Think like an artist

we can learn

a lot from artists like karida kent

whose art was called

blasphemous while she was a nun

i want to talk about this idea of

thinking like an artist and how that

might

impact our working lives whatever we do

now most of us don’t think of ourselves

as

artists but like picasso said every

child

is an artist the problem is how to

remain an artist

once we grow up thinking like an artist

doesn’t necessarily mean painting or

sculpting or music

or theater rather it’s an approach it’s

an attitude

and thinking like an artist is relevant

to a robust

life no matter our interests or work

karita kent was born in 1918 to a poor

working class family and at the age of

18 and with limited alternatives

she entered the sisters of immaculate

heart in los angeles

which was known for being relatively

progressive and creative

after getting her master’s degree at the

university of southern california

sister karita kent became the head of

the art department

at immaculate heart college and taught a

variety of painting styles

at one point she sent away for a

do-it-yourself

silk screening kit because she thought

screen

printing was broadly appealing and the

screen prints were

pretty affordable to most everyone and

then

she taught herself how to do it screen

printing art had historically been

fairly simple but kent creatively began

combining words and colors in bold

artistic ways

and she used it to express her beliefs

about people

and society and her classes were fun and

engaging

she was known for inventive teaching

strategies and challenging assignments

she took her students on field trips she

had them

use viewfinders to discover new

perspectives or

would have them draw their own arm

without even looking at it

her classes drew people from all around

the country even people

outside the church including the

director alfred hitchcock

the inventor buckminster fuller and the

musical composer john cage

kent came up with a list of 10 rules

that encouraged hard work

and productivity for the art department

one of them was

the only rule is work if you work

it will lead to something it’s the

people who do all the work

all the time who eventually catch on to

things kent’s art promoted love

and tolerance and perhaps because she

was a woman

and a nun she never really got the

attention she deserved

and despite the fact their work was

beautiful

and contained nothing but positive

messages

there was a time when the school was

called liberal

and communist and kent’s work was

labeled blasphemous

as a result sister karida kent returned

to secular life in 1968.

karita kent said not all of us are

painters but

we are all artists each time we fit

things together

we are creating whether it’s to make a

loaf of bread

a child or a day so

how can we think more like an artist and

what’s to be gained

by doing so well firstly

be a creator there’s a big difference

between being a consumer

and being a creator being a consumer is

basically passive

it’s watching listening scrolling

for the most part you just let the

entertainment wash over you

there’s little work and no judgment or

risk

being a consumer is easy and most

everyone

is encouraging you to be a consumer

certainly the people in businesses

selling what you’re consuming on the

other side

being a creator involves thinking and

work

figuring out what you’re doing in the

first place and then there’s

all those uncertain steps moving forward

being a creator means subjecting

yourself to criticism and to the real

possibility that your work will fall

flat

despite these challenges you want to

spend a good deal of time being a

creator

when you’re creating you’re learning

improving and contributing

you move into the realm of the thinkers

builders and doers

and you do the work despite the struggle

you’ll connect with what’s uniquely you

and understand what emerson meant by

envy is ignorance imitation is suicide

which is why another one of karita

kent’s rules was

nothing is a mistake there’s no win

and no fail there is only make

you’ll see differently creating art has

a way

of forcing you to look closely and by

doing so you’ll see things that you’d

never notice before

it was only after i mixed a couple

shades of green to paint a landscape

that i noticed while outside running

that there’s actually

an infinite variety of green hues and

gradations in the grasses and leaves

somehow i never noticed before

and skin is not black or white but

mixed hues of blues reds and yellows

the human eye can distinguish about 10

million

different colors yet many people

experience

the world in terms of an eight cran box

thinking more like an artist approaching

your work creatively

and always looking for new approaches

and improvements

increases your insight and your

understanding it’s like

having a much bigger box of crayons

lastly change yourself we generally take

it as a compliment when somebody we

haven’t seen for a long while

says well you haven’t changed at all but

artists know it’s necessary to change

maybe the biggest benefit of thinking

like an artist is the way in which

you’ll change humility because your work

at least in the beginning won’t be very

good

courage because artists aren’t afraid to

try new things

and explore new approaches in 1954

when jasper johns was 24 years old he

destroyed

all of his artwork destroying his work

energized his creativity and it allowed

him to break free from the art he’d been

making

a short while later he had a vivid dream

of himself

painting the american flag and that

morning he got up

he gathered paint fabric and newspapers

to paint what he’d dreamed about

years later looking back john said he

destroyed all his work because

it was time to stop becoming and to be

an artist now we don’t need to destroy

our past work to move forward

but it is a powerful metaphor for

letting go of our past

if it’s not helping us there’s a great

song called invisible by the band you

too and i’ve always

loved the lyrics i finally found

my real name i won’t be me when you

see me again i’m more than you know more

than you see here

a body and soul which is what george

bernard shaw meant when he wrote

life isn’t about finding yourself

it’s about creating yourself so

think like an artist and create yourself

you