DAY THIRTEEN

Somebody always has to spoil it. 
 
When I started this blog, on a whim, it was up and running an hour later, I used the phrase 'everyday creativity' in its, uh, everyday sense, meaning anything big or small, 'artistic', 'crafty' or not, that ordinary folk might do and which might reasonably be called creative. For instance, finding some clever way to fix a leaky pipe instead of immediately calling a plumber would count as creative in my book; creating a meal from scratch rather than reaching for a phone app to have something delivered might also, provided it had some kind of elan to it; my increasingly infirm relative's ingenious ways to maintain independence in their own home. Tick that. 

True, I suspected the blog might bend a little in the direction of the things which interest me most, rather more typical activities such as writing, painting, woodwork, textile and other crafts, but the overall intent was not to gussy up the creating and making of things or to over-analyse the practice.
 
But lo, what have I discovered? A cornucopia of Ted talks, learned papers, 'experts' banging on about Everyday Creativity, instead of everyday creativity. My fault for searching on the term I suppose. I said in a previous post how I wish there were far fewer proselytisers in the matter of arts, crafts, creativity and so on, and I am consumed by that feeling again.
 
One very obvious objection is that, inevitably, a great deal of what one sees on the web is a thinly disguised attempt at monetising the subject in question, and I no longer have the will to sort through the well-intentioned good faith wheat from the cynical and drossy chaff. There's just too much to be bothered with, yet, and here's my second objection, all the same one feels one should be bothered, just in case this particular instance has something worth knowing. The compunction to find out just in case is oppressive if your personality is at all like mine.
 
Another feeling is the faint echoes of those occasions when the world suddenly discovers an unknown band or other creative you've been into for a while: The problem isn't that the band is discovered but that the fans and critics and academics start to dissect and analyse them, and in so doing often kill their original creative force, whatever gave energy and vibrancy in the first place. That or they simply kill any mystery or quirkiness or originality the band might have had (for you, if for nobody else) by relating it to this or that influence, or community of similar artists, or a 17th century hermit philosopher who had a particular theory of aesthetics, or something.There is always something and always someone ready to show you they know about it.
 
This could just be my own idiosyncrasy but it is possible, I think, for too much knowledge to be a dangerous thing when it comes to pleasure, and that a case can be made for saying STFU and leave this thing well alone. There is certainly a process whereby the weight of public scrutiny, or even public appreciation, can press a subject flat, iron out all the creases and make it uninteresting*. It becomes known, and safe, and ordinary.
 
But it's not even that that's bothering me, as far as I can tell.
 
Having sat here for half an hour pondering, I think my bugbear mainly comes down to a question of cultural, or even class appropriation, but I'll have to think on that some more.
 
As I finish writing this I hear The Ramones being used to advertise refrigerators. Sic Transit, etc.

Onwards...
 
 

* It occurs to me that perhaps the mark of great artists in any field, once 'discovered', is that they manage to overcome this process, they continue to create interesting or original work despite being in the full glare of public approbation. The same process can also reveal those who are perhaps a little more superficial. But that's all by the by; my interest in this blog is not in great artists but in ordinary people engaging in ordinary everyday creativity.
 
 
Picture credit: Elisa Tealdi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 




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