CEP 818-Creative "I"- Defining Creativity

Part 1: The Interview Synopsis

I interviewed a close friend, a fellow jewelry maker. She creates jewelry pieces using beads, wire, various components and utilizes many jewelry-making techniques. She believes creativity is “taking materials and using her personality to make it her own”. For her, the process starts with colors. She is inspired by color and she generally has a color in mind for a piece she wants to create and tries to find pieces that fit her vision. She takes many things into consideration once she has a color palette in mind. She tries to envision the piece in relation to clothing it will be worn with. Does she want larger or smaller beads? How many layers or rows will the piece have? Will the earrings be long or short? After she has decided what will best complement what the item could potentially be worn with, she will buy supplies according to this vision. Once she has all the colored components out, she then decides how it should be constructed. Should the beads be strung or should they be wire wrapped? After she has all her supplies in hand, she lays them all out to get a visual of her new jewelry piece. Often times the pieces do not “go” together as well as she had hoped so she then “plays around with them” until she finds a pattern within the beads that fit both her vision of color and stylistic goal. 

 Part 2: Summary

Throughout the reading I realized many things about the creative process that I had never actually thought about before. People are inspired by several things and seem to acknowledge their creative processes.  I had tried to evoke some similar thoughts or acknowledgements from my interviewee though this proved difficult. I feel the individuals mentioned in the book put more thought into how they thought as opposed to somebody whose creativity and mental processes had never been acknowledged in such a way.

Like my interviewee, I also create jewelry. The reading gave me insight on my own creative process and not just within the realm of jewelry. I found it rather interesting to think about my own creative process and realize that I actually make many decisions based on all sorts of sensory information. How do the beads/components look together but also how do they feel against the skin? Are these earrings going to jingle as a person walks? I was not cognizant of these decisions as part of my process.  I am more aware of how my process starts and how I follow it through to the end product and I think being more aware will only help me create more interesting pieces.