Why Create?
Daily artwork ink on paper (detail)
When people ask me why create, they are looking for an answer to allay their sense of despondency. This question is often followed by the next question “what is the point if your work doesn’t sell and its banking up in the garage gathering dust?”
I think they are missing the point. It’s not what a child asks when he or she picks up a crayon and starts drawing. They are focused in the present, bringing something into existence like magic.
Creativity is a blessing. It takes you outside of yourself to a place that is “out of time”. When you create in the flow, everything around you goes into soft focus and you are only concentrating on the thing you are making, right in front of you. You are in the “zone of genius”.
Part of the creative process can be mundane. Like priming canvases with gesso or painting backgrounds for book covers. However the very sameness of the task means your hands are in automatic mode while your mind is free to wander into realms of possibility.
It is no wonder that knitting, crocheting, throwing pots, and all the repetitive rhythmic activities we do with our hands, are a form of meditative body knowledge.
Recently I was talking to a fellow paper maker in the USA., Jacqueline Mallegni. We have become the editors of the International Association of Paper Makers and Paper Artists IAPMA annual publication, the Bulletin.
This year’s theme is Freedom and we meet regularly via zoom to discuss the submissions and paper related articles. It is our way of giving back to an international community of artists who create, love and use paper in their art.
It was during one of these zoom calls that she started to talk about the joy of creating.
“Stop” I said, “I have to record this.”
Her discussion about art taking you outside of yourself to be a part of something much bigger than you, reminds me of the words of the Irish poet WB Yeats who said.
“The mystical life is the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write”.
As artists we experience that surrender to our materials and to the creative process that comes with the consistency of creating. It is akin to connection with something greater, the divine, the universal life force.
Why create if you feel like no one is appreciating you or your work. What is the point?
So when I’m asked these questions I think of this interview and the shared joy we felt when talking about our passion for paper. Now I’m sharing it with you.
