Your Brain on Art- Day 15

“The creative path is an unfolding process of becoming ourselves and it’s a wonderful journey we get to take.” Nicolas Wilton

I remember taking an art class in eighth grade. I enjoyed it and looked forward to attending. One six weeks I made a B in the class and it kept me off the A honor roll. I never took another art class until college, when it was required as part of my degree. 

Around third grade is when kids begin to pick up on whether their drawings look realistic or not. Up to that point they drew to their hearts' content not really worried about how their drawings looked. In fact, it might have been around this time that a well-meaning teacher began to point out who was or wasn’t talented in art. 

Slowly, but surely one kid after another gave up on art and focused more on getting the right answer on one of those testing scantrons.

The title Artist was only reserved for those few “talented” kids who knew how to draw. Interestingly I learned later in life that drawing is actually a skill and can be taught and improved upon. It wasn’t just based on talent. 

In college, I considered studying interior design, but when I learned you had to be able to sketch I changed my mind. I didn’t consider myself a true artist, although I still liked to dabble in the visual arts. 

According to Nicholas Wilton, founder of Art2Life, “Art-making is, really about feeling more alive in your life.” He states that what holds us back is our inner critic always reminding us that our art is not good enough. 

In turn, our creativity is shut down. We need to reframe the way we look at this. We should focus more on the process and less on the finished product. It is within our human nature to want to be good at what we do, but it’s too easy to demand unrealistic expectations. Don’t let that get in the way.  

Your Brain on Art defines creativity as, “…the ability to imagine and come up with original ideas and solutions.” Now the idea of “original” can be a sticking point. In reality, as the Bible reminds us, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

However, you can certainly combine ideas to come up with a new version. This could be as simple as adding a different ingredient to a recipe, making up a bedtime story, or figuring out a problem using the materials you have on hand. 

Believe it or not, our brains are designed to support this kind of thinking. As far back as the caveman days people’s creativity has helped them survive. 

I challenge each of you to view yourself in a new light when it comes to creativity. Take the words, “I’m not creative,” out of your lexicon and start looking for ways in your everyday life to include creativity. 

For starters check out Wilson’s website art2life.com.