Tuesday, 17 September 2013

The Creativity Debate

As part of a refresher task we were all asked to define what creativity is. I think this is always a challenging and thought-provoking discussion seeing as everyone's thoughts and opinions are so different; you can learn a great deal simply through listening to other interpretations.

I have gathered some quotes from a range of people who have shared their views on what creativity is:

"The ability to share, improvise, invent, discover and create entities through any kind of source in any different way. It is not a pretty painting - it is a process which may or may not result in some kind of outcome"
      - Selina Swift
~  This is my own definition which I came up with at the beginning of our class discussion. I wanted to eliminate this idea that creativity is art, because although creativity helps with art, it is certainly not limited soley to that activity. Creativity has a part to play in absolutely everything.


“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people" 
      - Leo Burnett
~ This quote particularly caught my eye as, being a curious person myself, I can account for the fact that wanting to know about something often automatically consequences in taking (creative) action to satisfy the question. It evokes a kind of child-like sense of wonderment, which Burnett is implying the majority of people lose. 


Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try" 
     – Dr. Seuss
~ I really like this definition because it is poetically creative within itself. Also, it is suggesting not to confine yourselves into a narrow minded way of thinking; you should consider every aspect and beyond


I think the mistake many people make is trying to concretely define something which is so broad, that it is effectively indefinable within one sentence. To experience creativity is the best shortcut to understanding it externally.

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