As A Creator, What Does It Mean To Be…..
Welcome! It's Thursday, July 10th.
I had a subject in mind for this issue, which I'll push to next week.
The events in Texas brought other ideas to the surface, ideas that felt more urgent.
We witness or experience catastrophic events with devastating regularity. It was only a few months ago that Hurricane Helene ravaged North Carolina.
To these communities, each disaster feels exceptional, once-in-a-hundred-years. But worldwide, at any given time, creative voices are silenced, young creative sparks snuffed out, by tragedy, war, genocide; you know the list.
This devastates and paralyzes me. Writing this, my feelings tangle with my thoughts, and this introduces another roadblock; my companion, discipline, gets me through.
If you're acutely empathetic, as creators often are, it can feel senseless to head to your workspace when the world is burning.
How do we create in the wake of tragedy? (There's more about this below.)
It also got me thinking about my kids. I had flashes of their unbridled creativity. The towers, tents, "booby traps," paintings, dancing, digging, slime, costumes-all that collecting, admiring, seeing, hearing. The ferocity of doing to learn, playing to understand.
It doesn't take much for childhood to be magical. A listening adult, a patient adult, safety, trust, and lots and lots of time to play.
What does a child's creative play bring to the world? And more urgently, what can it teach us about creating through darkness?
This issue is about shaking off the debris of adulting and rediscovering wonder, not as escape from the world's pain, but as a way to transform it through our work.
Gmail shortens emails in awkward places. Read online here. It’s better.
Send feedback (and what you want to discuss next) at [email protected]
You're 5 years old in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, in the 1880s. Spring has sprung, and you’re lying in the grass.
Ladies stroll the grounds nearby with intricate parasols shielding them from the sun in the Swiss countryside. Light and shadow, saturated color, and the exactness of their steps captivate you.
If you are Paul Klee, you absorb. You remember. Then, you document it.
Paul Klee (4-6 years old), Lady with a Parasol, 1883-1885, pencil on paper on cardboard, located at Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
Decades later, Klee would become obsessed with what children's work could teach him. He was captivated by how children distort scale to serve emotion over accuracy, how their spontaneous lines capture pure feeling, how their imagination runs wild, unconstrained by adult logic.
It’s the unstudied quality of creating as a kid.
Do you remember the ease of making something purely for the joy of making it? The power of unabashedly going for it?
I see it in my daughter's portraits from when she was 5; emotions and character leaping off the page with a confidence that formal training might diminish.
Picasso, Miro, and Toulouse-Lautrec reflected on their childhood drawings.
Image 1. Pablo Picasso (1889), Le petit picador jaune, oil on wood, painted at 8 y.o. Image 2. Joan Miró, Umbrella (1901) Graphite pencil on paper. Barcelona, painted at 8 y.o. Image 3. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1870-1871), pencil drawing of animals, farmers, Harry Ransom Center, 6 y.o.
I used to play a game with my kids. I'd draw a random scribble and hand them the marker: "Your turn." They'd transform my meaningless squiggle into a dragon, a spaceship, a sandwich with eyes. Then we'd reverse roles.
Playful energy dissolves the rigidity of control. Next time you're around kids creating, take note.
Paul Klee understood this. He famously said, 'Art does not reproduce the visible, but creates it.' He 'un-taught' his students, redirecting them away from copying reality and toward creating new realities from simple marks.
"An active line, moving freely, without goal. A walk for walk's sake. The mobility agent is a point, shifting its position forward."
Paul Klee (1921-1931), Pedagogical Sketchbook, from his lectures on visual form at Bauhaus Staatliche Art School, edited by Walter Gropius
This is what Klee called the "active line" a line in motion that moves freely without predetermined destination. It's the point's journey that creates meaning.
It's the opposite of how we're taught to create as adults, where every mark must serve a purpose.
The magic lives in the wandering. When your hand follows curiosity instead of a blueprint, when you let the work whisper what it wants to become, you access something beyond your conscious mind. You become the translator, not the dictator.
Klee understood that children's drawings are filled with life because they're not trying to make "good" art. They're on an expedition.
There is a direct connection between being playful and being connected to the moment. Remember the dancer, Darla Johnson, from the last issue?
“The piece was born from a profound sensory experience. (I was) caught in a swirling eddy in the middle of a lake, spinning counterclockwise—the sensation was absolutely mesmerizing.”
When the world feels heavy, when tragedy makes creation seem pointless, remember the dot that went for a walk. Remember to be absorbed by the moment and infinitely present.
Start with one mark and let it lead you somewhere unplanned. Trust the process over the product.
A grand statement isn't necessary. You can transform pain by beginning. Let the dot start walking.
Here are a few creators who consciously preserved and cultivated their childlike creativity.
Cy Twombly, artist, painter (1928-2011)
Mr. Twombly with his painting “1994 Untitled (Say Goodbye Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor),” in 2005 at Cy Twombly Gallery at The Menil Collection. Credit: Michael Stravato for The New York Times
Quote: “My line is childlike but not childish. It is very difficult to fake..to get that quality you need to project yourself into the child’s line. It has to be felt.”
How He Applied It:
Unconscious mark-making combined with sophisticated cultural references
Gestural, spontaneous line work which bypassed traditional conventions
Emotion-driven creation rather than planned composition
Aldo van Eyck, Dutch architect, playground architect (1918-1999)
Image © Aldo van Eyck Archive / Amsterdam City Archive
Designed 100’s of playgrounds in Amsterdam based on understanding children's creativity. He pioneered the idea that playground “objects” are not anything in themselves, but should have an open function.
He stimulated imagination through minimalist, non-specific equipment
Understood that children needed freedom to interpret and create their own play
Recognized children's natural creativity and adaptability
Created "open function" designs - simple, abstract forms that weren't prescriptive
William Blake, English poet, painter, printmaker (1757-1827)
Image 1. Title-page to “Songs of Innocence and of Experience”, 1794, hand-colored relief etching,The British Museum. Image 2 & 3 The Notebook of Wiliam Blake, British Museum
Blake began writing poetry and creating illuminated manuscripts as a child. He had visionary experiences from early age that informed his work. Blake started his apprenticeship as an engraver at 14, combining visual and textual creativity
Quote: "To see a World in a Grain of Sand" - reflects his childlike capacity for wonder
How It Informed His Work:
"Songs of Innocence" deliberately captured childlike wonder and perspective.
It maintained simple, direct language that echoed children's speech patterns
Visual-textual integration from his childhood illuminated manuscript work
How to immediately get out of “the funk".
QUICK FIX: Scribble like a mad man. Write like a mad woman.
Make things so hard that you break them.
Stand in your yard or in the grass, breathe the air and connect with the earth. Focus on one microscopic thing. The smallest flower. One blade of grass. Stare at it with no thoughts until you feel the shift. Appreciate it like this is your last chance.
Sit in some water. Do anything that makes you so present that yesterday and tomorrow don’t exist. Only one moment and you’re in it now.
HIGH AMP FIX: Dot Fisher-Smith brings a lifetime of wonder to you. Let her help you. This video was created by Michael Raimondo and Justine du Toit. @reflectionsoflife. You can support them on Patreon here. There is a shorter version of this video here.
IN CASE YOU’RE LOOKING FOR MORE:
Paul Klee’s Pedagogical Sketchbook shows you how to create with the freedom and wonder you had as a child. Perfect for: Anyone feeling stuck or wanting to rediscover the pure joy of making something.
Paul Klee in his atelier, Bauhaus Weimar, Germany, 1923. Photo by Felix Klee.
Back in 2006, the first contemporary museum exhibition to show approach children’s art from an aesthetic perspective was curated by Jonathan Fineberg. The catalog When We Were Young can be found here. It covers topics like visual thinking and process.
Carlton Lake is a fascinating fellow. He donated 1098 items to the Harry Ransom Center (HRC) at The University of Texas, including the childhood drawing of Toulouse Lautrec. His book, Confessions of a Literary Archeologist, can be found here.
A reminder about our Commencement of Autumn: Collaborative Dance Project
The Purpose: A collaborative dance video created from clips submitted by this community.
Your Role: Take Darla's 6 tips and everything you've learned about certainty over the last three issues. Create a 45-second to 1-minute dance to music of your choice, inspired by the theme "The Commencement of Autumn." Yes, the beginning of Autumn and what it means and/or represents to you.
Our Role: I'll combine all videos into one continuous piece (with full credit to each dancer) and publish "The Commencement of Autumn" in the September 4th issue and across all social media channels.
Your Deadline: July 30th, 2025
Details:
Create a video (45 seconds to 1 minute - longer is better so I can edit with all the best parts intact).
Technical Requirements:
Use your phone or any recording device.
Position the camera so we can see you clearly and in focus.
Dance in good lighting - if you can't see yourself clearly in your recording, neither can we. Daylight works. Natural lighting. Outdoors. Or a brightly room.
Music- You can play the background music of your choice while recording. Send the song name, artist, and source (or a link) with your video submission.
Send any questions, your video and music info to [email protected]
For All Event Listings go here.
🖼 VISITING HOUSTON? Don’t miss ⬇
The Menil Collection and the Cy Twombly Gallery. I cannot recommend this collection enough. It’s manageable in two hours, deeply intense, and admission is always free. FAQ here.
📖 AUSTIN, texas on your list?
Add the HRC (Harry Ransom Center) to your must-do’s. On any given day, this is a writer’s paradise. Through August 10, 2025 go see Words and Wonder. A special exhibition not seen in the US opens on April 26th, 2026 Lives and Literacy in Ancient Egypt. Admission is always free. FAQ here.
🖼 Heading to BERN?
This issue is dedicated to the millions of young flames that are extinguished too early. In particular this last week, those lost in the flood in the Guadalupe and rivers across Central Texas. Here is the most comprehensive list of ways to help that I have found so far.
*I earn a commission on some links if you make a purchase. It doesn't cost you extra. I only recommend what I use or believe in. Same goes for any businesses I partner with. This helps me keep doing this work.