Alex Haley

"I look at my books the way parents look at their children.  The fact that one becomes more successful than the others doesn't make me love the less successful one any less."

— Alex Haley

American Writer

1921 - 1992

As artists and writers we spend many hours creating our work and it is only natural that we become attached.  These creative works become our offspring.  And like parents we are very proud of our children and seek to defend them from attacks by others.  What writer or artist has not been hurt by the words of critics.  And like parents, we sometimes love one work of art more than we love another.  And sometimes our favorite child is the one that our readers like the least.  

What is your relationship to your creative work?  Are you defensive?  Do you love certain works more than others?  Why?  Have you ever destroyed your work?  Tore up a canvas?  Burned a manuscript?  

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Maya Angelou

"You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have."

Maya Angelou

American Poet/Writer

1928 - 

Creativity is a gift that we all possess.  If you have ever watched a small child play, you know this is true.  Children before they attend school have such powerful imaginations, yet through the many years of schooling much of this imagination is lost as the children are forced to conform to the world of adulthood.  Only the strongest hold onto their imagination and continue to think in ways that upset the mainstream.  The more we use our imagination the stronger it grows.  If we don't use our imagination, it withers and disappears.  Are you encouraging your imagination and that of the people around you?

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Wayne Dyer

"The child in you, like all children, loves to laugh, to be around people who can laugh at themselves and life.  Children instinctively know that the more laughter we have in our lives, the better."

— Wayne Dyer

American Author/Speaker

1940 -

Do you love to laugh?  Or have you forgotten how to laugh?  I don't remember laughing much as a child?  I probably did, but I can't remember.  I know that I was a serious child and have been known to be a serious adult.  I know that my grandfather on my mother's side was very strict and serious.  He probably considered laughter to be the devil's work.  I know that as an adult I don't smile a lot.  I think that it is because as a child I spent a lot of time in the sun.  I squinted so I was able to see in the brightness.  I know that I do laugh as an adult, but I don't always laugh at what others consider to be funny.  I know that many of the movies that people think are funny I find stupid.  I guess you could say I don't like people acting dumb or stupid.  I like serious humor.  I don't like humor that puts people down and makes fun of individuals or groups of people.  I did not grow up in an environment where we told jokes.  I don't know how to tell a joke.  I don't like planned or canned laughter. 

The best laughter for me arises unexpectedly and spontaneously out of the moment.  Something someone says or does will strike me as funny and we will both experience a deep belly laugh.  It is not laughter that you can share with others.  If you were not present when it happened, it will not be funny to you.   

As creative leaders, we must be careful not to take life too seriously.  We must learn to laugh and enjoy the moment.  In the laughter we are refreshed and we will find hope.

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Ann Linnea

"The essence of parenting is to never lose faith in your child and the essence of adulthood is to assume that faith in yourself.

— Ann Linnea

American Author/Educator

1949 -

Many have compared the act of creation to the act of giving birth and to their creations as their children.  And there is some validity to the analogy.  But the more important message is that one should never lose faith in what you create.  Believe in your creation as you would a child.  And believe in yourself as an artist and creative leader.

Too many people give on their creativity because they haven't found fame or fortune.  Lack of interest in your art by the world does not negate what you have created.  The opinions of others don't much matter.  What is important is that maintain your faith in yourself and what you create.  Don't give up or give in.

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Henning Mankell

"To grow up is to wonder about things; to be grown up is to slowly forget the things you wondered about as a child."

Henning Mankell

Swedish Novelist

1948 - 

I watch the three-year-old child that my wife and I are raising and I am amazed at the creative powers of her mind to imagine worlds that I cannot see.  To invent stories and stories within stories.  What happens to us as we grow up and take on the cloaks of the adult world?  Where does our inventiveness go?  What worlds of the imagination have we forgotten?

What do you do to keep your mind young?  Do you play with children?  Do you enter their worlds?  Or does the path you walk become narrower with each passing day?  Do you still think as a child or have you given up childish things?  Are you young at heart?  Or are the arteries of your imagination clogged?

I recently finished Mankell's excellent novel, The Man From Beijing.  Here is a video of Henning Mankell discussing the novel at Strand Bookstore.

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James Galvin

"Let us begin with a simple line,

Drawn as a child would draw it,

To indicate the horizon...."

— James Galvin

American Poet

1951 -

In drawing and writing, we almost always begin with the line.  The line turns into letters which turn into words which turn into sentences.  And eventually the sentences become poems, short stories and novels.  The same is often true is art.  The line becomes an eye, then a nose and soon a face.  The drawing begins as a simple line much like what a child starts with.  The artist then transforms that line into a beautiful portrait, landscape or abstract painting.

When we begin the canvas and the paper are blank, empty, without much meaning.  As creative artists our job is transform that paper or that canvas into more.  To create something out of a simple line.  To communicate our vision of the world through a simple line joined with other simple lines — one built on another.

The same can be said about life.  Each moment we live is like a simple line.  We build a life through living each moment to the fullest.  And millions of moments become a life lived.  

Here is the poem, Art Class, by James Galvin.

Art Class

By James Galvin

Let us begin with a simple line,

Drawn as a child would draw it,

To indicate the horizon,

More real than the real horizon,

Which is less than line,

Which is a visible abstraction, a ratio.

The line ravishes the page with implications

Of white earth, white sky!

The horizon moves as we move,

Making us feel central.

But the horizon is an empty shell —

Strange radius whose center is peripheral.

As the horizon draws us on, withdrawing,

The line draws us in,

Requiring further lines,

Engendering curves, verticals, diagonals,

Urging shades, shapes, figures...

What should we place, in all good faith,

On the horizon? A stone?

An empty chair? A submarine?

Take your time.  Take it easy.

The horizon will not stop abstracting us.

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Oskar Kokoschka

"How do I define a work of art?  It is not an asset in the stock-exchange sense, but a man's timid attempt to repeat the miracle that the simplest peasant girl is capable of at any time, that of magically producing life out of nothing."

— Oskar Kokoschka

Austrian Painter, Poet, Playwright

1886 - 1980

The Bride of the Wind
(1914)

When I stop and think about it, the birth of a child is probably one of the greatest miracles known to the human race.  Although I must say that it takes more than a simple peasant girl.  A peasant boy is usually involved also.  Nothing we do as painters, writers or composers will ever equal the conception of a child.  But that should not discourage us.  What we create is our attempt at defeating death — to live beyond the few short years we are given.  And for some they work will survive hundreds of years.

How do you define the artistic work that you do?  Why do you do it?  What motivates you to create new pieces of work?  Where do you place creative work in the greater scheme of things?

Here is a video that displays some of the paintings of Oskar Kokoschka.  Enjoy.

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Giorgio de Chirico

"To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere.  But once those barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood visions and dreams."

— Giorgio de Chirico

Italian Painter

1888 - 1978

The Disquieting Muses (1916)

The way we see the world impacts our ability to be creative.  Logic, reason and even common sense can hold us back from where as an artist and creative leader we need to go.  Logic and reason can be chains around our wrists and ankles, preventing us from escaping the boundaries of human existence, forcing us to paint what is, not what is meant to be.  Logic and reason are the tools of the editor in our head telling us that we are not good enough, that the words we write don't make sense, that the sentence structure is wrong, that the story is unrealistic.  Logic and reason are the tools of the judge in our hearts telling us that the work we have created is not good enough.  We must break the chains that bind us and become as little children — able to see the world with eyes of wonder.

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Nelson Mandela

"We are all meant to shine, as children do.  As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

— Nelson Mandela

South African President/Anti-Apartheid Activist

1918 -

Do you let your light, your inner strength, shine through your creative work?  Each of us is special and unique.  There is not another person exactly like us in the universe.  We all have things in common, but at some level we are unique and special.  So let that which is you shine.  Don't hide your talent under a bushel basket.  Share it with others.  We each have a responsibility to help the people around us with our creativity and talent.  If we keep our light locked up inside us and hidden from the world, we have failed ourselves and others.

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Marc Chagall

"In our life there is a single color, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art.  It is the color of love."

— Marc Chagall

Russian Artist

1887 - 1985

We paint our lives with the color of love.  What color is love in your life?  Love is about relationships and the color of love changes with the people we love.  Parent-child love is certainly a different color then woman-man love.  What color is friend love?  Or sibling love?  How about pet love?  Can you paint a picture of love just using color and no people?

Do you love creating art?  Do you love writing?  What color is the love of creation?  Do you have a passion for what you create?  What color is passion?

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Pablo Picasso

"Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

We all are born creative, curious and compassionate.  Slowly the world around us grinds these traits down to the bone.  Our challenge is how do we remain creative, curious and compassionate into old age?  How do we hold on to that which is us?  For some of us we express our creativity through art, writing, music and stories.  What are you doing to keep your creativity alive?   

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Henri Matisse

"Look at life with the eyes of a child."

— Henri Matisse

1869 - 1954

A child looks at the world around her with wonderment and joy.  She laughs at new and strange things.  She enjoys the moment without worrying about tomorrow or yesterday.  She smiles at strangers and trusts them.  She shows little fear and puts herself at physical risk.  She sees everything and takes it into herself.  What can you and I learn from a child?  What can the child teach us?  Don't you think it is time we hug life?  That we listen to our hearts?  That we see the world through the eyes of the child we once were?

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