What is STILLNESS and why do artists (and so many of us) need it? There is a very interesting article titled If You Want To Be An Artist, Understand Loneliness. It claims the state of loneliness is necessary for the artist to develop, – “…many artists… require a measure of solitude. To harvest the deepest of our creative proclivities and innermost expressions…” The artists’ need for loneliness is really a need for stillness. The stillness of mind is extremely hard to achieve with our busier than ever lives.
Lack of stillness in modern human life makes the drama of Luc universal. In a publication called How Being Busy Means Not Being Creative we read, – “when your mind is on the dozen other things you need to get done, you’re locked out from that creative zone… Busyness is antithetical to Creativity…” Busyness is everywhere in modern human existence. We barely find time for reading a book, writing a letter, getting together with friends, gazing at stars and flowers, simply BEING in quiet and creative mode. Modern communication technology is helping us stay in touch globally, yet separating people living close by. There is a lack of stillness in people’s lives, especially in large populous cities.
Do you feel a lack of stillness sometimes? With the global pandemics situation, did it change a lot in your BEING? Do you find more time for creativity than before? Please kindly leave your comment here.
Thank you.
– Marina
I do not have a lack of stillness, however, need it time by time for my spirit, soul, body. Stillness is necessary for listening and understanding myself but should be dosed in accordance to a personality’s type. Of course, the year of the pandemic changed my being and highlighted the need of the balance between stillness and movement (in self-development). It’s not an easy task to find such balance. For me, minimalist art as the harmonizing medium helps in getting stillness, because minimalism cuts off insignificant and forces to focus on the main thing.
I’m an artist, oil painter. I’ve taught classes at Lucsculpture. As I get older I find increasingly the need for quiet stillness to be simply in touch with myself but have always found connection in these moments. They are an integral part of the act of creativity. Thank you for this Marina.
I took time to answer this questions and I questioned why I question these questions, LOL
I guess to me stillness has many forms and layers. It is like time – the moment can mean eternity and in reverse. I too seek stillness amidst the busyness of every day. And I too need a day to recover after a day of events and meetings and volumes of interactions. But also I noticed that at times I do not need that much of loneliness, I just as you pointed out need a moment of stillness. To me I noticed the quality of that stillness is really what matters. And frankly it doesn’t have to be still at all. It’s the affect and the richness of the experience that goes deep inside and reaches the very depth of your soul. Whether it is a 10 minutes walk to the shore and getting lost in the sound of waves or simply the little voice of your daughter in car’s hands free as you are going 60 miles an hour on a highway – you know it has the same affect! Your time stops and you disappear in stillness, and there suddenly you see, you hear noise-free-of-the-world-around-you the most important thing! The most important realization! The most valuable “it”! The creativity is merely the search for “it” stripping all the noise. I don’t think you physically need to be still or lonely to find the stillness, nah-ah. It’s not about that. Because you can zone out painting the best work of art among the most noise and distraction when you see “it”, when you know the most important thing that matters!