Creativity

Where does creativity come from? Are they ideas that generate in our brains? Do the ideas come from us or from some cosmic knowledge? Do we have guardian angels who are creative? Is it some spirit 'talking' through us?

I don't remember not being creative. I started sewing at age 2. My Aunt Nellie (my mom's friend) had a Singer Sewing machine store in Gould's, Florida and she taught me to thread a needle. Once I had that mastered, she made me a little kit of a little plastic doll and outlined fabric in the shape of dresses that I started sewing. I started a bag of fabric scraps that I guarded and used...growing bigger with time. I would take out the scraps and fondle them and look at them and calculate if I had enough to make a doll dress out of. That bag of scraps went with me first each time we moved and we moved at least once a year most years. This was my prized possession other than my doll.

Then I discovered the library and looked for books on crafts...nothing. Finally somehow we obtained a book on crafts but they required supplies that I couldn't afford much less obtain in the little town we lived in. I would pour over that book reading every word time after time to absorb the process. There was one little Scottie dog to make out of cardboard and paper mache and crepe paper that especially intrigued me. I had no idea what crepe paper was.

I had dreams of being a dress designer or costume designer. In my head were elaborate dresses. I could feel the imaginary fabric...imagine the stitches. I would draw dresses for my paper dolls that surely were designer quality I thought. Next I was in heaven when I walked into an art class in 7th grade. I was going to learn how to be an artist so that I could draw better dresses. The teacher had us what I now know to be inferior art materials with no chance of success in anything that we made. She had us copying the Masters from little prints that we could borrow from her. I was no Rembrant. I had no idea how to go about drawing a portrait. I did catch on to perspective. One day she told me that I was not an artist and never would be one since I couldn't copy those little pictures. I was devastated and shut down all efforts of being an artist. How dare that woman tell me I wasn't an artist! To this day I still resent her.

When I was about 21, there was an ad in the newspaper telling me anyone could paint and that I could take lessons at a lady's house for a small fee. My heart raced as I called the woman and enrolled. The lady's name was Myrna Knerim or something like that. We had classes in her garage. She taught us decorative painting on wood. Daisies, strawberries, mushrooms using oil paints. It was a step by step process and I could do it! She must have watched my face the first time I had a success as she came over to me and said I did good and that being an artist was merely learning brush strokes and technique. She told me anyone could do it! I was in heaven.

This opened doors to me that were closed. I started making things along with my sewing. I easily mastered all sorts of crafts and started my collection of artists materials. "She who dies with the most craft crap wins' became my motto. I have more craft crap than I have possessions or furnishings. It's almost embarrassing as to how much I have stored in boxes. I learned that once I mastered a craft I was done...bored with it and on to the next craft. Until I discovered clay in 1976. I had found my medium! I've gotten good at it but will never learn it all and that's fine with me.

In July of 1992, there was an ad in the newspaper to take pine needle basketweaving. I had seen it at a recent craft show and was in awe of it. My grandmother had given me a pineneedle basket from Georgia when I was 15 and I had studied and fondled it for years. I started the classes and it was so much like sewing that I was thrilled. Then the teacher had us make a little pot and sew the coils of pine needles on top. My being a potter already, I immediately went home and made more pots to sew the coils on to. I took a finished potbasket to the class and the teacher complimented me heavily....one lady in the class wanted to know why my baskets were so beautiful and her's wasn't. The teacher said 'because Ruth is already an artist and it came naturally to her'. Ruth was an artist!! Those words were the most wonderful words I'd ever heard. I started making basketpots like crazy. I entered a craft show over at Angel Fire, New Mexico that fall and won first prize overall that show with that first basketpot I'd made. That first place ribbon was awesome! Then I discovered people actually paying me money for my crafts...wow! What an incredible feeling.

When I was making my first basket, I had an idea of how it was supposed to look but it wouldn't take shape. I was fighting it. I felt like I had an angel on my left shoulder telling me to do this or do that and let the creativity flow. It was like I was using my hands and fingers to make the basket but that someone else was making the basket instead of me. I kept hearing inside my head to trust my instinct and just let the basket make itself. Finally I got tired of fighting it and just let it flow. It's an incredible basket! I made clay beads and sewed them on.

Always I would have an idea and I would make something in my head step by step. I have notebook after notebook of my notes and drawings of things I want to make. About this time suddenly I started seeing complete pictures in my head of something...usually pots or baskets and totally understanding how it was made from start to finish. I always thought anyone who handbuilt in clay rather than throwing on the wheel was not a real potter. Then I discovered pinch pots. I can get lost to the world making pinch pot after pinch pot. I do these for me and to give away to friends. I can spend 40 hours on a little 3 inch pot and never look up. I now sew beads on my pots if I don't sew pineneedles on them. My head is filled with pinch pots and I see no end in sight. I'm content.

Later I discovered genealogy and discovered on both sides of my family tree were artists and craftsmen/women for generations and generations. Every one of them made something with their hands. Blacksmiths, wagon builders, wheel makers, seamstresses, painters, cabinet makers, furniture makers, engravers, and yes, even potters. I own a beautiful oil painting of roses painted by my great grandmother in 1898. My mother drew and sewed. My dad was a cabinetmaker and furniture maker. Both my brothers are incredible with wood. My nieces and nephews are all creative with two nephews amazingly creative with computer programming. There are all sorts of crafts. I have something each member of my family has made and they are my treasures. My daughter is amazing at drawing. Megan and Mandy fill their time when I have them making something or just plain going through my craft cabinet piece by piece claiming materials to make something. My refrigerator is usually covered with their latest masterpieces. Megan quickly grasps the ideas. Mandy loves multiples of anything and spends hours arranging them in patterns and designs. These two girls will always know they are artists and revel in their uniqueness if I have anything to do with it. I can't wait until I have a studio again so that I can teach them clay and making tremendous messes!