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Flip the Script: Creativity as Awakening
Day Ninety-seven
Creativity as Awakening
“Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else’s head.” ~Malcolm Gladwell, What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures
Creativity awakens us through connection and inspiration. Julia Cameron suggests going on artist dates. Taking yourself to places that awaken and inspire creativity. The artist sees patterns and connects the dots between events that seem separate. The artist knows that everything is connected. The awakening happens when you make the connection, see the connection, know the connection.
Whenever I am in Los Angeles, I visit the Hammer Museum. I go because it ignites my imagination. The Hammer Museum “champions the art and artists who challenge us to see the world in a new light, to experience the unexpected, to ignite our imaginations, and inspire change.”
Exhibits in 2023 included sound recordings with art on the walls, a hot tub for an immersive experience, indigenous jewelry made into six-foot sculptures hanging from the ceilings. I walked through the exhibits to see what stirs my imagination and feelings. Then I read the biographies of the artists and learned about their vision for the exhibit.
From the Hammer Museum website:
The Mission Statement: The Hammer Museum at UCLA believes in the promise of art and ideas to illuminate our lives and build a more just world.
The Hammer understands that art not only has the power to transport us through aesthetic experience but can also provide significant insight into some of the most pressing cultural, political, and social questions of our time. We share the unique and invaluable perspectives that artists have on the world around us. The Museum is free for all.
After visiting the Hammer, I like to sit at a coffee shop and think about the art. I see a connection between the Hammer museum tiles and the tiles I see on this counter, the latte artfully decorated with a heart and swirls, the conversation I overhear from someone at a table next to me. Everything is connected.
