Exploring creativity through artists’ reflections
Abstract
The concept of creativity has been theorized and debated for millennia, dating back to the Greek philosopher Plato, who referred to “divine madness” in poets. Debates continue as to whether creativity is a gift or talent, a product of the genius gene, a side effect of mental health conditions, or if it is learned and nurtured through the environments and societies in which an individual grows and develops. While there is a wealth of research that sets out to define the concept of creativity, and numerous theoretical models have emerged since the early part of the 20th century, little of that involves artists reflecting on the concept. In order to explore this area, this study surveyed 314 artists from a range of countries, using an online survey, which invited them to reflect on creativity as a concept and how they understand it within their artistic practice. The findings reveal that creativity is a complex term and there is a range of understandings demonstrated by those who practice art-making. Questions for key stakeholders in education and policy are also raised, in terms of the role and place of artistic creativity in society.
Keyword : artistic practice, artists, creativity, genius, reflection, talent
How to Cite
Daniel, R. (2021). Exploring creativity through artists’ reflections. Creativity Studies, 14(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2021.11207
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Bain, A. (2005). Constructing an artistic identity. Work, Employment and Society, 19(1), 25–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017005051280
Blair, C. S., & Mumford, M. D. (2007). Errors in idea evaluation: preference for the unoriginal? Journal of Creative Behavior, 41(3), 197–222. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.2007.tb01288.x
Boden, M. A. (2005). What is creativity? In S. Mithen (Ed.), Creativity in human evolution and prehistory (pp. 15–43). Series: Theoretical Archaeology Group. Routledge.
Botella, M., Glaveanu, V., Zenasni, F., Storme, M., Myszkowski, N., Wolff, M., & Lubart, T. (2013). How artists create: creative process and multivariate factors. Learning and Individual Differences, 26, 161–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.02.008
Bryant, W. D. A., & Throsby, D. (2006). Creativity and the behavior of artists. In V. A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (Eds.), Handbook of the economics of art and culture. Vol. 1. Series: Handbooks in Economics 25. K. J. Arrow & M. D. Intriligator (Series Eds.) (pp. 507–529). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-0676(06)01016-7
Ceci, M. W., & Kumar, V. K. (2016). A correlational study of creativity, happiness, motivation, and stress from creative pursuits. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17, 609–626. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9615-y
Chan, J., Bruce, J., & Gonsalves, R. (2015). Seeking and finding: creative processes of 21st century painters. Poetics, 48, 21–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2014.11.001
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. SAGE Publications, Inc.
Cropley, D. H., Cropley, A. J., Kaufman, J. C., & Runco, M. A. (Eds.). (2010). The dark side of creativity. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511761225
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). The systems model of creativity: the collected works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Springer Science+Business Media.
Dorter, K. (1973). The Ion: Plato’s characterization of art. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 32(1), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.2307/428704
Ellison, R. (1995). Invisible man. Vintage Books.
Freeland, C. (2002). But is it art? Oxford University Press.
Friend, N. (2005). Art: what matters? Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 4(2), 159–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022205051964
Ghadirian, A.-M., Gregoire, P., & Kosmidis, H. (2001). Creativity and the evolution of psychopathologies. Creativity Research Journal, 13(2), 145–148. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326934CRJ1302_2
Glăveanu, V. P. (2013). Rewriting the language of creativity: the five a’s framework. Review of General Psychology, 17(1), 69–81. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029528
Kaufman, J. C. (2009). Creativity 101. Series: The Psych 101 Series. Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
Kemper, E. A., Stringfield, S., & Teddlie, C. (2003). Mixed methods sampling strategies in social science research. In A. Tashakkori & Ch. Teddlie (Eds.), SAGE handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (pp. 273–296). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Kozbelt, A. (2016). Process, self-evaluation, and lifespan creativity trajectories in eminent composers. In D. Collins (Ed.), The act of musical composition: studies in the creative process. Series: SEMPRE Studies in the Psychology of Music (pp. 27–52). Ashgate Publishing.
Kozbelt, A., Beghetto, R. A., & Runco, M. A. (2010). Theories of creativity. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.). The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 20–47). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511763205.004
Lee, H. (2014). To kill a mockingbird. Harper.
Lubart, T. (Ed.). (2018). The creative process: perspectives from multiple domains. Series: Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. V. P. Glăveanu & B. Wagoner (Series Eds.). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50563-7
Lumsden, Ch. J. (1999). Evolving creative minds: stories and mechanisms. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 153–168). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511807916.010
Maley, A., & Kiss, T. (2018). Creativity and English language teaching: from inspiration to implementation. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46729-4
Medeiros, K. E., Steele, L. M., Watts, L. L., & Mumford, M. D. (2018). Timing is everything: examining the role of constraints throughout the creative process. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 12(4), 471–488. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000148
Mertens, D. M. (2010). Research and evaluation in education and psychology: integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. SAGE Publications, Inc.
Plucker, J. A., Beghetto, R. A., & Dow, G. T. (2004). Why isn’t creativity more important to educational psychologists? Potentials, pitfalls, and future directions in creativity research. Educational Psychologist, 39(2), 83–96. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3902_1
Robinson, K. (2006). Do schools kill creativity? TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?language=en
Runco, M. A. (2007). Creativity. Theories and themes: research, development, and practice. Elsevier Academic Press.
Sawyer, R. K. (2012). Explaining creativity: the science of human innovation. Oxford University Press, Inc.
Schlesinger, J. (2009). Creative mythconceptions: a closer look at the evidence for the “Mad Genius” hypothesis. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 3(2), 62–72. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013975
Simonton, D. K., & Lebuda, I. (2019). A golden age for creativity research: interview with Dean Keith Simonton. Creativity: Theories – Research – Applications, 6(1), 140–146. https://doi.org/10.1515/ctra-2019-0009
Sloan Allen, J. (2002). Plato: The Morality and Immorality of Art. Arts Education Policy Review, 104(2), 19–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/10632910209605999
Sternberg, R. J. (2018). A triangular theory of creativity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 12(1), 50–67. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000095
Stokes, P. D. (2006). Creativity from constraints: the psychology of breakthrough. Springer Publishing Company, Inc.
Weisberg, R. W. (1994). Genius and madness?: A quasi-experimental test of the hypothesis that manicdepression increases creativity. Psychological Science, 5(6), 361–367. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1994.tb00286.x
Wiggins, G. A., Tyack, P., Scharff, C., & Rohrmeier, M. (2014). The evolutionary roots of creativity: mechanisms and motivations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 370. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4321140/pdf/rstb20140099.pdf