What is creativity?

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Tony,

Yup. Certainly bipolar. A frightening number of my good friends are on lithium.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[TPPhotog]

Dear Roger,

I hear Lithium is the only way to travel ... but will it cure GAS 😉

Tony

 

[Roger Hicks]

Well, the main reason I avoid lithium is that you can't drink once you're on it.

Where, incidentally, in South Devon? As a Cornishman I'm always suspicious of northerners but I do make exceptions...

Cheers,

Roger

 

[TPPhotog]

That's Lithium out then LOL

Northerner? At least we have sand and not craggy rocks HUH 😉

I'm in Totnes known for it's artistic temperament and still living in the memory of the Dartington Estate. There are those that say the piskies find all the strange folk and bring them to this sacred place 😀

Tony

 

[nomade]

Well u've a machine that can do magic with light...U don't just try to capture the scene, but u do have ur own vision, like any artist who has an exceptional view for his surrounding and then he tries to plot it to transmit a certain feeling...
In a normal scene some particular object attracts ur attention, gives u a certain feeling, it's only creativity that makes u transmit the feeling to the viewer later..

It pretty much depends on the photographer...A move maker can be an artist or a technician, a technician who technically did everything right and no mistakes but as an artists he failed cause he transmitted nothing, he didn't touch anyone, he didn't move u...

 

[Fred]

>Some argue that photography is never creative because it is only, ever, a mechanical recording of what is in front of the lens.

The photography of still life requires careful arrangement, lightling, point of view, background etc. Yes the items in frame may well have been created by some others but the overall result can be greater than the sum of the component parts.

To define art, thats hard. Maybe it should make the viewer question and / or think a little. Create an emotional response I guess.

 

[TPPhotog]

I feel the creative part of photography comes from selecting the right angles, DOF and using the light. When I used to work in studios there was nothing like the feeling that came through the viewfinder when the lighting was spot on (excuse the pun) and the model seemed to glow.

I've found that my most creative shots come almost from a composition I haven't seen but something inside me say hit the shutter. If I could define it all my pictures would be creative.

 

[Bertram2]

Nice thread

Nice thread

The distinction between creativity and art is indeed fundamental: thanks. Though the distinction between art, craft, science and engineering is heavily linguistically and culturally dependent.
Cheers,
Roger

Yes , and I would loke to add "socially" . Some of the upper class vernissage tourists for example keep everything as art which they do not understand ! 😀

It is always interesting to think about the true meaning of words , which we often use a bit thoughtless. Isn't linguistical presision a basic element of each discussion ? 😉

In German there is a saying "Kunst kommt von Koennen" which refers to the fact that the word art is a etymological derivation of "Koennen" for "ability" or knowledge" and maybe this is the most honest approach to the word "art".

Creativity does not have to do with art necessariliy ( even a torturer can be creative) but I can hardly imagine art without creativity, how could this work ?

Best regards,
Bertram

 

[aizan]

Main Entry: cre·a·tiv·i·ty
Pronunciation: "krE-(")A-'ti-v&-tE, "krE-&-
Function: noun
1 : the quality of being creative
2 : the ability to create

Main Entry: 1cre·a·tive
Pronunciation: krE-'A-tiv, 'krE-"
Function: adjective
1 : marked by the ability or power to create : given to creating <the creative impulse>
2 : having the quality of something created rather than imitated : IMAGINATIVE <the creative arts>
3 : managed so as to get around legal or conventional limits <creative financing>; also : deceptively arranged so as to conceal or defraud <creative accounting>
- cre·a·tive·ly adverb
- cre·a·tive·ness noun

Main Entry: 1cre·ate
Pronunciation: krE-'At, 'krE-"
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): cre·at·ed; cre·at·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin creatus, past participle of creare; akin to Latin crescere to grow -- more at CRESCENT
transitive senses
1 : to bring into existence <God created the heaven and the earth -- Gen 1:1 (Authorized Version)>
2 a : to invest with a new form, office, or rank <was created a lieutenant> b : to produce or bring about by a course of action or behavior <her arrival created a terrible fuss> <create new jobs>
3 : CAUSE, OCCASION <famine creates high food prices>
4 a : to produce through imaginative skill <create a painting> b : DESIGN <creates dresses>
intransitive senses : to make or bring into existence something new

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Art comes from knowledge... "Kunst kommt von Koennen"

Artist often experience an epiphany that begins their work.

Maybe in this case knowledge would mean complete understanding. So, it might be that the artist can explicitly convey that understanding.

 

[Kat]

I tend to take pictures only of those that are obviously beautiful--like sceneries, sights, etc. I envy the creativity of those who see beauty in daily things and are able to bring those out in their photographs. I think that's the real art.

I guess I'm more of a picture-composer than a photographer. Though I'm trying to learn to have a photographer's eye.

 

[aizan]

it's also a challenge to see the truly beautiful in the obviously beautiful.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I suspect that 'Koennen' is also cognate with 'cunning' -- which has changed its meaning in the last 400 years. And I love the 'vernissage tourists'. I can't quite see what a pseud-dictionary definition adds to the discussion, unlike the superb observation about seeing the truly beautiful in the obviously beautiful.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[aizan]

am i one of the few people who find dictionary definitions stimulating? they're so concise, comprehensive, and suggestive. all of the essentials are right there.

here's the second entry for art:

Main Entry: 2art
Pronunciation: 'ärt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin art-, ars -- more at ARM
1 : skill acquired by experience, study, or observation <the art of making friends>
2 a : a branch of learning: (1) : one of the humanities (2) plural : LIBERAL ARTS b archaic : LEARNING, SCHOLARSHIP
3 : an occupation requiring knowledge or skill <the art of organ building>
4 a : the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects; also : works so produced b (1) : FINE ARTS (2) : one of the fine arts (3) : a graphic art
5 a archaic : a skillful plan b : the quality or state of being artful
6 : decorative or illustrative elements in printed matter
synonyms ART, SKILL, CUNNING, ARTIFICE, CRAFT mean the faculty of executing well what one has devised. ART implies a personal, unanalyzable creative power <the art of choosing the right word>. SKILL stresses technical knowledge and proficiency <the skill of a glassblower>. CUNNING suggests ingenuity and subtlety in devising, inventing, or executing <a mystery plotted with great cunning>. ARTIFICE suggests technical skill especially in imitating things in nature <believed realism in film could be achieved only by artifice>. CRAFT may imply expertness in workmanship <the craft of a master goldsmith>.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Aizan,

You must indeed be one of a very small band who find dictionary definitions stimulating. I have been known to read the dictionary for pleasure, as you presumably do, to find new words and trace the evolution of meaning. The OED is particularly fine for this.

Surely, though, a dictionary definition surely adds nothing whatsoever to a discussion like this: we all have access to dictionaries and encyclopaedias, and they all tend to say much the same thing for the benefit of people who don't know what the word means. Most are written (or at least edited) by committee so they lack even the quirky pleasures of Johnson's original.

It's when you DO know what the word means -- more or less -- and you are seeking fine shadings, personal perceptions and better understanding, that dictionary definitions are least useful. At least, to me. But I think I can see what you're getting at. Correct me if I am wrong:

When faced with a bald and essentially uninformative definition forces you to re-think relationships between words and concepts.

Am I right?

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Bertram2]

I suspect that 'Koennen' is also cognate with 'cunning' -- which has changed its meaning in the last 400 years.
Roger

Roger,
not beeing familiar with the old English I don't know what "cunning" meant or still means, but " ich kann" = "I can", and "koennen " is the infinitive form of "kann" ("beeing able" in English) and at the same time as "Koennen" it is a derived noun.

I think in former times English and German have been closer to each other , maybe your suspect is right.


Best,
Bertram

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Bertram,

According to the OED 'cunning'' rerives from 'can' (I've just looked it up) and of course can/kann are identical. English is an awful lot of Low German with some French superimposed.

One of the most famous usages is in the Authorized Version of the Bible. From memory, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand lose her cunning" -- in this sense, deftness, skill, ability.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[FrankS]

To see beauty in the ordinary, and to see the true beauty in the obviously beautiful.

I like that.

 

[suzums]

am i one of the few people who find dictionary definitions stimulating? they're so concise, comprehensive, and suggestive. all of the essentials are right there.

I actually chuckled after I read your first post of definitions because I had just put my dictionary down. 🙂

 

[D.O'K.]

The meaning of "creativity" is so context-dependent (and/or subjective) it surely defies any single definition.

However doesn't it usually equate to Originality + Craftsmanship + Aesthetic Appeal ?

Great art usually has all three ingredients. Lesser art only two, one, or even none...

Cheers,
D.O'K.