I once heard the celebrated filmmaker David Lynch interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air. Host Terry Gross asked Lynch something about what he does when he makes a movie. Lynch responded that when he makes a movie, he “doesn’t really know” what he’s doing. This statement has always stayed with me. When the amazing David Lynch [ Read more … ]
creative breakthrough
It’s freeing to pursue what our heart loves.
I taught creative process courses for several years in a graduate program at the Sophia Center at Holy Names University. The thing I enjoyed most about teaching this course was that I got to share the things that inspired me. Week to week, that’s all I did: bring in what inspired me. So Corita Kent [ Read more … ]
Images produce breakthroughs
Humans have been accessing inner images since pre-historic times when tribes painted visions onto cave walls. Psychologist David Premack writes, “The original and basic unit of mental activity, which remains the psyche’s preferred way of operating, is the image.” And in the case of every scientific discovery which has been researched carefully, it has been [ Read more … ]
The brilliance of painter Robert Henri
One of my favorite books about art-making and creativity is Robert Henri’s The Art Spirit. Here are a few passages that stood out to me: “…we must get rid of this outside feeling of looking in on art. We must get on the inside and press out. Art is simply a result of expression during [ Read more … ]
The role of the imagination is to awaken us.
In her book, If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland wrote: When we ignore the imagination, we stop living from our center, from the creative fountain, and we live from the periphery, from externals. Imagination brings possibility. As educator Maxine Greene said, “The role of imagination is to awaken, to disclose the ordinarily unseen, unheard, [ Read more … ]