Art-making materials are the most vibrant things.
Artists sometimes refer to the muse—an apt way to express the relationship and that alchemy that occurs when the materials meet the maker. It's a mysterious bond both abstract yet tangible.
You have a favourite psychologist, right? Mine is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (MEE-hy CHEEK-sent-mee-HAH-yee), who researched creativity (and happiness) for decades; he coined and studied the sports and arts concept flow.
During the flow state—a personally defined goldilocks zone between what we find too easy and too hard—time (and trouble) disappear as we become absorbed in a fulfilling task. In connection with our goals, whatever activity prompts and sustains this zone for us—marathoning or driving race-cars or cake-decorating or sewing or performing on stage or refinishing furniture and so on—Csikszentmihalyi declared that flow "transforms a random walk into a chase."
I find that phrase "random walk" compelling. That's it! For me, art-making is a flow experience, a rapt random walk.
A fitting metaphor, I have learned to value the walk—the process—as much as or more than that elusive product we artists chase. Regardless of my original plans (my goals), the random walk is about getting absorbed, even lost in that flow zone, creating something surprising, unintended, serendipitous... the fluke I sought all along. As in all valuable relationships, this requires trust. Like a soapstone sculptor trusting something hidden within the stone itself (the seal? the turtle? the fox?), the tools, the muse—they too will provide something vibrant, something more than at first imagined, something connected to happiness.
Dear friends, what inspires you to find flow?
The thing that makes "the flow" or "the zone" so utterly absorbing and freeing is that it induces us to live completely IN THE MOMENT. That's why everything else falls away and life and experience become immediate. I agree -- it's a wonderful place to be.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I know you know this place.
DeleteLosing oneself in the process, whatever it may be, cannot be pursued - it happens almost serendipitously.
ReplyDeleteYes, serendipity adds to the fun.
DeleteMy guess: the patience to stay with the process without insisting it be what it isn't, if it isn't yet. -Kate
ReplyDeleteBingo. Tough to do sometimes, but worth it.
DeleteWhat helps me stay in the flow....hmm probably doing things that make me happy at my own pace. have a nice weekend.
ReplyDeletePacing impacts me too. In that human quest for easy dopamine, I need to remind myself to slow down.
Delete...my artistic pursuit today was working on my bonsais.
ReplyDeleteCool. I hope you write about your bonsais.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the closest that I get to a flow state is when I get my images into my photo apps and try to think how best to assist them to be a little better than what came out of the camera.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt this is an important happy space for you.
DeleteIt's true that the random walk (journey) often becomes more valuable than reaching the destination.
ReplyDeleteIt seems more likely to me too.
DeleteFavorite psychologist? Nope. But I do have a favorite cornfield, which is the next best thing.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should have a field of dreams. Well done.
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