by Michael Winters
‘Creative’ and ‘discipline’ might sound like an unusual combination if you’re not familiar with the idea, but really creativity needs discipline to thrive. A discipline is a practice, and so a set of creative disciplines provides a routine for regularly feeding and training your creative soul.
Creative disciplines are like spiritual disciplines. They are habits chosen to slowly and quietly transform you. In Christian spiritual disciplines, like prayer, scripture reading, worship, and others, the Christian practicing these things is submitting him or herself to these habits in order to abide with Christ and thus become more like Jesus. We experience this as spiritual growth.
Creative disciplines similarly are meant to lead us toward creative growth. Hopefully, spiritual disciplines and creative disciplines will complement each other and together participate in your formation.
There are three creative disciplines each of our arts team members (staff and interns) complete weekly and which we tell each other about during our weekly meetings.
A collaged card for a gift and encouragement to an artist in our ministry.
1. Art as Gift
Each week make something for someone and give it to them. For our team, this is often a handmade postcard. Sometimes it’s a drawing torn out of a sketchbook, or a little sculpture pieced together and left on a friend’s porch.
This discipline has three primary goals:
1. Training yourself to understand art primarily as a mode of blessing and gift, rather than primarily as commercial product or as merely self-expression for private purposes. Over time, giving small art objects away habituates you to generosity and trains you to see that your art is for others.
2. Getting accustomed to creating quickly. If you’re going to give something to someone each week, you’ll need to work quickly. This is intentional. The speed of production is intended to grow your output and quiet your self-criticism, disciplining you to churn out work without overthinking it. You are becoming someone who makes art regularly and has a consistent flow of production.
3. Blessing others with your creative work. This discipline is designed to make you a better artist, but it’s also genuinely for the sake of those receiving your art. What could you make that will make their day better?
2. Write an Encouragement to an Artist
Each week write to another artist whose work you appreciate. Tell them you appreciate it and what it has meant to you. You can write artists who you already know, but I encourage you to write to artists you don’t know personally. Even many fairly well established artists don’t receive fan mail.
This writing could take a few different forms. You could send a message via social media, or you could send snail mail if you know the address. Or, you could write a “public letter” addressed to the artist, but posted on your own social media, sharing about the artist’s work and what it’s meant to you.
When sending your encouragement, you should do so without any expectation of a response, though it’s nice when a reply is returned. Many real life relationships have begun from this kind of simple encouragement. This discipline has the potential to greatly expand your web of creative relationships.
Of course, a purchase from an artist is an encouragement too, so a written encouragement paired with a purchase is even better!
3. Artist Dates
Viewing Julie Baldyga’s Heavenly People at KMAC.
Each week go by yourself on an outing that inspires you creatively. This idea comes from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. This might be a trip to the museum or the bookstore, the art supply store or a concert. Do something that feeds and fuels your creative soul. Don’t be afraid to do something that stretches you, too. Plan these outings a week or two ahead so that you have something to look forward to and so that your schedule doesn’t crowd out the time.
Hear Julia Cameron communicate the idea of an artist date in this video.
Summary
These three creative disciplines aren’t a conclusive list by any means. For example, studio time is a basic and necessary discipline for most artists. And some routine of creative community can also be incredibly important. Our Arts Feedback Group functions that way for many involved in our ministry. Having a few artist friends in regular conversation can invigorate your creative practice. Additionally, keeping a sketchbook, or different forms of journaling and list-making, can become vital creative disciplines.
It’s important to find 3-5 creative disciplines that work for you and stick with them. Like with spiritual disciplines, you may find yourself falling out of the habit, but there’s no benefit to beating yourself up about it. It’s okay to simply pick up where you left off. And it’s also okay to revise your chosen disciplines over time. Remember, the goal is creative growth.