| Article by Fran Tabor
The Flathead Valley celebrated the first weekend in December with a craft show teeming with local creations. Everything from giant wood creations to delicately painted miniatures; from jars filled with new combinations of salsas ready to taste, to books filled with words creating worlds to visit; from traditional knit scarves to very untraditional tapestries -- walking among the booths was like entering a kaleidoscope. Every step, a dazzling array of colors surrounded me.
The astounding variety of creativity inspires the question, “What life experiences help awaken a person’s creativity?” Over the years many creative people have offered me their opinion.
- “It helped I was an only child. I had the privacy and quiet to develop my vision.”
- “It helped that I grew up in a chaotic, large and loud family, where you never knew what would happen next.”
- “It helped that those around me saw my talent and sent me to the best teachers.”
- “It helped that I had no formal training, that I could find my own road.”
- “It helped that I started young.”
- “It helped that I started old.”
- “I couldn’t start being creative until my children left home.”
- “While introducing my toddlers to the world I discovered talents I didn’t know I had.”
- “Struggling through tragedy (insert everything imaginable), my soul forced me to dig deeper. What was the worst thing became my road to the best thing. I always (painted, wrote poetry, knitted, carved, designed toys, made pottery…) but when (the tragedy) happened, at first I did nothing. Each day felt worse than the last until I forced myself to live, to renew (my Artistic Gift). Since then, many more people have admired my work than ever did before.”
- “There are moments I feel so much joy, experience so much beauty, that my soul just won’t let me rest until I share it with the world.”
How do creative people differ from those who only copy the work of others? All people live, have good days and bad. All daydream. The creative person goes beyond daydreams. They are the doers. Be it a sweater with a new design or a coffee table unlike any other, artists add action to their vision.
Nightmares and daydreams -- the seeds of the creative spark -- are common. Creative people do the work it takes to go from feelings and visions to something others can share.
It’s not any particular road traveled or any natural born ability that makes one creative. It is the willingness to do the hard work that turns ideas into physical reality -- and do so with bravery. The world might reject what you made. Fear will stop the daydreamer, but not the creative individual.
Creative people work harder and braver than their noncreative peers.