Sunday, November 8, 2009

Thoughts on The Path of the Artist

#1. Creativity comes from the Mind’s Eye. Each person has it available to his/her being. Few too many use that creativity to enhance their personal life or that of others.


Being an artist, a person of creativity, expands the whole person. An artist thinks outside a box created by the collective thought. An artist sees more, hears more, perceives more [possibilities], and makes Life larger, greater, and new.

One can be an artist in business or in society or in government. Allowing time within the hustle and bustle of today’s lifestyle, to be quiet and to visualize unexplored ideas, colors, shapes, rhythms, movements, negotiations, etc. brings forth the greatest contributions to Living. The artist develops a greater awareness of any and everything of Life.

#2. For me, developing my artistic skills has enriched my life, allowed me to expand far beyond my shell of protection/my cocoon. I certainly recognized it when I reignited a community theater group, while living in Saudi Arabia, which resulted in other groups coming to life, presenting a platform of expression for hundreds of latent and talented performers. There, I found a voice within that was screaming to speak out.

#3. The function of an artist in society is to bring about positive change, stimulate thoughts outside the normal collective thought, introduce new methods of doing a task, operating a business, or handling a project. The artist may create beauty where it had not existed.

#4. My Artist’s Path has been to continue to create. Sometimes, I am working with paint brush in hand; sometimes, I am hand-dying silks; sometimes I practice enjoying music of my own talents or just listening; sometimes, I am developing my Being on a spiritual level; sometimes, I am improving my relations, or managing my finances differently.

No-thing is cast in stone; no-thing is fact forever, only until it is replaced by another fact. Life is bubbling with possibilities.

Children in the classrooms should be encouraged to learn from new and exciting angles, that charge them with enthusiasm. I, especially, feel that the current school systems should be revamped and updated. The children of today are born into a different level of energetics, with the in-born computer adaptivity, multi-stimuli excitation, and action-oriented interests.

Being a “mature” person, I see that the environment of quietude while studying is far outdated. The above realities should be considered as forms of change for the school systems.

I feel we will expand our Living with allowing in-class artistry and creativity. Children need to be encouraged to think and create, rather than regurgitate information.

It is known and practiced in many corporate environments, that the creative leaders take time for themselves to expand the possibilities, which can bring forth new concepts and implement change.

So be It.
Barbara Erickson

 

2 comments:

  1. In 1978 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Barbara announced an acting workshop. I had just weaned my youngest and decided to attend. That workshop set me on my own artist's path. Eventually I went on to get a Master of Fine Arts in Acting, but the beginning took place in a land where live theater is or was virtually unknown, but the expatriate community came together from over 20 different countries to create theater. I was and am blessed to have B.J., as I called her and still call her, in my life. A circle feels completed with this posting. Thanks, B.J.

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  2. This TED talk will interest (and entertain).
    kenneth robinson: do schools kill creativity? YouTube

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