William Baziotes — The Process of Creation

Evolution is the way a poem happens for me. I don't know what the poem is about until I'm finished writing. The poem evolves as I write. I know there are writers who outline everything they do. They know what they are going to write every step of the way. For me, it does not work. I like not knowing. The excitement is in the writing. The same thing happens when I write a story or a novel. Only at the end do I know what I was writing about.  And even then I might not be sure.

When I travel I am the same way. I want to discover new places. My wife and I once were on a trip with another couple. They had everything planned down to the minute and became upset if we deviated from the plan because it put them behind schedule. I can't travel that way. The joy is in the discovery.

Art for me is also about discovery.  When I draw a mask, I never know what a mask will look like until I am finished.  The joy is in the process of creation. The joy is in not knowing where you are going. 

Zentangle 2016

I have been studying Zentangle, a meditative art form, for the last four years.  A basic principle of Zentangle art is that you don't plan your work.  The fun is in the exploration — of discovering where you should go.

One of the things I have learned over the years is that creative leaders have many different ways of working. What works for one person does not work for another. How do you work? Do you map out your story in advance of writing it? Do you know what your painting will look like before you start painting it? Are you confined by the expectations of yourself or others?

Barbara Streisand

"I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it.  You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it."

— Barbara Streisand

American Singer, Actress

1942 -

Learning to trust one's instinct is probably one of the most difficult tasks that every artist needs to learn at some point in one's career.  This trust goes deep to the very core of one's being.  Trust begins by discovering who you are and accepting yourself.  Trust comes with time and experience.  

When I speak to an audience, I have learned to trust my instincts — to listen to that small voice inside and do what it asks me to do even when I don't know why.  The times I run into problems are when I question that voice and don't listen to it.  

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."

— Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Hungarian Physiologist / Writer

1893 - 1986

This is one of my favorite quotes on creativity.  The creative person looks the world and  sees the same things as everyone else, but he thinks something different.  He puts two and two together and comes up with five.  He thinks what nobody else has thought.  What are you seeing today that you could look at in a different way?  Sometimes we need to rethink how we see things.  Are you stumped by a problem?  Take a step back and look at it from a different angle.  Explore other ways to think about the situation.  Find other solutions to the problem.

Anita Brookner

"You never know what you will learn till you start writing.  Then you discover truths you never knew existed."

— Anita Brookner

English Novelist

1928 -

Through the creation of works of art, we are privileged to discover the truth about ourselves and the world we inhabit.  What truths have you learned about yourself?  What has the process of creation revealed to you?  Are you paying attention to the process?  Are you demanding more of yourself?  Listen to the wind strumming your hair.  Choose to be alive and full of hope.  Dance with the romance of life.

Frederick Franck

"Drawing is the discipline by which I constantly rediscover the world."

— Frederick Franck

1909 - 2006

Dutch Artist & Writer

Are you rediscovering the world?  Is your art teaching you to see the world in new ways?  Creativity is a tool to help us better understand the world in which we live.  Through our creativity we are able to explore and find new answers to old problems.  Creativity is a discipline that changes the way we see.  Are you practicing the discipline of creativity?

Frank Glazer

"I feel like I'm 35.  I'm playing better than ever.  I feel I've worked all my life to get to this point.  Now is not the time to quit."

— Frank Glazer

American Musician

1915 - 

When does an artist stop learning?  According to Frank Glazer who in February turned 97: "Never."  He says he is still learning to play the piano.  Are you still learning?  Are you continuing to grow and develop?  What have you learned today?  Last week?  Last month?  What books have your read?  What seminars have you attended?  What conversations have you had with other artists?  You should never stop learning.  The older I become, the more I realize what I don't know.  I hope that like Frank Glazer I will still be writing, speaking and learning at 97.  Don't give up on yourself.

Here is a video clip of Glazer playing the piano and discussing his first public appearance.

  

(Glazer made this comments in 2010 at the age of 95 to Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.)

Romare Bearden

"Painting and art cannot be taught.  You can save time if someone tells you to put blue and yellow together to make green, but the essence of painting is a self-disciplined activity that you have to learn by yourself."

— Romare Bearden

American Artist

1911 - 1978

The Train
Collage (1974)

People often say that painting and writing cannot be taught by others.  The best way to learn to write and paint is through painting and writing.  We discover who we are as creative leaders   by doing.  And while there is a lot of truth to this, I believe one can learn from others.  Not that one needs formal training, but rather the observation and interaction with others.  Those who have been painting or writing for years have much to teach the young if they are willing to listen.  But when the teaching is over, the student must still paint or write what is in his heart. He must create what his heart sees.

See some more art work by Romare Bearden.

Anais Nin

"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country."

— Anais Nin

French Writer

1903 - 1977

Dreaming is an important technique for creative leaders to master.  We need to master both our sleeping dreams and our waking dreams.  Our dreams have so much to teach us about ourselves.  Your sleeping dreams have a number of origins.  Some of these dreams come from the events of the current day, things that happened to us.  Our minds are reliving the day.  Some dreams come from the problems and challenges that we are facing.  If we learn to interpret these dreams, we can often solve our problems.  Other dreams come from our future and often will predict things that will happen to us.  And still other dreams will have a spiritual source.  Do you study your dreams?  Do you keep a dream journal?  Success comes from mastering the art of dreaming.

Jackson Pollack

"Painting is self-discovery."

— Jackson Pollack

American Painter

1912 - 1956

I believe all arts are about self-discovery whether we are talking about painting or literature or theater.  In the process of creating we discover who we are and whom we may want to be.  Maybe we learn something about ourselves in how a character in a story behaves.  Or we see ourselves through the lens of a photographer or painter.  Or we play a character on stage who is are alter ego.

What have you learned about yourself today?  Last week?  Last month?  Last year?  Life is a journey of self-discovery and change.  Are you growing and developing as you age?

The Key(1946)

Dorothy Fadiman

"Each of us is an artist, capable of conceiving and creating a vision from the depths of our being."

— Dorothy Fadiman

American Filmmaker

I believe that every person is capable of creating artistic works.  Some of us may have had our creative impulses damaged as a child by either a parent, a teacher or another child.  Someone somewhere made fun of something we created.  I know I have had those people in my life, but for some reason I kept going.  In fifth grade, I was given the opportunity to write about my class for the weekly newspaper.  Our small town newspaper published a page or two of articles written by school children.  My first article was criticized by the editor as be too much like advertising.  My headlines were too bold.  I was writing ads not journalism.  I never seriously wrote for a newspaper again.

When I was a junior in high school I started writing poetry as a way to express my feelings.  When I was a senior, I submitted a paper composed solely of my poetry in a social studies class.  My English teacher asked me why I had not showed her my poetry.  I had no answer for her.

I believe inside each of us is a need to find an outlet for our creativity.  For some that might be sewing, or cooking, or fixing cars.  For others, our creativity finds its outlet in writing, drawing, painting, singing or acting.  Unfortunately, naysayers have blocked our creative impulses and we must learn to open our creative channels.

Here are clips from one of Dorothy Fadiman's films: Reclaiming Their Voice, Saving the Petroglyphs: Teaser.

Arthur Koestler

"Every creative act involves. . . a new innocence of perception, liberated from the cataract of accepted belief."

Arthur Koestler

Hungarian Novelist and Writer

1905 - 1983

Creativity involves breaking down old ways of seeing and believing and discovering new perceptions and ways of understanding the world.  Creativity must first be a destructive force as it destroys the old patterns and beliefs.  We must tear down before we can build.  Then destruction gives way to rebirth and renewal and the generation of innocence and hope.  This is the paradox of creative energy: Death and Rebirth.  Destruction and Rebuilding.  Cynicism and Innocence.  Doubt and Faith.

Are you looking at the world in new ways?  Have you discovered new ways of thinking about your art?  Have you liberated yourself from the prison of the past?  Have you found hope in what you are creating?  Have you opened the door to the future?

Michele Cassou

"If you do not listen to your intuition, it will stop talking to you.  Your intuition is like a sensitive friend.  If you question it, censor it, judge it, it gets hurt and becomes silent."

— Michele Cassou

French Artist, Teacher

You have to train yourself to listen to your intuition because your rational mind is very strong and often discards your intuition immediately.  In fact, it sometimes happens so fast that what you think is your intuition is actually your second on third thought.  The rational mind can move very quickly to override intuition.  Train yourself to grab hold of your intuition and not let go.  Learn to trust your feelings and first thoughts.  

And in the beginning you will often misunderstand your intuition.  Be patient.  It is okay to make mistakes.  The problem is not that your intuition is wrong, but that your interpretation is not accurate.  Sometimes it will take years to perfect listening to your intuition.  Trust your heart.  

Albert Einstein

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.  Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Knowledge is limited.  Imagination encircles the world."

— Albert Einstein

German Theoretical Physicist

1879 - 1955

Unfortunately, most schools are focused on increasing the knowledge of their students, not their imagination.  And while knowledge is important, imagination is even more important.  There is a limit to how much knowledge we can gain and retain.  The span and accuracy of knowledge is constantly changing and expanding.  What is considered truth today is considered foolish tomorrow.  Once people believed the earth was flat.  We would be much better off if our schools also encouraged imagination.

And the same can be said about creative leaders.  Many artists, writers, actors and musicians study to increase their knowledge of their art.  And this knowledge is good but limited.  We need to be encouraging our imaginations.  We should be exploring the worlds of our imaginations.  What are you doing to increase your imagination?

Henning Mankell

"To grow up is to wonder about things; to be grown up is to slowly forget the things you wondered about as a child."

Henning Mankell

Swedish Novelist

1948 - 

I watch the three-year-old child that my wife and I are raising and I am amazed at the creative powers of her mind to imagine worlds that I cannot see.  To invent stories and stories within stories.  What happens to us as we grow up and take on the cloaks of the adult world?  Where does our inventiveness go?  What worlds of the imagination have we forgotten?

What do you do to keep your mind young?  Do you play with children?  Do you enter their worlds?  Or does the path you walk become narrower with each passing day?  Do you still think as a child or have you given up childish things?  Are you young at heart?  Or are the arteries of your imagination clogged?

I recently finished Mankell's excellent novel, The Man From Beijing.  Here is a video of Henning Mankell discussing the novel at Strand Bookstore.

Ernest Hemingway

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."

— Ernest Hemingway

American Novelist

1899 - 1961

This is an amazing statement from a writer whom many would call a master.  I think what Hemingway is saying is that we should never stop learning about our craft.  Even the best of the best can learn something new — can improve their craft.  The task of becoming good never ends.  We are all apprentices — beginners.  We must come to the task of creating each work of art as a beginner would.

Those who believe there is nothing left to learn have stopped growing and will soon be spiritually dead and doomed to a life of repetition.  Life is in the learning.  Life is in the growing.  So don't despair if you don't know everything because you never will.  Don't despair if you haven't perfected your craft.  The joy is in the learning.  The joy is in the discovery of ways to improve your craft.

Paula Rego

"To find one's way anywhere one has to find one's door, just like Alice, you see.  You take too much of one thing and you get too big, then you take too much of another and you get too small.  You've got to find your own doorway into things."

— Paula Rego

Portuguese Artist

1935 -

The doors we open and the doors we close hold the keys to our success.  What doors have you failed to open that would catapult you miles down the road?  What doors if you learned to shut them and throw away the key would prevent others from zapping your energy?


The door is an amazing invention.  It keeps out those people we don't want in our lives yet allows us to choose who can enter and keep us company.  The door serves a similar function for creative leaders.  We can keep out those elements of our lives that we don't want to appear in our art and we can invite in what we want to appear in our art.

The Family
(1988)

To paraphrase the poet, Robert Frost, doors make good families.  Doors give us privacy and keep prying eyes from seeing what we don't want them to see.  Some doors are simple and others are complex.  Some doors have intricate designs and others are plain.  Doors help us to manage and control our lives.  Doors help us to hide things we don't want people to see and to reveal things we want people to see.


Can you identify the doors in your life?  Do these doors help you be more creative or do they restrict your creativity?  Do you need to replace some of the doors in your life?  Do you need to add doors to your life?










Here is a video with more of Paula Rego's paintings.

A. S. Neill

"Take from others what you want, but never be a disciple of anyone."

— Alexander Sutherland Neill

Scottish Educator, Writer

1883 - 1973

Life is about learning and everyone we encounter, whether in the virtual world or the physical world, has something to teach us, but no one is the master of all knowledge and wisdom.  No one deserves our devotion or discipleship.  We need to each independently investigate truth for ourselves.  We need to come to our own conclusions.  If we choose to blindly follow one person, we have failed ourselves.  We have let ourselves down.

From time to time in my life, I have wished I knew someone who had all the answers and I could sit at his feet and soak in his wisdom.  But I have never encountered that person and I have had to depend on my own thoughts and wisdom.  I have had to learn to investigate what truth is for myself.  And sometimes I make mistakes and sometimes I get it right.

People often feel they need heroes and gurus.  They keep looking for THE answer.  We put people on a pedestal and when we discovered their actions don't match their words, we tear them down.  We punish them for leading us a stray.  What we fail to realize is that there are no perfect people — no wise men sitting on a hill, only fools trying to get by.

As artists and writers, we must be careful not to worship other artists and writers, not to put them on pedestals.  We need to independently investigate what they have to teach and then make our own choices.  Truth is a slippery slope.  What we believe to be true today we may discover tomorrow was an illusion.

For your listening pleasure, here is one of my favorite Beatles song:  Fool on the Hill.

Marcel Proust

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

 

— Marcel Proust

French Novelist

1871 - 1922

For some people the environment is crucial to their happiness.  They let where they live affect their emotional life.  And there is some truth to the fact.  Cloudy days can bring people down.  Long winters give some people cabin fever.  Others need the mountains or the ocean or the prairie.  How does your environment affect you as an artist?  Does it inspire your creativity?  Does it make you hopeful?  Does it make you happy?

For other people like Proust and myself, the environment is less important?  I can create anywhere.  I can sit in a shopping mall and write poetry.  I can sit in a church and write.  As I write these words I am sitting in a hotel in South Carolina.  And the environment rarely affects my mood or happiness.  I love the mountains, the ocean and the prairie, but I don't need them to be happy.  I live inside my head.  Can you create anywhere?  Or must you be in a certain place?  A certain mood?  A special environment?

Linus Pauling

"Satisfaction of one's curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life."

— Linus Pauling

American Scientist

1901 - 1994

Are you curious about the world around you?  Are you searching for new information and ideas?  Are you asking questions and looking for answers?  Creative leaders seek out new ideas and new ways of seeing the world.  We want answers to our questions.  Part of our thrill in life is learning something new — figuring out something we didn't know.

Creative leaders need a strong sense of curiosity about the world they inhabit.  They are not satisfied with the pat answers of the past.  The challenge is in finding new answers to the age old questions.

Robert Henri

Self-Portrait
(1903)

"Let a student enter the school with this advice:  No matter how good the school is, his education is in his own hands.  All education must be self-education."

— Robert Henri

American Painter

1865 - 1929

I believe that each of us is in charge of our own education.  We choose what we want to learn and what we don't want to learn.  Even in the best of schools, students fail because they don't apply themselves.  And in the worst of schools, students still graduate and go on to accomplish great things.  Yes, a teacher can inspire you and mentor you, but in the end you are responsible for your own education.

And I believe learning is a life-long process.  When a person stops learning, he stops living.  What are you doing to further your education in your chosen field?  What are you exploring outside your field of expertise?  When was the last time your read a new book?  Or talked to a stranger?  Or developed a new habit?

Tam Gan
(1914)

This week while traveling, I met a minister who had lived for fifteen years in Japan.  I learned about his life as a minister and living in Japan.  He shared how he had witnessed the cremation of a dead person.  The Japanese custom is to wash the body and then have it cremated.  The family gathers at the crematory to witness the burning of the body.  Then the family is given a portion of the ashes and bones in a small box and the remainder are buried in the ground.  I learned something new by listening and asking questions.  And who knows, maybe some day the material will appear in a short story. 

Creative leaders need to be constantly learning new things.  What have you learned recently that you can incorporate into your writing or painting or acting?