For many people, art is a form of expressing their spirituality through creativity; this much has always been true. However, just like each piece of art has a different meaning to each viewer, each artist has an individual approach to creating and seeing art. I thought that one of the most interesting aspects of this week’s article, “Art as a Spiritual Practice: the Mission of Art,” was when Grey identifies the five steps that every artist takes either consciously or subconsciously. For me, the incubation step is the most fascinating. In this third step of the creative process, an artist lets “the unconscious sift the information and develop a response.” (Grey 75) Grey shares his own personal experience through his art and explains that his vision began to take place after a dream and an encounter with drugs. These two visions helped him see what he truly wanted his art to portray and how he wanted to achieve this (Grey 78). Without the subconscious constantly picking at new ideas and making them better, the creative process would be deeply inhibited. I believe that it is this incubation step of the creative process that truly adds the spiritual aspect. After mulling over each idea in the subconscious mind, an artist is able to see what it truly means to them and how they will achieve such a piece. By truly letting the subconscious take over, the art becomes about what the artist believes deep down and this is when a piece of art becomes spiritual.
Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art (1st ed., pp. 205-233). Boston & London: Shambhala.
Hi, the article you wrote is pretty interesting. And I also learned few things from this week reading, and with my own understanding. I think artists experience is the basis of the creation subject in the aesthetic experience. They accumulated a large amount experiences, and put them into their works. And for artist, inspiration is very important. Their inspiration may come out suddenly, maybe a second or maybe few days, or even longer. And artists’ thoughts and views are unique with creative.
Katie,
This was an interesting approach to this article! I read the steps and thought that this was a great, and interesting was to discuss the article by discussing one step. Personally I have always had a tough time interpreting art but I think that understanding the third step that you have mentioned here that the artist lets “the unconscious sift the information and develop a response.” I could carry onto my own interpretations and be much more successful. Since an artist is taking the time to develop a response, I seems fitting as a view to do the same. Do you think that if with artist and the view have very different spiritualities that they will interpret the same things? Is that okay?
The interpretation of the artist is so important, but is it not impossible for everyone to view a work of art the way the artist meant it to be seen? The movie said that in order to truly understand a work of art, we have to imagine what the artist was thinking; completely immerse ourselves in the piece, but this seems challenging. There are so many ways someone could interpret a piece.
I would also like to state that you don’t have to be an artist to experience spirituality or creativity. Or even to make art for that matter.
I like how you brought up the five steps every artist takes. I think that specific rituals play into the five step process, uniquely to each person, which is so important in the spiritual experience of creativity and art.