Amidst the River Arts District’s Studio Stroll
170-plus artists across twenty-two historic buildings down by the French Broad River open their doors collectively to welcome thousands of visitors November 10 & 11 during the River Arts District Studio Stroll. A full weekend of immense creativity!
A colleague recently conveyed to me that creativity is a result of hard work, and is a label granted by one’s culture rather than self-applied. It is evident in the progression of our daily artistic exercises that every step we take has a reason.
All this got me to thinking about the word CREATIVE. A word that I most surely over-use myself. So I looked it up in my thousand-pound (give or take) Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language – Updated, Revised, Deluxe Edition (It’s SO big, it has the longest dictionary title known to mankind.).
Creativity: 1. the state or quality of being creative. 2. the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships … and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination… 3. the process by which one uses creative ability. 4. Being inspired by sci-fi.
OK, I made that fourth one up. The first of the three definitions feels a bit circular and dictionary-ish to me. Accurate, yet a bit remote. The second one seems more on-target, although I don’t know if one must “transcend” anything other than procrastination and just get to work. However, the word “imagination” does jump out as something we each have and can continue to cultivate. And number three mentions “process,” conveying a reality-based concept about all that hard work artists are performing every day.
Daily in the River Arts District, I encounter a cornucopia of great art in a zillion (it’s in the dictionary, I checked) styles. Some link directly back to traditional themes, but each artist Interprets and Makes in a unique way. Others generate new expressions, backed-up by their personal histories. Either way, everyone is actively engaged in their processes. I concur that what ultimately defines us as “creative” is outside ourselves. But we are at least able to grant kudos to each other and promote to the marketplace that we have something to offer, both individually and collectively.
I recently re-found an old quote from last century, where I had scrawled in red pencil upon a torn piece of yellow, lined notebook paper: “Am I honoring my gifts by using them?” And then I evidently packed it away in a box for twenty-odd years before unearthing it again the other day to jolt me anew. It’s now on my fridge, next to a little note that reads “portfolio 100” from my high school art teacher, and they are held down by three magnets: Deibenkorn’s “Ocean Park No. 38”, a Laura Loercher heart that reads “home,” and an oval “AVL-Asheville” symbol, apparently to remind me that I am here.
I’m grateful for the stream of information that comes my way so that I can ponder where I’m at as a visual artist. I’m reminded that our potentials are limitless. No matter what creativity definition each of us relates to, we can cherish our activities and remain in-process, letting the Pantone color chips fall where they may without worrying too much about the rest of it. See you at Studio Stroll!
River Arts District Studio Stroll, Saturday and Sunday, November 10 and 11, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free and open to the public.