Intention, Artistic Process, Improvisation, & Learning
There are two levels in which we generally talk about the creative process. The first has to do with intentionality – the dialogue of the time or intent prior to doing the work. When one approaches a work, one is bringing in to play that which he has seen and experienced before.
In particular art movements, such as, abstract expressionism, the artists were not only talking with each other but to the art which had come before. The New Nation writes: "In a famous letter to the New York Times (June 1943), Gottlieb and Rothko, with the assistance of Newman, wrote: ‘To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is critical.’ "
The point is that having an idea of what one is going to create or at the least a starting point, is essential to the creative process and along with perhaps inspiration is the starting point of creating.
The second aspect of the creative process is the work itself. Since creating is ongoing – it is the process which is what is most important. From my own perspective, it is about being in the flow, not letting oneself get bogged down or stuck, feeling a rhythm and not getting caught in fear of making a mistake. Most errors can be fixed, but stopping will cement them.
In a quote from the Albuquerque Tribune: Visual Arts, the artist creating a lifesize stonehenge of old refrigerators says, "I’ve learned to embrace the process. The process can be more revealing than the completion." The Billings Gazette describes the work of a glass artist and says: "From blank glass to finished work, the process is all-consuming. Burton begins each new piece with a vision." In the Arizona Daily Wildcat, there is a story about an artist who creates sculpture out of books – she is attributed as saying, The artistic process forces you to question yourself, while also learning new things about yourself. And The New Nation writes about the abstract expressionists: "These artists’s valued spontaneity and improvisation, and they accorded the highest importance to process."
It is the journey not the destination – I am obviously not the only one who views the creative process this way – but then like all of us, I am part of a long tradition of different culture, art, and the same shared human race.
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