Creativity is Good for a Lot More Than Making Art

Creativity is such a useful part of our human make up. I’m convinced that other species use creativity to live and survive. But what truly makes us as humans different is that we take creativity to the point of making art, which at the root of the matter, is just another form of communication.

I think we can learn a valuable lesson from other living things by thinking of creativity in more than just an artful way. Creativity is the basis for resourcefulness and as many of us have found out, resourcefulness is a key to survival and certainly our day to day lives. Resourcefulness begins with having resources. Resources can be both tangible things or skill. The next step is taking stock of those resources, or understanding what you have so when the time comes to use them, it’s natural to access your resources.

Creativity comes in when a problem arises, your mind can quickly access and blend your resources into working options. I’ve often said, in my opinion, there are really no creative thinkers, there are creative doers. Just thinking up ideas, even for a piece of art doesn’t really count to me as a creative thinker. Creativity is the act of making something happen.

So, when you have a problem, it’s not thinking and doing nothing about it. It is being resourceful, creatively resourceful if you wish, and then coming up with suitable options to fix that problem, choosing what you feel is the best option and implementing it. That’s what we do all the time as artists. We find solutions to bring ideas in our head to life. The same should be true with tackling a problem and being resourceful in a fashion that eliminates the problem.

Live an artful life,

Tom

Read Tom's Blog every Tuesday!