- Week 1 -
The Creative Process
My main takeaway of the material is that creation and design are essential characteristics of what a human being is, and art is just an expression of our inner traits: design and creation. And I think this extends even beyond what a human being is—the very essence of life, of the world, is design and creation (What Is Design? by Victor Papanek). Just like a flower follows a Fibonacci sequence to get the most sunlight possible for photosynthesis.
This also reminds me of something I once heard from Sadhguru, an Indian yogi and spiritual teacher: “What you refer to as god, is a source of creation. And you are the creator in many ways. Look at the nature of your life right now: if you eat a banana, in four hours this banana becomes a human being. There is something within you—a life-creating process that creates this body. Transforming a banana into a human being is not a small thing. It is phenomenal. It’s just that it happens within you unconsciously. You are the creator, you are nothing less than that.”
Baldwin’s The Creative Process underscores the responsibility of artists to confront solitude and reveal uncomfortable truths that society tends to avoid. I personally was not truly interested in this reading, but it left me thinking that we are, in a way, a creation. Our thoughts and actions, both conscious and unconscious, are driven by who we are—our culture, history, and context. But at the same time, we fight that and redesign ourselves. We reveal uncomfortable truths and fight for change.
Readings:
- The Creative Process by James Baldwin from Creative America
- Everyone Is A Creator & Tuning In (Chapter 1 & 2) from The Creative Process by Rick Rubin
- What Is Design? from Design For The Real World by Victor Papanek
Videos:
- The Horizons of the Artificial (NYU Stream, GDrive)
- Tony Fry, Futuring, The City, & Sustainment