to hinder our creativity and other actions, but others, it only takes us some thought to free ourselves from it. That is another point why older people have chances of beign more creative: they… well, I don’t know how to say this in another way: they take less BS from people. They had much more experiences in their lifes and took much more thought about life then the younger, and have a chance to be faster at avaliating if something is important enough or not to hinder their creativity and actions.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Arioch - I agree that those around you can either help or hinder your own creative processes. I think nurture has a huge influence on who you are and your capabilities.
She
p.s. I do have a deep side. Glad I could share it with you!
December 24th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Carolina - Interesting, in your example of the pumpkin carving could you carve it and keep it inside your home just to see what the carving process is like? Also, it doesn’t have to be a pumpkin that you carve. My son and I have carved gourds (obviously not with a knife but with a Dremel).
Do you think that some families look down on creativity? Also do you think that it is considered a feminine quality? The reason I ask is I am thinking of older generations that really did not foster creativity or design. What I am picturing is a 1950s family whose father is lawyer, banker, business man, etc… and wants the son to follow in his foot steps.
Let me know your thought…
She
p.s. Awesome response!
December 30th, 2009 at 5:04 am
On the pumpkin example comes the family approval! “What the hell is that, Carolina, you ruined our pumpkin dinner!” (laugh).
Makes me remember that movie of a boy who has a dream and becomes a ballet dancer, too bad I can’t recall the name. But it is one of those stories where even though the family doesn’t approve at first, the dream on having a different life becomes true. Like I said before, even though our surroundings might not help, the final decision is ours. Development does help on how strong or not we’ll be against those forces pushing us down, and yet sometimes we can do something unpredictable.
I don’t believe it to be a feminine quality. But art seems to be more accepted as a career and hobby on women (at least where I live). But when you look on other expressions of creativity, you see a lot of men: just turn on your TV on discovery channel, so many scientists and crazy explorers who invent these interesting things and interesting ways to show wildlife, constructions, technology, engineering, all fields that at least on television are more populated by men.
On the 1950’s example, I am not really sure. That example still happens today, and its basically “family business”, where in order to survive with the same income and comforts of your childhood life, you choose to follow the footsteps of your parents. Or the parents force the child into it. I enjoy reading biographies of psychologist authors because of that: most of them start as doctors, biologists, professors, and then they see themselves curious for something else, and in their case the human behavior, and they create amazing theories that are used still on our days.
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Carolina - Aren’t families great! They really do have a great amount of influence (good or bad).
I think you are right about the art as a career or hobby being more of a feminine role. I have seen more of that changing during the past few years. I hope that trend continues.