Art is a function of your everyday experiences and that includes mundane, ‘everyday’ actions. America’s Psychological Association published a report that found everyday actions influence creativity, with simple things like writing a note, scribbling and pretty much every conscious and subconscious action you take influencing your creativity. Essentially, your experiences shape your art – and it’s not just the big, life-altering acts that lead to the introspection and inspiration to craft your most important works, there’s also the aspect of spirituality.
Reflecting on what might seem like the mundane could be a great way to boost your creativity. Beautifully simple ventures can improve creative writing, and the same applies to all artistic disciplines. Introspection through spirituality, which looks at some of the basic forces in life, is one way to help your craft.
Picking up spirituality
It is important to remove spirituality from religion. Whilst religion has inspired some of the greatest female creativity in history, like Ethiopian artist Julie Mehretu’s iconic Mogamma painting, personal introspection through spirituality comes from something more basic than what religion and their churches deal in. Indeed, Mogamma came from a multi-faith place, with spirituality the common factor. Spirituality comes from the basic idea that there is a lifeforce, in you and around you. Achieving self-reflection through spirituality is a case of reducing distractions in your life for periods at a time and looking at the basic feelings of your body.
In this state, often achieved through meditation, you’ll be able to look at yourself, your experiences – everyday experiences included – and get to know yourself to a greater level than before.
Interpreting your spirituality into art
Once you’ve developed a good sense of spirituality, you will have a better grasp on you and the inner workings of your life. This has a broad range of benefits outside creativity, too; a 2009 study by the Journal of Mental and Nervous Disorders found that the application of spirituality based healing in South Africa had a positive effect on mental health, for example. Gaining introspection into your own mental health is a way of recovery and can also be a source of inspiration – some of the greatest artists have worked whilst diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and at times attributed their best work to it.
Spirituality will often have a multi-barreled approach to its connection with you, engaging more than one of the senses. Contemporary art provides for all the senses, so look at your craft and see how you could engage your sense of spirituality and self-knowledge in that respect. Engage with smells in painting, or use physical stimuli like wind and heat, for example.
The possibilities for expressing your sense of spirituality through art are almost limitless and are expanding as technology does. As spirituality moves away from religion and back to a basic, personal experience, your art can be positively influenced to match. Meditate, ruminate on your findings, and apply it to your canvas.
Sometime last year we interviewed Kelly Heaton, an Artist who fuses Electrical Engineering and Spirituality into her work. You should totally read about her journey.
Araki Koman is another awesome Artist and Minimalist evangelist that we’ve interviewed. Born and raised in Paris, learn more about how Paris multiculturalism shaped her.
Cassandra Alexander is a freelance writer and editor who has a real passion for all things spiritual. She adores being able to work creatively every day and when not writing she enjoys live music, hiking and spending time with her family.
