Doing anything creative declares “I am” to the universe.
It helps you discover who you are. It enables you to create another aspect of who you are. It shares something of yourself with the world around you. It can be a way to bond with friends.
One creative act is to create a space where what you want to happen can happen. This makes it a creative act squared: Decorating a space is a creative act; in addition to decorating, I’ve been arranging mine expressly so that creativity can happen here. And it does.
One space in my house where creativity happens is the room off the kitchen that probably usually would be a formal dining room. I’m not interested in a dining room, but I do want a big enough table that people can sit around it and paint, or that I can do my own decorative painting/spiffing up stuff I find at Goodwill. So I made that, thanks to Craigslist and furniture I already had.
It worked!
I arranged the space according to how people would move in it. That sounds more complicated than it was. Arranging the space took removing my late husband’s work table (now it lives outside under a shade tree, making an outdoor creative space), which was too huge to allow several people to sit around it, and substituting a smaller table that chairs could fit comfortably around. I also set up some smaller folding tables that usually live on the front porch. People could get the supplies they needed and take them to a satellite work station with more elbow room.
Yesterday, it was filled with women I know, all painting on canvases I got on clearance at the art supply store. The shared energy felt great. It felt great to be creative together with people, some of whom I knew well, and some I had just met.
Creating the space where it can happen
I’ve accumulated the paints over the years of improving things, of making them look more like the image in my head. A zillion two-ounce containers of acrylic craft paints don’t take up much space to store. Yogurt or cottage cheese containers make stable cups for rinsing brushes. I store my art supplies on open shelves and also in a couple chests of drawers.
Portrait of the porch as a studio
Mess is a good thing
A space where creativity can happen can look any way you need it to. While the process is happening, it probably is better if it looks kind of messy.
A certain amount of disorder is believed to enhance creativity. Kathleen D. Vohs, Distinguished McKnight University Professor at University of Minnesota, explains this in a New York Times opinion piece referencing research published in Psychological Science and the work of researchers at Northwestern University. People came up with more creative solutions to problems when they thought them up in a borrowed office that was messy.
Sharing your creativity makes the world a better place
This house in my neighborhood always inspires me. I’m going to leave a note thanking its inhabitants for enriching my life.
Resources
Alexander, Christopher, et al. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series). (Oxford University Press 1977). Using as models spaces in Europe, Alexander and his posse explain how to create user-friendly interior, exterior, and even public spaces such as towns and cities.
If you’re a fan of The Not So Big House : A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live (Taunton Press, Expanded ed. 2009) by Sarah Susanka, I discovered Alexander’s work from her referencing it. She’s incisive about what you need for a space you’ll actually use.
Pam Grout, Author of E squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality (Hay House Insights 2013) [Ooooh, it’s available for $3.99 on Kindle!] also believes creativity is essential to our well-being. Her 2017 book, Art & Soul, Reloaded: A Yearlong Apprenticeship for Summoning the Muses (Penguin/Random House) is filled with exercises to help you find ways for your creative urges to shine.
Think UP! 