Art and Creativity: What is "Creativity" and What is NOT?

Here's a morning confession for you: I was a solid "D-minus" art student in school.

I say that, even though I have been around art and artists pretty much all my life... and even though I derive a good portion of my income from creative/artistic pursuits.

My problem: If someone asked me to draw a horse or a person, even my best effort never came out any better than a blob with a stick at each corner. My brain just never seemed capable of turning what I saw in my mind's eye into something recognizable in 3D reality.

Definitions and Semantics: How we look at Art and Being Creative

Although I started doodling geometric patterns and scrolls before I was even ten years old, the standards by which art was judged left me with the impression that I was actually "NOT creative," in any way shape or form. Whereas people admired my intricate pen and ink mandalas and other "sacred geometry" drawings, they were somehow not considered "art." But I did have lots of vivid colors and patterns inside my head... and they had to get out!

Some years passed before I found myself in a similar situation once again, this time as a writer.

Having more or less turned my back on drawing as a creative expression (except as a form of personal stress relief), I had started to embrace the idea that my creative outlet in life was writing. And I was OK with this... I always really enjoyed the written word, and started journaling when I was a pre-teen.

However, there was a problem: My writing "enjoyment" always came in the form of commentaries on the human condition, explorations in psychology and personal development, along with writing "what if" scenarios about the future.

But because it wasn't poetry or something resembling literature, it was not considered "real" creative writing. At least, that's what I was told.

An Unrelated Workshop, Many Years Later

What's important to remember in this story is that I never stopped drawing and painting, and I never stopped writing. What "stopped" was any perception I had of myself as a creative person. I got to see myself as "just another sheep" wandering through life, occasionally "doodling and writing a bit, as a hobby."

Phrased differently, I didn't take my creativity seriously enough to "bother" developing it.

In 2001, I found myself at a 4-day retreat, which was basically a series of self-development and understand-yourself workshops. While there, participants were given a variety of self-assessment inventories... and one of the results in my personal inventory was that I was "highly creative and artistic." 

Which I found confusing, having previously had those very characteristics dismissed as not being part of who I am.

At that workshop, there were actually three of us who scored very high on "art and creativity" yet believed ourselves to not be creative. So we were put together in a small "study group" to explore this conundrum.

Don't Let Others Define Who You Are!

Our stories-- two men and one woman-- were remarkably similar: We had a natural curiosity and drive to explore things, but our interests had generally fallen outside "conventional definitions" of creativity. 

Richard was brilliant at pattern recognition and had written his own elaborate software routines that tracked specific trends inside the numbers of the stock market... which allowed him to make a living from "day trading" stocks... enough to support his love of woodworking and building furniture. Both... very creative endeavors.

Kate had grown up around older women who were master seamstresses, but she had no interest in sewing... yet her fascination with the patterns and colors of old Amish quilts led her to stitching together colored paper in amazing geometric designs... in spite of everyone around her insisting that she "couldn't do that" and it was "not a useful thing." Still, very creative-- and beautiful art.

And then there was me and my intricate geometric drawings, which I had been seeing inside my head for decades... and were one of the few things I felt adequately able to express outwardly.

The takeaway for the three of us-- and the takeaway I'd like to pass along to anyone reading this-- is to not allow other people (and societal convention!) to dictate to you what constitutes "creativity" and "art." We are each individuals, and just because someone fancies themselves an "art expert" or are the curator of an art gallery of note... does not make them the universal authority who gets to tell you what is-- and is not-- "art."

By all means, listen to what they have to offer... but take it for what it is (an opinion), and not as fact.

Thank you for reading! Red Dragonfly is a proud member of the @sndbox creative initiative.

The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.