“I am inspired”.
Do creative thoughts differ from regular thoughts? Can it help us to be creative or more creative to understand any possible differences? Quite possibly! The creative process is one which is fraught with danger. Some don’t want to think about it in case the fragile magic gets broken. Others want to nail down exactly what it is. Most of us exist somewhere in between. We know if we want to be consistently creative, we need some kind of habit or routine (dare we call it a ritual?) but recognise the process can be elusive, the same thing doesn’t always work… a creative block would be SO much easier if we could simply unblock it!
To start let’s look at thinking. There are three broad types of thinking. These can be characterised by 3 types of objects. This could get tricky without some ‘visuals’!
A ladder. A tree. A spiderweb.
The ladder is the analogy for logical and rational thinking. One thought or step leads to another, taking you from where you ‘are’ to where you would like to ‘be’. We don’t necessarily need to know where we are going (although it certainly helps) as each step builds on the previous one and includes it, reducing everything down to the simplest version of the thought(s) before moving on. This builds a strong thought tower BUT it also means we are rejecting all other possibilities at each step. If we hit an obstacle… the tower falls.
The tree is the analogy for lateral thinking. Starting at the roots, we draw in all the information we need until we have the trunk, the solid understanding of what we are doing or want to achieve. This can be seen as the problem-solving approach, the more we know about the problem, the easier it becomes to solve. Once we have gathered all the roots of information we can then start moving up through branching possibilities. Although this mode of thought has advantages over logic, it is still ‘hierarchical’, in that the thoughts build, and the branches mean that thoughts become binary nodes (something is either ‘this’ or ‘that’) and while exploring more possibilities than the logical approach there is very little to connect all the branching possibilities.
Finally, there is the spiderweb as an analogy for rhizomatic thinking (a rhizome is a botanical term for subterranean stems such bulbs or tubers) as identified by Deleuze and Guitari in 1980. Each node can connect with each other, there is no hierarchy, so you can enter the web at any place within it and easily orient yourself and progress. No thought is more important than another, no idea resonates more strongly. The web allows easy travel through out it, building itself where It needs to and allowing multiple cycles of travel around the nodes you want. The downside here is that there is no start or end, structuring and prioritisation becomes an issue.
Creative thinking requires all three modes of thought. As creatives, rhizomatic thought might feel the most comfortable for us and where we can almost effortlessly draw ideas by making new connections. Lateral thought allows us to filter the web, creating some priorities and structure while logical thought allows us to rigorously develop a process while also communicating our intent through language.
Yet other disciplines can also benefit from the different modes of thought. Scientists, mathematicians and engineers all require these modes of thought to truly become masters of their field.
And perhaps we as creatives, just need to shift our mode of thought when we come against an artistic block!
Connections in Textiles
How much of our textiles are ‘just’ objects? Useful. Practical. Maybe even nice to look at. How many of our textiles are connected to moments in time? To people? To powerful emotions that we don’t want to let go of. An argument can be made that most of the textiles we own falls onto the side of connections. Even, perhaps, that textiles are ALL about connections, not just in the weave or stitch but in the fabric of our memories and emotions. And that if we forget that then our lives, our culture and perhaps our planet will suffer.
One of our earliest memories is often of the fabrics that surround us. Their colours, their warmth, their feel, and their smell. Your baby shawl created by a close family member or friend that has perhaps travelled down through the generations. Maybe your mother’s nightie or your father’s shirt. Or the curtains in your first room. All these are objects that serve a purpose and for everyone else maybe are just that. Yet to YOU they are something more.
They are a reminder of the first feelings of love. A symbol of an unbroken legacy. An introduction to a favourite colour or even, for many of us, a gateway into why we create with fibres and fabrics!
As we grow older these tactile connections of colour and comfort become the gifts that we give to those we care about. Curtains and cloths, tops and towels, bags and bookmarks. A birthday. A Christmas. An anniversary. A going away present. A welcome home gift. A textile object that bridges a gap between two people and creates a connection.
When our loved ones are gone, we can still feel that connection, remember those moments when those gifts sometimes find their way back to us.
If our connection to these emotional artefacts is strong enough, we pick up the needle, the loom or the spinning wheel and connect with our cultural past stretching back 20,000 years! We learn the skills that have kept ourselves warm. That have helped identify us. That have let us express ourselves. There is real joy in the making, joy in the using and joy in the giving.
Machine made fabrics are convenient and cheap but perhaps the hyper-industrialisation of fashion and fabric threatens these connections by cheapening their meaning to us. If it is easier to buy a new top than to fix one, does that make it better?
There is an ever-growing movement of not just recycling but of upcycling, of reinvention and repurpose that allows us to keep items, keep using them and create stories and new connections with them. Someone after all has been behind that object. Designed it. Selected the colour and the style. If picking up from a shop with pre-loved items… that object has been a moment in time for someone else BEFORE US.
If we can teach and learn about fabrics, fast and slow fashion, it will allow us to honour the connections and the skills that have gone into those items. We can preserve our craft and pass it on.
Finally, we can save our planet from the unneeded waste of the unconnected ‘new’.
Open Ended Experimentation!
When we sit down to work creatively there are two types of sampling. The first is one where we have an idea or goal in mind, maybe we are learning a technique, tool or material and we practice to achieve the correct outcome. The second is the one where we have NO idea of what is going to happen!
As baby creatives, the first scenario is where we start as we establish the foundation of our craft. We grow into the second scenario, sitting with bundles of fibre, thread and fabric, where we say: ‘ok then. Let’s see what we can do’.
The Importance of Play!
When we were very young, that white piece of paper or empty space was a boundless area of opportunity. ANYTHING could happen (and frequently did) when we got our hands on our crayons. Or paint brush. Or modelling clay. When we just relaxed and started to PLAY.
This is the idea of open-ended experimentation. This is the ‘no fail’ state where whatever is created… is created. All we need do is ask, ‘what happens if...?’ This is truly where a maker can mature and find their own way. Their own style. Their own voice. With open ended experimentation we can explore ideas we hadn’t realised were noodling around our brain, test new materials we have discovered as well as new tools and processes we want to try. All this without an idea or end goal in mind.
The Need for Reflection
When we were young, we perhaps didn’t reflect back on what we had done. Or set parameters for our play other than fun. This is an important step with open-ended experimentation. We can analyse the results of what we have accomplished. We can maintain awareness of what we are doing during the making, providing feedback to ourselves to improve what we are doing. We can also evaluate what we have learned once we have finished. Was it what we thought might happen? Or did we discover something new?
Without a set end result we can allow ourselves to make and then see connections that were perhaps invisible to us before. New ideas can bloom from just reflecting on what has been done. Perhaps even coax our creative genius from the corner?
Sampling and Open Ended Experimentation
In textiles, sampling is the area where open ended experimentation can shine. We can discover so much from exploring materials and processes and this can be a springboard for new ideas and approaches.
We can use sampling for design. We can understand design concepts and how they work by applying them in our craft area. We can learn how we want to express ourselves with different design concepts and communicate clearly to others. We can reflect and decide on how we want to grow as makers, producing personal responses in our work.
Perhaps PLAY can be the most CREATIVE activity of all - as long as we can harness its power!
