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