Creativity and Emotion - how's it connected?

[Dan Goodwin]

A discussion in other part of CCS about creating being "an emotional journey" has become very interesting, and I'm sure there's a wider group of people that would like to read and contribute to the discussion.

So here are some questions to start us off:

How is creating an emotional journey for you?

How are your emotions linked to creating?

How do feel while you're actually creating?

Do you have to have an emotional connection to the subject matter you're creating about?

Leave your thoughts and ideas below, we'd love to hear them...

[Wendy]

Thanks, DJ. Yeah...I do want to explore that side of creativity - and, I also find value in specific communication. In my mind, neither one is good, bad, wrong, better or immature...but serves its own need. As in most things, balance is a worthy goal.

[DJ]

Oh, yes! I'm not talking about intent. Artists can intend whatever message they want. Specific communication is always to be considered and most times embraced.
I'm talking about mentally protecting yourself against disappointment.
For example, I'm working on a realistic painting right now with a very specific message in mind. But for me, the understanding that "not everyone will receive the same message" is there, so I won't be devastated if the general public doesn't get it.
In the past, I've been the target of many painful barbs of misunderstanding and ignorance, so I always try to prepare my students for that inevitability, no matter what their subject.

[Wendy]

>>I'm talking about mentally protecting yourself against disappointment.<<

I'm glad you explained this more, DJ. Yeah...I really see what you mean...I really need to work more on adapting that attitude. Well, actually, I think I do have it sometimes, but would like to *cultivate* it more.

An example, I recently designed personal business cards for myself, using some art I thoughts was pretty cool. The first three people I showed it to seperately, all said "gross!" Not exactly the response I was looking for, but...I guess my vision is different than theirs! It didn't upset me very much, really, though my next batch will probably have a different image.

Some of my work is gross - as in - strange, bizarre & dark. Like - people probably wouldn't want to decorate their house with it! To your point, I really need to keep myself strong and believe in my own vision because...that sort of work is powerful to me. As a creator of sometimes-controversial subject matter, I'm putting myself out there in a way that many people will be bound to dislike. It really can make me vulnerable, so I need to build self-confidence.

I've never really been an artist to create pretty things (though in crafts I do) Then again, I'm the type who has many piercings and tattoos, too, lol! Beauty can be different for each of us, I guess!

[DJ]

Would love to see your tattoos sometime. :-)
Yes, even with simple non-threatening subject matter, I get strange looks and cutting comments. (When I do "dark" stuff, people really worry about me. :-) As recently as last Christmas, a family member made a careless remark about my work, and I had to keep my mouth closed since it was a family gathering. Difficult, but done.
I decided that I'd been hurt enough by the garbage others inflict upon me. And yes, it still takes some mental prep on my part to share work with others.
That's why CCS is so important for all of us...

[Jules]

Hi all :-) I like what everyone has had to say so far...I would like to add...that I beleive that it is not so much that some people won't understand my visual message...as it is that they simply can't understand my visual message. My life experiences could be so different than theirs that they cannot perceive some things in the same context as I do. Let me use Rap music for a good example. This is a thing that sprang up from a lifestyle so far removed from what I know- I do not understand it, I do not know what the real message is supposed to be. Therefore I do not buy it or go out of my way to listen . If I had been born in a ghetto, or any area heavy with with gangs and violence all around...I know that I would understand.

That mentally protecting sounds like a valid idea...my problem is that I usually need to protect myself from myself, which can be hard to do, because I know that is what I am doing. LOL I hope that did not sound too strange... because it is what it is.

[Wendy]

>>It's a way of having an emotional connection with someone, even though you may never know them or meet them.<<

Yes!

>>we connect with the kind of moments and memories in everyone where they've felt the same emotions.<<

Yes, again! You describe this so well. Creating as a means of connecting, inviting someone into a different experience....it's very powerful.

[jane]

the ultimate creativity list.. I have been dwelling on this discussion since I saw it posted and giving it a lot of thought…

i have been having a lot of “stuff” hurled at me recently which has been interesting from a creativity point of view…. a quick resume of the “stuff”…. my brother about to undergo a multiple heart bypass operation (should have been yesterday but he was bumped til Tuesday, his birthday!!, cos of an emergency), his wife has breast cancer and has just started treatment, my mother, age 87, about to undergo a cataract operation, my middle daughter (that I am very close to) has moved away, my oldest daughter is undergoing relationship problems, my best girlfriend likewise, my job is in a particularly stupid stressful whirl of change…. and to cap it all, my biggest shake up, I have lost my best friend/lover… (yes I know, how careless of me!!)

in dealing with all this trauma i began with extremely angry creativity, venting every known emotion I could in written word, painting, music listening, shouting etc…. I needed to shift the stuff! then I discovered, or re-discovered meditation and joined a class, coupled with re-taking up tai chi after a couple of years absence.. and also rejoining a gospel choir that I had not been back to for about a year….. and I found a website with a meditation practice specifically designed to “shift stuff”!......

and things have begun to change… I am not totally “cool and dandy”, far from it, but I do sense a subtle change, a shift… through the peace I get from meditation and tai chi and by listening to amazingly calming music (introduced to me by my “lost friend”) I seem to be able to go into a place where I feel still and open and from there some amazing creativity is beginning to flow.

i am doing work I haven’t done in years, discovering a more gentle me in my artistic creations, perhaps returning to the real me? I have taken refuge in my garden, even though now it is fading into autumn and soon a winter sleep… this afternoon I sat in meditation for an hour!!!!!!!! (I promise I wasn’t asleep…) but in that space all manner of thoughts and ideas crossed through, were noted, and filed for the future. I am enjoying “placing” things in my house in a new way, treating myself with flowers, new lingerie, sensational shower gel fragrances!! and creating meals that please me rather than “fill” me, becoming totally aligned with nature – taking photos randomly and often.. see my Thirty Days in October page…

perhaps achieving inner silence is the greatest creativity we can achieve.. i certainly want to work on that… out of silence comes forgiveness both of self and others, a glimpse of joy (something I have been told to focus on in my meditation class!!) and calm and with that a new energy and hopefully a peace….

but i am far from there…. my inner turmoil is still enormous, I have inner shakes and woozy heads often, which is kinda frightening… but I have sight of something which includes a burgeoning creativity and fulfilment that I haven’t felt for years… the last time being when my “lost friend” re-awakened me from a 25 year sleep…. and I wish he were with me to share it, but life doesn’t work like that does it…?

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Oh my .. life can certainly hurl it all at us at once sometimes. I admire you for focusing on doing what only YOU can do for yourself, Jane. I've been in a rather introspective place myself, and finally realizing what it means to be good to myself instead of just paying it lip service! Keep doing that and you will find that you're better able to understand the lessons and messages of all these recent experiences that seem negative on the surface ... life is messy ... but if it wasn't, it wouldn't be very interesting, would it?

[jane]

ha ha barb . . . yes. . . true! doesnt seem that at the time though does it.. but for all i am going through i know others feel and suffer the same... so not being indulgent. interesting.... yes. but sometimes i just wanna return to those heady days of warmth, sunlight, happiness and calm... we did have those - right?

[Wendy]

My word, you are dealing with so much...AND remaining conscious at the same time. It can be so easy to tune out when life overwhelms us, but you really seem to be focusing on inner growth at the same time. Admirable!!!

[jane]

thanks wendy - it sounds more admirable than it is... its easier to write down than it is to deal with in reality... but out of all things comes a learning process... so will get there. It helps to have soem creative activities to concentrate on as actually it calms me greatly (perhaps distraction?) - time will tell.... x

[Carol@Swallowcliffs]

Here is an interesting creative idea you might like:

http://collagediva.typepad.com/truenorth/