Sunshine Bear destroyed my yellow marker. The positivity of that yellow was no match for my bargain-bin felt tip. You can see the drag lines as I squeezed out every last drop of color. I’m eight. This is my magnum opus. I remember my mother cooing, “You’re so creative.” It’s the first time I can recall being told this. And like many other people, the activity I am doing is art. An executive creative director once told me, “My whole career is a product of being good at drawing when I was eight.” (He’s a writer now.) The anecdotes, though not yet the data, are in. Earning the descriptor of “creative” as a child is usually in response to doing something artsy. Whether it’s drawing, singing, or styling your doll for the play kitchen.
We conflate art with creativity.
Creativity = arts. Arts = creativity. The better you are at art, the more creative you are. This thinking reduces creativity to an artistic trait that only some people possess. The identity of whom will be revealed once the crayons come out. Even well into adulthood you still often hear this phrase, “I’m not creative; I can’t draw to save my life.” I’m not sure Marie Curie was great at drawing. But her creative mind? Well that transformed how we think about radiation, so perhaps all of this needs a revisit?
Do we even know what creativity means?
How would you define the following terms? Creativity? Creative problem solving? Art? If this is making you sweat, don’t fear. I’ve worked with brilliant creative minds who can’t clearly define any of these words. We’re terribly confused by it all. We have a definition problem. So here goes…
Creativity = The act of creating something new and valuable.
This can show up in many places. Such as cooking. Making a fried egg = cooking. Making delicious fried egg ice cream = creative cooking, because you have created something new and valuable.
Thinking about the economy = economics. Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth = creative economics because Kate’s redefining growth for the 21st century.
And of course, art. Drawing a portrait of your mum’s smile = art. Painting the Mona Lisa = creative art because it transformed the world of portraiture, once again creating something new and valuable.
Creative Problem Solving = As the name suggests, using your creativity to solve a problem in a new and valuable way.
This also can show up in many places… Putting kibble in your dog’s bowl = pet parenting. Pretending to prepare their food like yours so they’ll eat it = pet parents solving problems in creative ways. Designing a building with functioning air conditioning = engineering. Designing a building that cools itself inspired by termite mounds = engineering solving problems in creative ways.
Art = A tool for self-expression + making sense of the world.
Basically it’s a way to express ourselves and explore the human condition.
It’s not all art.
Art can absolutely involve creativity, such as creating something new and valuable like the Mona Lisa. It can also involve creative problem solving: singers, musicians, jesters performed to keep Mona “full of merriment” while posing. But creativity does not always involve art; such as in cooking, economics, pet ownership, and engineering…the list is long. Let’s recap this because it’s important. Art can involve creativity. But creativity does not always involve art.
Why does this matter?
People who don’t think they’re good at art stop identifying as being creative. This non-creative label follows you around, killing creative confidence and belief at a very early age. With this label you stop working on your creativity and you stop thinking you are responsible for ideas. I mean if your job isn’t about drawing, why does it matter if you’re creative? All of which reduces the number of people who can solve problems in creative ways.
This mix-up also hurts how we teach creativity (when we even bother). We apply the “rules” of art to the world of creative problem solving because we can’t see the difference. Which often means there aren’t any rules at all. Of course meaning-making and self-expression should come with very little guidance and structure and as much freedom as possible. But creative problem solving? There’s actually quite a lot of guidance and structure we can share with people to make us better at it.
It’s time to understand the difference. Your third-grade stick man does not define you! In the same way my Sunshine Bear does not define me.
Source: Doughnut Economics