World of Art

1. How do you define “spirituality”?

Spirituality to me is something that can differ myself with other people. I think different people will have different definition of spirituality. But related to my own understanding about spirituality, it is a term that can describe the internal activity of my mind. Spirituality actually can link my behaviors with my internal mind which can produce a resource to guide my behaviors as well as to track the reasons of my behaviors. I think it is very hard to produce a general definition for spirituality. However, each person can define spirituality not that hard by explore his or her psychological activities and inner values.

      2. Does spirituality differ from religion?

I think spirituality will act at a similar way compared with religion, especially for individuals. I believe spirituality and religion actually engaged with each other in many fields. Especially for those people who are religious, they values and the way to think and solve problems will be highly associated with their beliefs, spirituality and religion. Also, spirituality sometimes can strengthen the value of religion of each individual. I think the biggest difference between spirituality and religion is that spirituality will have bigger influence on guiding individuals and religion can sometimes guide a large group of people even the whole society.

       3. How do you define “creativity”?

Creativity to me is a type of activities or abilities that produce new and valuable things. Creativity refers to both tangible and intangible creations. I believe creativity is essential in many especially in electronic products industry. Related to art, creativity is also very important during the production stage. Artists want to create their own ways to deliver their different messages to the audiences and they have to engaged with their creativity. In addition, creativity sometimes can define as the ability to break the traditional barriers and expand into new areas.

       4.What is the source of creativity?

I think the source of creativity can be found whenever and wherever. The source can be anything both tangible and intangible such as a physical objects, an idea, a message, an experience, or even a word of mouth. I believe there are enough source of creativity out there but lack of ability and attention to identify and find those sources act as the major problems in the creation process. In the reading, Grey explained “the creative process” in the process of creating art works. I think in the inspiration stage is the place that creativity engage the most. During this stage, artists have to identify the source of creativity and produce something that they believe will inspire themselves as well as the audiences. I think the useful way to help people to identify those source of creativity is to be aware of many little things in the daily life that related to the purpose of creation, because those things could transfer to the sources of creativity or help people to produce some creative ideas.

After reading “The Mission of Art” written by Grey, I came with several similar thoughts with Grey and also a question about the creative process. Grey first raised a question regarding what people see related to how people see things. According to Grey, even people see the same object, different people may have different feelings. (Grey, 72) Then, Grey provided his own example about a car accident and describe how this experience affect his view of other things. He stated “Such an encounter with the gripping potential of death and loss of loved ones cuts through many layers of egoic chatter all at once, and appreciation of life and its sweet preciousness overwhelms you.” (Grey, 72) I agree with Grey opinion that sometime there is a difference between what people look with what people actually see. For example, one day, I was walking on the street and looked at a body sculpture on the side of street. When I walked by that sculpture, I thought it was an art work for people to view. However, when I actually see it closely, the sculpture was a real person that he painted himself to act as a sculpture.

Additionally Grey pointed out a theory called “The Creative Process”. Related to his own experience, Grey explained how art was created during each of those stages. Grey stated “Not all artists will recognize each phase in their work, and each phase takes its own time, widely varying from work to work.” (Grey, 76) I have a question regarding the inspiration during The Creative Process. Inspiration means a flash of one’s own unique solution to the problem. (Grey, 75) Grey also stated that “Every artist has his or her own unique process of inspiration.” (Grey, 80) I understand that during inspiration process, the artists will use their creative minds and ideas to deliver a special vision of their solutions the problems. However, since different people may hold different views toward the same objects, how the artists can think about something that are both creative and meaningful to most of the audiences. I believe inspiration stage is the stage that produce many distinctive ideas from different artists. However, just like Grey said, “Inspiration is beyond reason,” (Grey, 82) when the artists create the original ideas of their artworks such as paintings, I guess the hardest thing is to translate their creative ideas into those actual images.