Ever since I was a teenager, “creativity” has been a word that haunts me. I thought I could learn to be creative by taking an art course or buying books on the subject (which I didn't always have the patience to read to the end). I thought I was incapable, without talent, without time, without money, and on top of that I was excessively self-critical. Maybe inspiration was something that would suddenly fall from the sky, like lightning, and I would be blessed… maybe.
For lack of courage or for not believing in my potential to be creative – a potential inherent in EVERY human being, including you, who reads me now –, I ended up opting for a corporate career, filled with numbers and analytical visions.
Over time, somehow, I filled this void exercising creativity in making tables and reports, and how wonderful when I discovered the resources of good old Power Point! It somehow satisfied my creative impulses and made me happy, temporarily.
I did some research, until the day I discovered Ceramics. And through practice - which involves many attempts, frustrations and learning - I ended up identifying myself with this form of expression and with its thousands of possibilities to exercise, in short, the long-awaited “Creativity”.
And for you what is Creativity? Do you consider yourself a creative person? Do you think you were “not born for this”? That's where the trap lies, amig@… Creativity is a way of seeing life and solving the problems that affect you daily, and it's not exclusive to talented and famous artists.
A painting in my studio says: “The mind is like a parachute, it only works if it is Open”. Creativity is that, it is a process, a search, but it will only happen if you are willing to look at anything openly, without prejudices, pre-judgments, criticisms, fears, and everything else that prevents you from accomplish things.
CREATE includes, of course, possible “artistic” gifts, but also activities such as cooking, tidying closets, driving around town, setting a table, dressing, cleaning the house, playing sports, and there goes an endless list of tasks and habits that can be more creative.
Above all, I believe that we exercise our Creativity when we are faced with problems of any kind, and we seek solutions. But it takes PRACTICE.
Clay offers this opportunity to train the brain to test and try new ways to solve a series of “problems” that come to us through the ceramic process. I write “problem” in quotation marks, because often what we see as such can be the solution in itself or at least it will be a very useful learning experience for when the same problem occurs again.
This applies to everyday life, no doubt! And the more you get your mind used to looking for outlets, the more synapses you create, and the more creative you get! Bingo!
Theoretically, the process would be something like…
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With Ceramics, the difference is that the “Problem” Solution is almost never theorized, but INTUITED, experienced, “springs” from somewhere that is unconscious until then. In other words, Magic happens! But that is a topic for an upcoming post.
Come try it yourself too!
- art therapy sessions with clay
- pottery classes
- workshops
