“Creativity is dynamic, it asserts
life, frees the human spirit, conquers mental lassitude and illness, and makes
real the outrageous potential of the universal imagination.”— Robert Genn
Janet
Echelman is an amazing sculptor and fiber artist. With her art, she is clearing
the boundary between technology and nature as we know it.
She came to
limelight after completing her first fishnet project in 1997. Since then, she
has evolved the scale of her work, collaborating with urban centres throughout
the world to create a new dimension of elegance and beautiful in the natural
environment.
The
surprising part of her story is that she never read architecture, engineering, or
sculpture. In fact, she was rejected by all the seven schools of arts that she
initially applied to study and explore different forms of arts. Yet she went on to make herself an amazing
artist despite those setbacks.
She is now the
proud recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, for her works which are said to be
"changing the very essence of urban spaces."
Guggenheim
Fellowships are grants awarded to those “who have demonstrated exceptional
capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the
arts.”
Some of her
works have been displayed as public arts, and they include a great one in particular,
tagged: “Her Secret Is Patience”: a billowing, voluptuous form which was premiered
for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The title of the work was inspired by
the following Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words: "Adopt the pace of nature; her
secret is patience."
On further
exploration, this is what she said at TED regarding her work:
“I’m
interested in pursuing original research to focus on ways of making visual the
natural forces and cycles that are going on around us all the time and that we
are unable to see.
One
way I’m doing this is exploring the possibilities of different materials. Right
now I’m exploring new ways to sculpt with water.
I’m
testing different ways of manipulating tiny water particles to create moving
curtains of “dry-mist,” and to make it thick enough so it responds and makes
you want to play, yet manipulate the particles so you don’t get wet.”
She is far
from resting on her laurels, and neither should we. By her example, I hope we are
equally inspired to commit to the creative process all the days of our lives.
We Were Born Imaginative
“Every child is an
artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”—Pablo Picasso
Though,
some humans may be more creative than others, yet, every one of us can think
and imagine, therefore, all of us have the capacity to discover and reconnect
by making sufficient use of our minds.
And for
those with relatively lesser ability to create, we can learn how to improve.
Creativity is a skill and all skills are learnable with time and adequate practice.
Now let’s
take a look at few practical tips on how we can train ourselves to see and
bring forth value in the midst of little, waste or even nothing, from this day
onward.
Three
Practical Tips to Unleash Your Inner Creative Power:
1}
Pay Attention to the World around You
This is the
secret behind the success of the great scientist, Isaac Newton. He was
exceptionally curious. Many people must have seen an apple falling. But only
Newton dared to ask why. “Why did the apple fall only downward and never
sideways, nor upward?”
He discovered
the law of gravity because he paid attention; he had curiosity.
And the
founder of Leo Burnett Company, Inc. Leo Burnett put it this way:
“Curiosity
about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative
people.”
Likewise, Echelman
was inspired to take a new approach to sculpture, while she was watching
fishermen bundling their nets in India. She was curious about what she saw. And
as a result, she created a series of netted sculptures is different series—with
the help of those fishermen.
She made the
discovery simply because she paid good attention to the world around her.
2} Embrace Your Limitations
With good
thinking and artistic sense, smart couple with a moderate budget can organize a
better wedding party than prodigal prince with mere loads of money.
Likewise, a
serious entrepreneur can succeed at launching a successful company with very little
money as opposed to just anyone who relies only on the power of cash.
Steve Jobs
started Apple Inc. in his father’s garage despite having no money. By embracing
his limitation, constraints became his advantage not his hindrance.
If we
embrace our limitations and thinking to make the most of them, the greater will
be their potential for a breakthrough in our lives.
3} Finish
What You Start
We know of
Janet Echelman today because of her persistence to make her dream a reality. We know of Steve Jobs today because he stayed
the course for many years.
A lot of
people can raise a brilliant idea but only very few people have the commitment
to follow through and finish what they started in any field.
So we should elect
to be among the vital few by seeing things through to the end; this is the only
way to see the fruits of our efforts.
Finally:
The art of
creativity requires not only great thought but great work. It doesn’t just
start and finish on the spot. It is hardly a one-time event. It generally takes
time; it is a long-term process.
It took Isaac
Newton almost twenty years to gain his mastery. And it took Janet more than ten
years to produce something remarkable. It will likely take us as much, to also
make a lasting impact.
Therefore,
we must remain curious, befriend our limitations, suppress our self-doubts and commit
to doing the work until we have a firm grasp of our craft. To see this through, we should
always remember the insight of the record producer, Charlie Peacock, who
concluded thus: “It’s not just about creativity. It's about the person you're
becoming while you're creating.”
