What Is Creativity?
Summer 2017 | By Eric Michael 鈥�96
Creativity transcends disciplines. Whether pushing the boundaries of artistic expression or pioneering innovative solutions to scientific problems, creativity is both a tool and a process 鈥� an inspired state of mind that can improve pursuits of every kind. We asked a broad spectrum of 激情快播 faculty: What is creativity?
A Search
A. Dale Whittaker
and Executive Vice President
鈥淐reativity is bringing something to life that doesn鈥檛 exist because you鈥檝e challenged yourself to think and act differently. At 激情快播, a place that advances knowledge, creativity is essential to everything we do. So the question we always ask is, 鈥楬ow do you go beyond what you think you know and think in a way you haven鈥檛 thought before to develop an answer that doesn鈥檛 yet exist?鈥� 鈥�
An Association
Rick Hall
Production Director,听
鈥淚 think creativity is a very trainable, improvable skill. I teach my students to try to understand where it comes from. What are creative inspirations, and how can you leverage what you know to improve your odds of being creative on demand? There鈥檚 a process 鈥� and it鈥檚 not putting your fist to your forehead and waiting for a lightning bolt to strike. Creativity is really just your ability to associate two disparate ideas in a way that others haven鈥檛 thought of before. You鈥檝e got to proceduralize creativity. And never let a good mistake go to waste.鈥�
A Practice
Brooks Dierdorff
Assistant Professor of Photography
鈥淐reativity comes from working hard and doing it regularly. I think about it as a practice where you show up every day and make things. And even if you don鈥檛 feel particularly creative or inspired that day, you keep going and going, and eventually your mind is unlocked. But it takes all that hard work to get to that place. You might make a lot of bad stuff, but you can鈥檛 skip that effort.鈥�
鈥淐reativity comes from working hard and doing it regularly. I think about it as a practice where you show up every day and make things.”
A Process
Debra听Reinhart 鈥�74
Associate Vice President for Research and Scholarship;听Pegasus Professor of Environmental Engineering听
鈥淲hen I worked with students in the STEAM project 鈥� which challenged artists to collaborate with scientists and engineers on artistic expressions of their research 鈥� I discovered that their creative processes were very similar. Whether it鈥檚 finding a solution to a math problem or creating a painting, creativity is figuring out the process required in a way that may not be obvious or is completely new 鈥� a discovery, perhaps. As an engineer, you have to use creativity to solve problems within certain constraints. It鈥檚 a process of meeting criteria in ways that aren鈥檛 apparent, and thinking in ways that other people haven鈥檛 considered. That鈥檚 creativity.鈥�
An Expression
Stella Sung
Director, ; Pegasus Professor听
鈥淐reativity is the expression of an individual鈥檚 way of looking at the world and translating that viewpoint into something shared with the greater human community. I鈥檇 like to think that people are much more creative than they give themselves credit for. We express it in different ways, and it can come in many forms. I wrote a piece of music called 鈥楾he Circle Closes,鈥� and I think that perfect form of the circle where creativity, inspiration and expression combine is an endless process 鈥� a perpetual engine. I hope that I can live my life thinking that way and trying to help others embrace the idea of endless creativity as a part of our beings 鈥� a part of our souls.鈥�
“I鈥檇 like to think that people are much more creative than they give themselves credit for.”
A Secret
Michael Pape
Dr. Phillips Entrepreneur听in Residence
鈥淐reativity is a process of bringing something new into existence that challenges prevailing assumptions. It鈥檚 fundamental to human existence. To challenge prevailing assumptions, you need to discover secrets. From my time as a research scientist and as an entrepreneur, I鈥檝e identified two kinds of secrets. There are static secrets that must be mined or uncovered, and there are dynamic secrets that must be hunted or that emerge under observation. I take inspiration from the writings of Rollo May, who teaches if you seek originality, you probably won鈥檛 find it, but if you just observe, embrace chaos, and try to frame it into form, you might uncover those secrets in the process.鈥�
An听Instinct
Ken Stanley
Associate Professor of Computer Science; Director,
鈥淲e learned a lot about creativity from doing experiments in artificial intelligence. As soon as you decide to be creative, success becomes a little fuzzy. What does it actually mean to be successful? To be creative, you need to drop your objectives 鈥� stop trying to get somewhere in particular 鈥� and just follow paths because they鈥檙e interesting in their own right. That鈥檚 often the story behind great discoveries or great artistic creations. Somebody simply followed their instinct and didn鈥檛 have an expectation of what steps they should be following. Many of these ideas are explored in my and Joel Lehman鈥檚 recent book, Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective.鈥�
鈥淐reativity is about living and learning. It鈥檚 improvisational, it鈥檚 loud, it鈥檚 messy, it鈥檚 noisy 鈥� it鈥檚 all of those things.”
A Step Beyond
Carolyn Hopp
Associate Lecturer and Coordinator,
鈥淐reativity is about living and learning. It鈥檚 improvisational, it鈥檚 loud, it鈥檚 messy, it鈥檚 noisy 鈥� it鈥檚 all of those things. You can think about many different ways to get to an end, but seeing beyond that end is creativity. So I ask my teaching students what they will do with that student who says, 鈥業 don鈥檛 understand it that way.鈥� How are you going to get them to see beyond? In this world 鈥� now especially 鈥� it鈥檚 so very important.鈥�