So let’s talk about Creativity
Creativity is a funny thing because most (or too many) people that come to the classes, or perhaps think about coming to the classes, are afraid of it because they don’t believe they’re creative.
I hear that a lot, particularly from blokes that say: “Oh, I’m just not creative.”
But when you think about it, that’s a pretty big decision to have made about yourself, and generally, most people make that decision when they’re very young. So when you’re at primary school and you can’t draw as well as Rosie or Freddy, you say: “Oh, I just can’t do that. I’m not creative.”
And then you carry that through your whole life. And why is it that we tend to measure creativity solely by our ability to draw? There are many ways to be creative that have nothing to do with drawing.
But really, how much proof is there that you’re not creative? I could think back to when I started in woodwork. I always hoped that I would be able to learn to design furniture, but I never thought much about carving. And then when I did start carving, I was doing mostly decorative carving, because that was what we needed for furniture at the time.
But I never thought much about the bowls that I carve now. And if you had told me then that I would be carving these, I would have been pretty amazed!
And the thing is that when you start something, what you’ve got to realise is, you grow into it. You start small, you do one little thing, and it’s just a little step and then sometime later, you do another little thing, which is a slightly bigger step, builds on what you’ve already done before and pushes a little bit further. And before you know it, you’ve done 20 things and you are miles down the road from where you started, doing things that you had no idea that you’d be able to do at the time.
So that’s why I think it’s really sad when people limit themselves by saying: “Oh, I’m not creative.”
Because the fact is you DON’T KNOW.
You’ve never given yourself a real chance to find out. And then at the end of the day, if you discover you’re not creative, well, it doesn’t matter. You can still have a hell lot of fun just copying stuff. You don’t have to be doing original designs or doing stuff that nobody’s ever done. You can just copy something that someone else has done.
A lot of my students start out copying my carvings, but then eventually they find their own way. They start doing things that they’ve thought of themselves. But even aside from that, if you were to take a photograph of an animal or a bird or something, and carve that, that’s pretty unique. Nobody’s done that before. You know, not that actual photograph, not that actual pose. So there’s there’s just so much stuff you can do. And as long as you don’t artificially limit yourself for reasons that really, when you think about it, make no sense at all.
So the mindset is one thing that you were talking about with people saying that they can’t be creative, or that they’re not creative. But what do you find works for the students when they finally overcome that? Is it to do with techniques where they just have to keep practising? Is it a way for them to find inspiration?
I think it’s almost inevitable. When you start carving and you make something, often by the time you’ve finished, you’ve thought of something else to do. Or what I really encourage people to do, if what you’ve finished is not as good as you’d want it to be, do it again.
Because there is so much to be learned from doing something five times or ten times. You will learn so much doing that, but a lot of people are reluctant to do that because they think it’s too boring. But really, if you really want to learn, that’s a really good way to do it.
Just set yourself to do the same thing over and over and then compare the first one to the last one and you will have realise what you’ve learned in the doing.
But when you start, things inevitably build, one thing leads to another, and that’s what I mean, you grow into it. It’s a funny thing, in your head, you can only sort of hold so much at any time, I’ve found. And when you start, it’s filled with a lot of things. You’re learning a lot of things. You’re learning technique, you’re learning about the tools, you’re learning about wood, you’re learning how to cut and how not to cut. So there’s so much going on – more than enough to fill your head.
And then when you finish that piece, you’ll have learned, say a certain amount, and then you can take that and put it into the next piece, but then add a little bit more. You can take a piece, as your second piece, which just is a little bit more complex and requires a few additional tools, some different techniques, some different forms or shapes.
And so as you go, you just continue expanding what you can do technically, and what you can hold in your mind. It seems a curious thing that to say, you can’t hold more than a certain amount in your mind, but I’m quite sure that’s the case.
I know it’s definitely been the case for me, and you can’t hope to do something hugely complicated, right off the bat – you’re better off starting with something simple and then building on that and growing into the carving.
End
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