Introduction
6
‘Drawing is meditation, from the point of weighing of my pencils in the palm of my hand, to attending to the sharpness of their tips. I assess the dryness of the paper and the suppleness of the erasers. When that is done, I am ready to start.’
Confusing art practice and creative wellbeing can create a tension where one possibly undermines the other. To allow both the credibility they require to serve their purposes they need a degree of separation. There are cross overs, however, a fundamental consideration is acknowledging you don’t have to be ‘a creative’ or be an artist to benefit from creative wellbeing. In spite of claims ‘we are all artists’, this is not necessarily the case: not everyone is an artist, the same way not everyone is an accountant, a professional athlete etc. When the term ‘creative’ is used in relation to wellbeing it is referring to ‘human’ creativity. We are all creative. We mark make before we can make sentences or write. If we weren’t creative, human kind would have ceased to exist; imagine not being able to problem solve, build, construct, excite, challenge or inspire. These are the very rudimentary, fundamentals of creative survival. When we are stripped back to basics it is our creative instinct that kicks in alongside survival. How to build a shelter, whittle a stick into a tool, make a trap to catch food, build devises to collect water. Once we are good on the survival front we then quite quickly move to decorating the shelter and objects, we require things around us that are aesthetically pleasing and comforting, as well as comfortable.
Cate Halpin – artist
Being creative keeps you well
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