The Ecology of Creativity

"The creative process is an ecology that depends upon the full spectrum of our resources"
Shaun McNiff, Trust The Process — an artist's guide to letting go (Shambala, 1998)

There's been some really lively and interesting discussions going on of late on my favourite creativity forum my favourite creativity forum. One like-minded soul started talking about how she felt that her different interests and projects fed into each other — allowing her to find enthusiasm for one when another flagged and that way she could keep moving. This made me think that our creative life is really like a mini ecosystem — such as we might strive to build in a permaculture garden — where each element (be it plant or structure) ideally has forum multiple functions: The principle function i.e. the reason we are growing it (or have sited in a particular place if it is a structure) plus at least one secondary function such as to promote or help with another aspect if the garden. This might be by deterring insects from damaging another plant, providing shade etc.

If we look at our creative ecology in the same way, we can see that the same might be true: A blog can serve not only to showcase our work but to connect with people by showcasing theirs; It may even be that we write our blog when we have reached a lull in another creative activity and the writing serves to clarify where we need to go next in the other project. Similarly, we can use a technique that comes relatively easily to us to create a piece that acts as a psychological counterbalance to the struggle we might be having with a more challenging piece; the first acting like a fertilizer for our confidence, keeping it boosted when the second one is threatening it.

All this stands directly opposed to the modern urban myth that dedicating yourself exclusively to just one discipline is the only way to be 'serious' about your creative work and yet you don't have to look far to find incredibly successful artists who are also musicians. Or poets. Or novelists.

Of course, there are only so many hours in a day and if we are blogging we are not painting and if we are painting then we cannot simultaneously be composing...and yet what the one robs of the other in terms of time, it so often gives back in the form of enthusiasm or inspiration.

If our creativity is an ecology, then having more than one type of plant in the garden means our landscape will always be varied, challenging and stimulating and the produce we yield will feed us a healthier, more balanced diet!

What does your creative ecosystem look like? Click on 'Comments' below the post and share your thoughts!


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