Are you creative? A Quilter's Journey to becoming an Artist

Are you creative? 

Would you call yourself a creative person? 

I hope your answer is yes, though I’ve been teaching long enough and have worked with thousands of quilters from all around the world, and a common phrase I hear is, “Oh, I’m not creative.” “I’m no artist.” “I’m a good quilter, but not super creative...”

Even if you don’t feel like you’re creative or artistic -- I promise you, you are.

There is no such thing as a non-creative person. It’s an oxymoron. To be human is to be creative. 

I want you to pause for a moment and reflect on your feelings about yourself as a creative. 

Would you describe yourself as a creative? As an artist?

Did the word artist make you tense up a bit? Does it feel way too audacious? 

Perhaps math and science were always your strong suite, so you never considered yourself artistic. Or maybe someone criticized your artwork when you were young, comparing it to someone elses or saying that you did it wrong. This is an all too common story and can be devastating.

You might be thinking, yeah, but Shannon, you haven’t seen me draw! I’ve met a lot of creative people -- I’m not creative like them...

Let me ask you this: have you ever met a non-creative child? 

I used to teach elementary, and I can tell you, I’ve never met a child who wasn’t creative-- who wasn’t an artist. Some were more hesitant than others-- but every child I’ve ever met was an artist in some way. 

So if you are with me on that, what does that tell you about adults? 

Everyone of us was once a little creative human-- a tiny artist. 

Creativity is a muscle. Some people have been using this muscle consistently since they were children, and are wildly creative adults. Some of us stopped using that muscle long ago and it has atrophied-- we think, who are we to make something original or dare call ourselves a creative person. That is for other people-- the artists. I’m not one of those people. 

Even if you haven’t used that muscle in decades, it’s still there. It may take some time to loosen up, but it is still there. The more you use that muscle, the stronger it becomes. 

I love this quote by Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic (one of my favorite books on creative living). 

“If you’re alive, you’re a creative person. You and I and everyone you know are descended from tens of thousands of years of makers. Decorators, tinkerers, storytellers, dancers, explorers, fiddlers, drummers, builders, growers, problem-solvers, and embellishers—these are our common ancestors.”

I want you to really take this in. Creativity is in your blood, it’s in your DNA, you are made of it. You have full permission to claim that, to explore it without fear of judgment, and to express it in whatever form you want. 

Your inner artist goes by some other names as well: intuition, essence, soul, the piece of divinity that lives inside of each one of us; those are some of her other faces. 

Your inner artist is just the part of your soul that holds a paintbrush, a pencil, or a sewing needle.

This doesn’t mean that you need to create quilt equivalents of the Mona Lisa -- what you actually make doesn’t really matter -- the journey to making it is the whole stinking point. 

The journey to uncovering that artist that lives inside of you will transform every other area of your life, it will open up your eyes to all the beauty and magic surrounding you, it will connect you to the creative heartbeat of our universe. 

That process is pure magic. It’s alchemical. And it’s the whole point. 

So the end result of what your quilts look like is interesting information that leads you to know how you might want to change things or what you might want to make next. 

It’s of course rewarding to make beautiful things, but the process of making them, of dipping your hand into your well of creativity to see what you pull out; of plugging into the beauty and inspiration around you -- that is what is most important. 

SO, stop trying to deny it, my dear-- you are a creative. 

You are an artist. 

Dig deep within for the audacity to claim the title. Say it outloud. Put it on a name tag and wear it.

 

Repeat after me: "I am creative. I am an artist. There is work to be made that only I can make."

 

If you're interested in exploring your own creativity and uncovering your inner artist, I think you'll LOVE Meander. We are an international group of quilters doing just that: exploring our own creativity, developing our own unique quilt-making style, mastering color, taking lots of fun and unusual workshops, and connecting with like minded quilters from all around the world! Enrollment is opening soon, so click here to learn more about Meander!

We'd love to hear from you! Do you consider yourself an artist/creative? What stood out to you the most from what we talked about here? Leave a comment below and let us know!