Creativity is freedom

To make people free is the aim of art. Therefore, art for me is the science of freedom. [Joseph Beuys]

A creative brain puts ideas to use in unexpected ways. A creative brain uses contrasting combinations of thoughts to foster new ones. A creative brain can:

reinvent

reimagine

rethink.

I’m reoutfitting my art studio for a music studio. It all happened because I bought a drum kit this weekend from a friend who had just happened to decide she wanted to sell it a few days prior to me mentioning I wanted to take drum lessons. Are you interested in it? she asked. I’ll take it, I said.

Serendipity.

Once I reimagined my art studio into something that inspired me, something more useful, it surprisingly gave me a new vision for my art practice (aside from drums!).

Collage is not inspiring me right now and really hasn’t been for months. Even the materials have been off-putting to me? Even looking at my past work is bothering me. It just feels not-good.

At the same time I’ve been casually thinking about painting. It’s been a little bee buzzing around in my mind. In the past, my love of cleanliness has made me wary of painting. Paint is messy. But I had a vision that I could paint outside in my courtyard. Less messy somehow. This inspired me.

Creativity isn’t about about being good or bad at collage or painting or drums. Creativity is the ability to create your future, to follow your aliveness, to be fully present and in charge of your life.

So often we filter out thoughts that don’t fit our immediate purpose or idea of what should happen. I hate the word ‘should’ for this reason. It’s a buzz kill. It can leave us stuck, unconsciously policing creative thinking, the very thinking that can set us free.

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I kicked off this week’s Group Therapy playlist with a song by Saya Gray. Her sound is so unconventional, not trying to fit in any box. Check out her Tiny Desk.