“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” — T.S. Elliot
I will be signing off as Durango Arts Center’s marketing coordinator next month, having so enjoyed sharing the importance and abundance of arts and culture at DAC and in our community with you in these columns. Though sometimes off the wall and exploratory, I hope these monthly wonderings have helped us all better understand and respect all that DAC and community arts presents and provides to enrich our community.
Researching for this month’s column was timely, as I had just found a quick list of advice on fostering creativity from Pixar’s president, Ed Catmull, when the news broke that the audaciously creative David Bowie had died.
In closing, Catmull says, “creativity can be thought of as a door between two worlds. One side contains everything known, such as the laws of physics. The other side contains the unknown. In the creative world, we have to have a foot in both.” With this it seemed fitting to begin contemplating Bowie’s impact as an artist on society.
No matter how strange Bowie may have been, he gives a very artistic lens for us to look through. Bowie’s legacy of non-conformity, bold, honest and raw expression, paired with his unique artistry, serves as an inspiration for each of us to be ourselves and to encourage others to be themselves, especially artists, as the pioneers of creative thought and advancement.
As we navigate the constant beginnings and endings in life and explore the creative potential inside each of us, here’s a little advice from both the Pixar wizard and Bowie himself:
Catmull’s advice to the creative:
1. Make mistakes: Catmull stresses the importance of making the right kind of mistakes. “Right now it’s popular to say that it’s important to fail,” the Pixar president said. “The problem is, there are two meanings to the word failure. There’s the academic meaning – where you try something, it doesn’t work, and you learn from the experience – which is the kind of failure you want.”
2. Protect the “new”: For Catmull, when you’re doing something new, you don’t always know it’s going to work or how it will be relevant to the job you’re doing or what you are creating, but it’s important to prevent the new approach from being dismissed, he said. So, you must also be bold!
3. Acknowledge the unknown: Finally, there’s the side of creative success that is hidden from people. “The world contains enormous complexity and randomness. The things humans can’t see are far more important than the ones they can,” Catmull said.
(adapted from “4 Secrets to Creativity from Pixar’s President,” by Tanya Lewis at livescience.com)
Bowie’s advice to the creative:
1. Don’t be afraid to be an individual. A master of reinvention, Bowie certainly wasn’t afraid to express himself and has helped many others to do the same, inspiring artistic genius around the world.
2. Keep people on their toes. Impossible to predict or pigeonhole, the pioneering musician was in a continual state of change, embracing the innate and going with the flow of life to constantly evolve his authentic self.
3. Take risks. Taking risks by being true to yourself often leads to success.
(adapted from Maya Oppenheim’s “David Bowie: The life lessons the artist taught us” for the Independent)
If you’re interested in heeding this advice further, you have plenty of opportunities this winter at DAC.
Here are some instant ways to explore your creative potential at DAC:
Enroll today in a number of visual or performing arts workshops, such as “Unleash Your Muse, Again” with Barb Horn beginning in February and “The Saturday Series,” which begins at the end of this month with special guest artist Dr. Pamela Chobra who is the adjunct associate professor of theatre performance at the University of Southern Maine and an equity actress.
Apply to the DAC Microgrant Program today for creative seed money. Deadline is Feb. 1.
Step into current exhibits “The White Season,” a group show featuring seven regional artists exploring the ephemeral beauty of winter, and “IRREGULARITIES,” a solo exhibit by Jen Pack exploring the space in the seam between painting and sculpture.
Celebrate the arts at DAC’s 2016 Sweethearts of the Arts celebration, honoring long-time arts supporters Meredith and Sandra Mapel and the artists/curators of the DAC-affiliated group Friends of the Art Library: Mary Ellen Long, Deborah Gorton, Louise Grunewald, Leesa Zarinelli Gawlik, Barbara Tobin Klema and Jane Steele.
Try your hand at playwriting for the 6th annual 10-Minute Play Contest. Deadline approaches: Feb. 12.
Mark your calendar for the production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a collaboration with Merely Players that opens mid-February.
Cheers to new creative beginnings in 2016!
elsa@durangoarts.com. Elsa Jagniecki is the outgoing marketing coordinator for the Durango Arts Center.
