"Novel associations that are useful."
For me, creativity is a driving force in life. And of all the definitions I've been exposed to, the one in italics above has stuck with me the longest. How do you define this elusive quality? How do you express yourself creatively? Over the past 3 weeks, this blog has become the most recent means for me. As with all creative endeavors I've undertaken, some days I'm more satisfied with what I've created than others.
How do any of us evaluate the merits of one creative endeavor vs. another? Many times I've heard interviewers ask authors, songwriters, artists etc. which of their works was their "favorite". Often the answer given is some variation on "...they're each my 'children' so asking me to name a 'favorite' is unfair..." For those of us on the bell curve who might never be interviewed, please weigh in: "What is your 'favorite' thing you've created?" I'm listening and interested.
About Me
- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
My favorite things that I have created are gardens. They give me hours of peace, a connection with nature, and a feeling of being an artist, although the materials I "paint" with have a mind of their own and create their own, constantly evolving color combinations and pictures. And while they are not necessarily useful in the traditional sense of providing food, my gardens provide food and shelter for wildlife and insects, sources of pollination for bees and contribute to the diversity of the genetic pool. They have helped sell a couple of houses so far. And they help keep me in touch with real LIFE after hours and hours of staring into the computer.
ReplyDeleteIn my career I have had to be creative. Creative advertising sells. I built a business on one of my patents. Today I find my creativity with people, especially my grandchildren.
ReplyDeletemy most creative time was when I was under pressure to perform for my students...I taught ajudicated youth (all young men) at Vision Quest and then 6-8th graders Social Studies, Math, and Reading. So with these age groups I wanted to CONNECT with them and have a meaningful exchange between teacher and student. In my spare moments all I thought about was creating a very engaging lesson...lost alot of sleep those days..but all in all I was at my very best as far as creativity...I remember teaching patterns in math class by having students dance the pattern to the latest tune everyone was listening to...the rest of the class had to watch and make sure the dance moves followed the pattern on the board-it was very mentally stimulating and FUN. Everyone was laughing so hard that the other teachers came in to my classroom to see what the ruckus was. Those were the days...of creative successful endeavors in the classroom the majority of time!!
ReplyDeleteThen I came to my present job and all creativity went out the window..creativity is not encouraged or rewarded in the least. Actually it is entirely stifled.
So now I need to post blogs as a creative outlet......sad, really.
I could not pick just one IMPOSSIBLE
ReplyDeleteOne day I'll create a wonderful meal, then a new hairstyle for someone. or maybe do a drawing or a painting..
Or maybe create a story in my mind that I go back to time and time again.
Not sure what the answer is to evaluating the merits of one vs the other
Sometimes I think that people try to evaluate something that's creative and put words to it and make some shit up about what is right or wrong with it but how can you evaluate someone else's creativity, or judge it..it's almost a violation..
You can either like it or you don't. You don't have to like it but you can learn something about yourself in the process, evaluate your own emotions, like why do I like this or why do I not like it.
You say Tomahhhto, I say Tomato!