Marriage and Creativity

Karen Lorenz of MSN.com reports that while marriage is good for careers, mental health, and longevity, marriage diminishes creativity according to a study of 280 successful scientists.

"Myth: Married People are More Creative A study of 280 successful scientists found that their creativity tended to diminish once they got married. This also held true for musicians, painters and authors. "

I remember hearing about this study on National Public Radio. The notes are probably scribbled on a small slip of paper somewhere in my studio. I remember the discussion about scientists, but do not remember the discussion including other creative people. Please write me if you have information. Let's get the truth about this myth.

Inspiration or Competition: Artists Living Together

Eat up this great art discussion on The Connection . As you can tell, I listen to the radio while working in my studio. I am quite addicted to public radio. This art discussion kept me awake listening one night. Originally about Painters and Partners, the discussion beautifully rambled into aspects of art and life that artists love to discuss when they are not in their studio or dealing with the intricacies of family life. Guest painters, Selina Trieff and Robert Henry, had the same teachers, Hans Hofmann and Mark Rothko. They have been married since 1955 and have produced excellent bodies of works on canvas and paper, as well as two children. If you are keeping a list of artist that are good role models, add them to your list.

Freedom and commitment. Their commitment, both to art and to their relationship, was a strong theme. One caller commented on the wonderful freedom that artists have to be themselves, to know themselves, and to figure it out. Both described painting as a personal search. Selina's advice to young artists summed this up. "The process will give you strength."

While both do figurative and abstract work, their paintings are very different, reflecting their unique personalities. Follow the link to find images.

Drawing

Peter Steinhart discussed his new book, The Undressed Art: Why We Draw with Lynn Neary on Talk of the Nation. Is drawing a form of meditation? Artists display heightened forebrain activity when they are deep in concentration. Scientists have measured brain activity that is similar to that emitted during Buddhist meditation. Those who draw, however, experience an enhanced sense of space.

The answer to "Why we draw?" remains complex. It does not have much to do with earning money, for the book reports on drawing clubs where groups of people gather to draw from a model. Most of the drawings are considered failures by the artists. Most go into the garbage. Few people display figure sketches in their homes. Steinhart describes artists who draw as having the ability to envision their future efforts as fruitful while finding fault with their current products. Steinhart calls drawing a haunting obsession.

There were many questions from listeners about talent. While Steinhart expressed the view that drawing is a skill that can be learned, the answers to callers nuianced variations of the talent question suggested a need for talent. How would we answer those questions if our society held the ability to draw in the same category as the ability to read? What if we spent as much time and resources teaching children and adolescents to draw as we do teaching them to read? What if we had remedial drawing teachers? Then, maybe, we could truly answer some of the listeners questions.

Anna Quindlen who has had successful careers as both a journalist and a novelist talks about the writing process on To the Best of Our Knowledge. The author of the novel Blessings said that she can write for seven hours at a stretch, but not when working on novels. The reasons? After a number of pages, the characters a writer creates in her head become more real than people she passes on the street. She can also write a real news story using her notes when she becomes stuck and keep going. After several hours work on a novel, however, the creative ghosts dry up. Writing novels is also difficult because the gap between the ideal and the real glares at you once the writing has begun.

Night Owls

On July 19, 2004, Neal Conan’s guest on Talk of the Nation discussed sleep chemistry and how some writer’s use this chemistry to their advantage. Christopher Dewdney, author of Aquainted with the Night: Excursion Through the World After Dark described the phenomenal chemical changes that occur within the body overnight. At approximately 10 or 11 p.m., the body secretes a chemical that induces sleepiness. Another chemical slows kidney activity. As morning nears, the body produces a chemical that begins to wake you up, just like caffeine. A fine arts metal smith called the show and described her night owl work habits. She reported that she works through the night until 5 a.m., sleeps, and then wakes refreshed at 9 a.m. Her mother, also a creative soul, has a similar routine. Her father and sisters, however, do not share this pattern and are not as creative. She asked whether sleep patterns corresponded with creative personality traits. Dudney replied that he found no evidence to connect sleep patterns to right brain or left brain activity. However, If you resist the urge to sleep at 10 or 11 p.m., you enter a stage of very clear mental lucidity that lasts until 1 or 2 a.m. Many writers do good work during this lucid period. (In the book, he does point out that sleep deprivation can ruin one's long-term health.)

The discussion went on to cover moonbows and a fatal nightmare syndrome found in Hmong and Philippine populations. The discussion was sprinkled with poetry and prose about the night.

More on Gauguin

Holland Cotter reviewed the ''Gauguin Tahiti'' exhibit in the New York
Times on Friday, March 5, 2004. His article, "Gauguin's Paradise: Only Part Tahitian And All a Fantasy" continues the schizophrenic look at Gauguin's life and art. "Dreadful man" and potent visual artist. To understand Gauguin the bully and opportunist, he suggests reading Nancy Mowll Mathews's ''Paul Gauguin: An Erotic Life,'' published by Yale University in 2001.

Although Gauguin painted an illusion of a Tahiti that did not exist, Cotter praises his use of color, rhythm, originality, and his ability to portray deep mysteries. The show is a must see. Cotter's descriptions are lush.

Cotter also disects Gauguin as a questing hero. To understand questing heroes, he calls upon the historian Alison Goddard Elliott who wrote ''Roads to Paradise: Reading the Lives of the Early Saints''. Purity of heart is the one pure thing they quest, according to Elliot. Cotter concludes, "Gauguin's desire was greedy and promiscuous. He wanted Eden plus everything else, including love, fame and art. Impossible."

Response from Elizabeth Childs

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 12:45 PM
To : chrisyocca@hotmail.com

Hi! Just read your blog!
Wanted to respond to your characterization of my comments on The
Connection. What I objected to in that caller's remarks was the
judgement that he "left his wife and family" and was so immoral and was
"just off to have a good time," in the caller's words. What I was
suggesting was that his leaving Europe shouldn't be seen through 21st
century lenses of what constitutes family, and that the pattern of an
adult leaving the family and children to go off and pursue a
career/calling was common in his class (lower middle class) in France,
and even in his family (look at his own mother and grandmother), and he
shouldn't be so judged for that. I was trying to suggest we see his
biography in more historical than mythic terms. I don't think I ever
said "just look at the work." I also agree we wouldn't have the work,
had he not lived his life that way. I was trying to say, let's also look
at that notorious and legendary life more from a 19th century
perspective.
Anyway, thanks for the blog!
Liz Childs