The Creative Process of Multitasking.

The Creative Process

“If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” 
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

Kurt Vonnegut also says not to use semicolons as they are some red-headed stepchild of nothingness; he states that they are a grammatical marker of the college educated. Is a semicolon like putting a letterman jacket on my sentence, Mr. Vonnegut? If so, I wear my grammar markers proudly like a chess club champion wears his varsity blazer!

Vonnegut believed life to be a creative process; art is life, life is art. Zing.

And while pondering what my current creative process in art-making is… I just kept coming back to the same idea: the creative process is firmly, consciously embedded in my daily life process. There is no magical moment where I stop everything to create an art product.

Just as Vonnegut advocates that arts “are a very human way of making life more bearable.” I came to the realization that I am in the business of teaching creativity in the mundane, everyday. Art is a point of view and the actions that follow it.

As an multimedia artist, I run around making a lot of mediocre art followed, or inclusive of, some pretty decent writing. I am writer who prefers the creative manifestation of performance art, guerrilla installation, and dancing in the shower (okay that is dangerous… I dance in the classroom). And my process of how those projects emerge depends on the project. Some parts of the creative process requires unitasking while my collaborative nature in project-based art-making are inherently multitasked.

But out of it all, I never could remember a time where I sat down to draw with the computer on, the radio blurring, and allowing my kid to talk to me. So… for this experiment, I decided to work on the logo for an upcoming production of Vagina Monologues in Gwangju, South Korea, that I am co-directing.

We wanted a fierce she-dragon as our logo. As you can see, my she-dragon is not fierce. She is ornate and my daughter promises to make her more fierce once she puts it on her computer and external drawing pad.

Observations

Admittedly, I wasn’t attached to the outcome of the creative process. I knew from the beginning it could be aborted at any point. There were no high stakes in my ability to be a successful logo designer. I have every intention of delegating this logo development to the professionals.

Nonetheless, it was nice to draw for the evening as my 30 minute assignment turned into a few hours.

I was surrendered to the process. I had no attachment to the outcomes. I felt free to do whatever I wanted. I don’t always give myself that freedom. Although, I live in the creative process – so much of the stress that I experience in daily life is measured by how much that I think is riding on the success of my end product. It was really nice to just go with the flow. Too allow the process to be what it was.

And out of this release of control, I became more open to ideas from Ana (my kid) and from other sources of images found on the computer. I tried ideas that normally are believed beyond my skill set. I was also listening to female artists known for their rebellious natures… I am sure that inspired my reckless abandon.

Interestingly enough, I can find this place of surrender and freedom in other art forms that I am more confident – say in writing or some performance genres. It is always interesting how selective that I am about going with the flow and how that is in direct correlation with my sense of self/confidence/faith in the process.

…as if I am the source of the creative force… not.