The Importance of Art and Creativity: "The Value of True Expression"
Dear Friends of Art,
This month I find myself pondering the significance of art in all its forms because my life is undoubtedly more beautiful and meaningful thanks to the large part that art plays in it. In order to help me with this contemplation, I sent out two questions to a handful of friends who are active in the world of arts asking why art is important andwhy it is important to be creative. I would like to say a big "thank you" to them for providing me with their many wonderful insights. I also made use of thoughts from record producer Michael Beinhorn's book Unlocking Creativity: A Producer's Guide to Making Music & Art. Five conclusions about art and creativity lie at the core of what I learned through this exercise: these two forms of expression are important because they bring people together, allow people to demonstrate who they are, communicate historical and societal truths, are vital forms of self care, and they demand from us freedom from conformity and fear.
For somebody like myself, who grew up both in the United States and in an art saturated Germany, art was always a part of my life. In the States, I was lucky to receive a huge appreciation of American blues and jazz music in my junior high, high school and college education. While living in Germany, it was hard not to run into a museum or attend festivities that involved both music and dance. As an adult, I am a consumer of art for the sake of entertainment and equally use it as a means to inform myself. Engaging in art has also led to a much broader understanding of historical and societal realities. These threads run throughout my friends' responses to my inquiries.
"Art makes us question, brings attention to, provokes, causes contemplation, shows a certain perspective, compares, asks/demands an answer and stimulates," asserts my friend Tom, whom I met in my mid-twenties on a beautiful spring day. I was sitting on the banks of the Isar, a river that flows through Munich, Bavaria and noticed the hideous jazz saxophone socks of a contemplative student sitting nearby. Compelled by his choice of socks, I asked if he likes jazz music and a conversation struck up. We quickly discovered a shared love of that genre, and in no time ended up listening to his prized jazz LP collection. I became friends with this ambitious architect student, and we continued to hang out, listen to, and even play music together. Tom is now an architect in London, and we are still exchanging our favorite jazz listening recommendations. Not only does art fulfill all the roles he listed, but the beginning of our friendship illustrates the magnetic power music and art has to bring people of all sorts together.
My best man and decades-long friend, Dustin, whom I initially met thanks to our shared passion for the guitar, touched on the power of music specifically when he responded with these thoughts: "Sound and music, they cut through all the confusion that our brains bring in, and they go right to the heart. In this time where we are so overloaded with pictures and ideas, and concepts of how we are supposed to be, the notes are free, we are allowed to play whatever we want."
This resonated deeply within me and also echoed a well-articulated thought by Michael Beinhorn. After having had a tremendous career as record producer since 1979 (discography), he is in a qualified position to write about the significance of creativity. "Expression is as universal as it is unique, since it pertains to each person's individual way of informing the rest of the world exactly who they are. Personal expression is the only thing available to people that truly allows them to be free (Beinhorn, p.158)."
Art is liberating because it enables us to formulate inner turmoil into a tangible expression of our journey. Art allows you to materialize whatever you are compelled to convey.
"Any of us, being creative, is as if he/she where listening carefully to what happens inside or outside her/himself, wishing to share this new knowledge with other people. Art is therefore perhaps the most sophisticated way of communicating among human beings." The latter comes from a childhood playmate named Raffaele. One of my earliest memories is of carving little wooden canoes with a small pocketknife with him when his family would come to visit us from Milan, Italy, and he is now a professor of music.
While sorting through all the thoughtful replies, I was also struck at how often being active creatively was considered a healthy self care habit.
My very early childhood friend, Veith, who in his teens entered the craft of tattooing, stated boldly, "Art is a fantastic tool for mental development and brain gymnastics as well as a productive meditation. A good remedy in the day and age of an artificial and distorted world against losing one's healthy thinking ability and not to turn stupid." Amen to that, brother!
Another Bavarian best of friends replied under the alias of Shelby Shadow: "Concentrate fully on what you are doing at that moment. Bloom fully in the here and now." We can all agree that the tumult we find ourselves in has us longing for precious moments where we are fully engaged in a meaningful and productive activity, childlike and free from the worries and impossibilities of this life.
Being active creatively offers this remedy precisely.
Walt Witless, a friend's nom de plume, concretely described the benefits of pursuing your vision. "Exercising creativity, actually practicing it, helps keep you from getting stuck. It helps you solve problems. The very problem of getting your ideas out of your head and into the observable world is problem solving. It’s gratifying, and it is useful as a life skill." Why not view the act of creating any work of art simply as an attempt to solve a problem? Making music and expressing yourself can also be an act of wrestling with your skills in an effort to execute the creative urge within you.
Regardless of what form of expression an artist chooses, with eyes wide open, awake and sensitive, she follows her curious soul to eagerly report the deepest of revelations. "Some of the most powerful, and sometimes painful, experiences of creative release have been in the form of painting, poetry and mathematics when I had to step out of my soul to rediscover myself" shares Ananya, an engineer and assistant professor who is teaching me about traditional Indian music and culture.
Art has multiple meanings to different folks. "It's so many things all wrapped up in one," says singer-songwriter David Rogers. "It's about expression, pain, joy, problem solving, determination, perseverance, growth, gratitude, celebration. It's all these things in different measurements depending on the day." This requires true bravery and deserves deeper reflection.
In his chapter titled "The Significance Of Creative Work," Michael Beinhorn emphasizes the importance of courage. "Every civilization needs great original statements in popular music and the only way this civilization will get theirs is if our artists consider the value of true expression and draw from it freely, without inhibition. Without resistance to conformity and fearlessness, all music (and art) will eventually lose its vitality, its relevance and necessity, and recede from public consciousness (159)."
Stefan Wester, a very fine Swedish classical guitarist, whom I met thanks to the annual Iowa City Russian 7-String Guitar Festival, poignantly simplifies this truth. "Art makes people feel, think and reflect. That is why dictatorships imprison musicians and artists first."
Unrestrained and genuine art is important because it symbolizes freedom and the wonder of individuality and uniqueness of every human being. Being creative, no matter at what level, is important because personal expression is an act of meaningful problem solving. It welcomes healthy mental and emotional engagement and at the same time feels rewarding. Art is perhaps the most sophisticated communication available to humans and, at it's best, can bring us all together and encourage us to engage with each other despite our differing viewpoints. It enriches our lives by making us feel, think, reflect, and question.
It is my hope for you that April will be filled with the joys and gifts of art and abundant opportunities to support and participate in them.
This month's playlist is an assortment of Michael Beinhorn's work as a music producer, ranging from his early experimental years to huge commercially successful hits. I am also including an insightful interview he gave in November 2015.
Go make your art!
Chris
