4 Places a Creative Can Visit For Inspiration

Call this Inspiration 101

This year has been a pretty tough one. Most of us have spent way too much at home. Creatives can get a lot done in solitude, but even the most hermit-like of us need to get the hell out of the house and into the world.

Social distancing, masks, and other precautions are still highly recommended, of course. That said, if you can get out of the house for a bit, it may be the creative recharge you need.

No one needs to watch as much Netflix as you’ve been lately — except for season two of The Umbrella Academy. That was awesome.

Museums

Many museums have been reopening under new hours and limited occupancy, but reopening nonetheless. I’ve yet to walk out of a museum visit and not feel energized and ready to create. I’m fortunate enough to live within an easy drive to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and see works by Rothko, Warhol, Manet, Twombly, Monet, Picasso, and Rosler.

Whether it’s composition, subject matter, style, color, or medium, there is something about looking at talented artists’ work and feeling that the journey of a creative is worth it. A painting might inspire a poem. A statue might inspire photography project. A museum guard asleep in the Ancient Egyptian exhibit might inspire a short story. (Actually, the sleeping guard did inspire a couple of quick sketches on the spot once. True story. The museum director even came by and noticed and offered some tips. It was a slow, snowy late afternoon, and everyone had time on their hands. I wish I still had that sketchbook.)

Art and craft fairs

It seemed like the art and craft fair circuit was going to be entirely shut down this year for a while. In past years, I was a fairly regular participant at local fairs with my watercolors and prints, and even after I took a break from being part of the circuit, I still enjoyed visiting them. I’m seeing art and craft fairs being held here and there — with social distancing and mask mandates in place.

Like a museum visit, seeing how others approach their art or other creative endeavor has always pumped me up to do some fresh paintings once I got home.

I don’t go for the straw colonial-style dolls or lighthouse paintings. I go for the artist with the really unique screen-printed wood blocks or the ceramic artist who does some things with color glazes I can’t even fathom. I get a lot of great ideas about techniques and materials when I go to these events.

One word of warning, if you don’t mind. Do not take photos of people’s work at these fairs without permission. IP theft is a real problem on the art and craft fair circuit. Many vendors get understandably bent out of shape when people take photos of their stuff (and don’t buy anything). If you want to see more of the artist’s work, but can’t afford to take any home, ask if they have a website or Etsy. There, you can see more work and get information on purchasing online.

A place where there are lots of books

Libraries are just starting to open again. Bookstores are getting a better handle on being open to the public. Whether borrowing, buying or just browsing, there is something about being around books that sparks the imagination.

I think one thing that does it for me is walking past shelves of books and then stopping and saying to myself, “Someone wrote a book about that? And it’s on a shelf?”

Before the pandemic, full parking lots outside of libraries and bookstores told me that reading is alive and well. Even during the pandemic, when the parking lots are less full, I can see that people still hold books and writing in high regard.

Even a used bookstore can yield some enticing pathways to creativity. I picked up a 10-volume set of classic art prints for a song. I keep one on my coffee table and rotate them each week.

Not everything has to be Amazon, you know.

Convention or conference

This is a tough one right now.

Every pop culture or science fiction convention that would typically be on my schedule as a visitor, participant, or vendor has been canceled this year. A few have gone online, but I’ll admit that they have not been as engaging as I’d have liked. The same goes for any professional conferences I occasionally attend.

Still, remember this for the future. Conventions and conferences get you pumped up as hell when it comes to inspiring creativity. I meet people. Make contacts. Discuss possible projects — both solo and collaborative.

As soon as I get home, I’m writing or painting like I owe the devil money, and he’s knocking on the door.

Inspiration comes from the people and friends I talk with. It comes from the presentations I attend, and exhibits I see. It comes from the vendor floor, and it comes from the late-night bull sessions in the hotel lobby.

Being around like-minded people for even a short time bolsters personal creativity.

Take notes

This bit of advice won’t take long.

Write down your thoughts and ideas as soon as you can when visiting inspiring places. It doesn’t matter if it’s on your phone, or in a moleskin notebook, or a 99-cent spiral pocket notepad.

Just write down what moves you as soon as you can.

You’ll thank me later.

Great artists don’t really steal

Steve Jobs is often quoted as saying something like, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” He was paraphrasing Picasso who took the line from Stravinsky, who likely got it from the more thoughtfully written quote from T. S. Eliot:

“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.”

Look. Don’t steal. Don’t plagiarize. Don’t take someone else’s work and call it your own. You’ll get caught, and it doesn’t make you any kind of an artist or other creative type. It just makes you sad.

Instead, take an idea or a theme and examine how it speaks to you personally and what you have to say. What you have to say.

Then share that with the world.

Trees are all bark and…

A concluding thought for you nature lovers.

I love a good walk in the woods as much as anyone. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. Call me crazy, I like getting bitten by bugs.

But apart from a few landscapes and stock photoshoots, I find I don’t get as much creative juice from trees and streams. I go to the woods when I’m feeling overwhelmed by the world. When I need to engage with the world, I go to a place with people and happenings.

Finding creativity may fall somewhere in between — the calm of a museum or the active engagement of a comic book convention.

You find what works best for you. My recommendations may work for many people, but I don’t expect they will fill everyone’s teacup.

I just want you to get out of the house for a bit, so you are itching to make something when you come home. It could be a painting. A story. A poem. A song. An article on cybersecurity for video gamers.

Whatever strikes you.

Have some fun while you’re out in the world.

You deserve it.

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