The Risk of Creativity

I just read a gorgeous little essay from a furniture maker’s blog I discovered through core 77. Mark’s thinking explores the increased personal return he feels due to the physical commitment he makes to creation. Here’s a gorgeous quote from his entry:

… it’s mistakes like this that keep me interested in working wood.  They remind me (with a costly jolt) that this craft involves risk. Something is at stake. Always. And the stakes increase as work on a piece progresses. Ruining a leg blank ten minutes after pulling it down from the lumber rack isn’t a crisis. But ruining a leg that’s been shaped, sanded, and mortised means losing hours of work.

Creativity can be a complicated thing for even those very comfortable with the idea. There is always the niggling doubt, for anyone who puts themselves out there, that this can go wrong. But that’s the pleasure of the process. By taking the risk to explore new territory, there is the possibility of new discovery. Or failure. Which is just fine as long as you can dig deep and keep going. Mark says it beautifully here;

Challenging the risk of failure is part of each endeavor. It keeps me in the moment and it sweetens the accomplishment when I succeed. Risk is part of my craft.

Please explore his musings here.

Let’s Bounce Ideas

Bouncing Ideas is my personal journey into opening up my thinking, putting it out there and hoping for a sounding board. I need that sounding board to understand the context of my thinking. The risk with any written endeavour is that no one will read it, or those who do won’t care, or those that care will respond negatively. I am, however getting increasingly comfortable with that idea, but must point out I’ve had no negative responses yet…

This little post is a call for comments and feedback. I want to know what hits, but even more importantly I want to know what misses. I’m not working at a piece of wood, therefore there is no instant feedback on my actions. The safe bubble of my office, with it’s dirty dishes, sleeping dog and wandering cat, is the picture of safety. It won’t be until the ideas bounce of someone else that the echo chamber of my head will disappear and an open dialogue will occur.

Looking forward to playing!

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