CREATIVE SPARKS

The creative process is often triggered in surprising ways! Did you know that artists’ inspirations – their “creative sparks” – regularly come from outside their own genre? Here are some examples of what I mean:

• American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham designed ballets inspired by a wide variety of stimuli. These included modern painting, the American frontier, religious ceremonies of Native Americans, and Greek mythology.
• In 1975, musical group The Bee Gees’ first big disco hit, “Jive Talkin’” was born of the rhythmic sound of their car wheels rolling along a bridge over Biscayne Bay, Florida.
• Architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s favourite muse was Mother Nature. His entire body of work focussed on integrating human-made structures into the natural world. He took his inspiration from the surrounding environment and created beautiful, innovative buildings. They not only fit into, but also echoed key elements of their settings.

Music as Creative Spark

Music is probably as big an influencer of art as Nature. A 1993 study coined “The Mozart Effect” went so far as to say you could improve your creativity by listening to the piano concerti of Mozart. Whether that’s true or not is under debate. Yet maybe a little background Wolfgang couldn’t hurt, right?
A few years ago I had the experience of being quite transported by a jazz performance. Has this ever happened to you? Music takes you to a different place or time – beyond simple memory to a place where Truth is found. Music has the power to do that. As a creative, my genre is words, so in response to my experience I created a poem sparked by that music. To complete my piece of “Poetry Art”, I then took a photograph to enhance the poem.
So I’ll leave you with this personal example of how an artist’s inspiration comes from outside her genre. As always, I’d love to hear what you think!
Here is “Summertime.”
Lee Ann