Thoughts on Art/Creativity

I used to write about "creative productivity" - until, slowly, I realized that trying to be "productive" while making creative work is like trying to train a wild, mysterious jungle cat. it is not a dog. it will not obey you. the cat will do whatever it wants - when it wants. however, even wild animals have rhythms, routines, and safe spaces. inste

creativity is the world’s greatest recycling program

“I want to have a big, beautiful, happy life, and let great art flow from that. I reject the idea that we need to be miserable, alone, and/or dysfunctional in order to make great work.”

– Casey Gerald

Tina Roth Eisenberg • quotes – Page 8 – swissmiss

“The process of making art,” writes Rebecca Solnit, “is the process of becoming a person with agency, with independent thought, a producer of meaning rather than a consumer of meanings that may be at odds with your soul, your destiny, your humanity.”[2]

Cameron Russell • How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone: A Memoir

Being a creative means embracing the urge to put more of yourself—your identity, personality, and unique way of seeing—into the world, whether it be the way you make your breakfast in the morning or your trick for getting through your morning commute, or the themes that keep coming up among the thousands of photos in your camera roll. When we confo... See more

Spencer Chang • field notes on being a creative [pt. 1]

"To be an artist, you don't have to compose music or paint or be in the movies or write books. It's just a way of living. It has to do with paying attention, remembering, filtering what you see and answering back, participating in life."

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The “larger questions” often can’t be tackled at work, because creativity and critical thinking require uninterrupted focus – like going for a walk or sitting quietly on a couch by yourself. Or a bike ride. Or talking to someone outside your field.

Morgan Housel • The Advantage Of Being A Little Underemployed

The theater’s rich intellectual inheritance serves as a buffer to society’s recrudescent stupidity. Upholding this legacy seems a more vital role for a critic than operating as a tour guide of commercial entertainments. The survival of our democracy depends on the recovery of our critical thinking skills.

In the past, when I’ve made the case for cri... See more

Charles McNulty • In defense of criticism: A theater critic asks what good does it do in an upside-down world

When theater creates a space for empathy, audiences can be transported into situations that are beyond their own lived experiences and their hearts can crack open. If we are telling our stories successfully, then the theater is a place where everyone can feel a transformative sense of belonging – performers, writers, musicians, and even audience me