The Creative Power Triad

Since I started teaching artists in my Solo Show Lab about 2 years ago, I've been meditating on what is essential in order for artists to be able to make headway with their work in a way that feels good.

I’ve been working on a theory: The Creative Power Triad. I believe that there are three symbiotic elements necessary for artists to have a healthy and productive creative practice.  

  1. Daily Practice (formerly known as "being disciplined") is hitting the books every day, or very regularly, so that creating becomes ingrained as a habit and something you do without fail or struggle.

  2. Toolbox is your training, skills, knowledge, professional experience.

  3. Relationship with Art is your inner relationship with your art. This includes contending with your inner critic and your raison d'être une artiste.

Each of these points are essential, equally important and feed into one another.

Without cultivating any one of these three points, I believe it’s very hard to make progress with your creative work. 

How do I cultivate each point!?

  1. It seems that the point most neglected is the Relationship with Art. If this isn’t investigated and actively tended to no amount of skills or knowledge will get you to a flowing daily practice, instead you’ll be thwarted by resistance/procrastination/avoidance.

    Or you’ll WILL yourself into working everyday but the inner critic will be chirping the entire time and your creative time will be a joyless slog. 

    For my take on how to address the inner critic check out this previous letter.  And read Beth Pickens ‘Your Art Will Save Your Life’ and make sure to keep talking to artists you love.
     

  2. Feed the Toolbox by practicing (daily!), taking classes, reading, seeing shows, training and pursuing your interests. If you’re a doer, this is the easiest point to focus your energy on. A strong toolbox allows you to manifest your imagination. 
     

  3. Cultivate your Daily Practice by making a commitment to make art every day. This is a hard won habit. Create a schedule you can keep and keep it. Begin with 10 minutes a day! When you are able to work on a project each day it's in your head consistently. You’ll find yourself drawn to it more and more. 

    Daily Practice is also beneficial because confidence is built through practice. In this way, DP strengthens your Toolbox and your Relationship with Art. 

But I don’t have time!

The average person touches their phone 2,617 times a day and the average person in the UK watches 27 hours of TV a week.  As Annie Dillard wrote,“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.” 

I say this not to shame us, but to point out that our energy and attention is being siphoned away.  I believe that if our Relationship with Art isn’t consistently tended to, these distractions overtake our values and stand in the way of our Daily Practice.

Please work on your Relationship with your Art.

"DO NOT STOP MAKING ART. I need it profoundly. We all do… think about the art, performances, music, books, and films that have made you want to be alive. Think of how those artists, like you, probably felt overwhelmed by their lives — and the times they were living in — but made the thing anyway.  Your future audiences need your work, so you need to make it.”   - Beth Pickens in ‘Your Art Will Save Your Life’


If you’re stuck, I hope the triad helps you overcome whatever is holding you back. 

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