Creativity Decoded

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Taj Francis

“I believe it is the most important foundation of not just art, but all aspects of society and being a sentient being. Even animals I believe can be creative in some aspects. Creativity is not just thinking outside of the box, or being "witty", it is the process of making parts of your soul and consciousness visible, audible and tangible.”

-Taj Francis (Visual Artist)

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Vincent Nappi

"I was asked about creativity. I have a hard time defining it. It's elusive. Most of the time I find myself being creative when I'm not really paying attention. It's a liminal thing, halfway between intense focus and relaxation, a place somewhere between the monkeys chattering in my head where intuition and the gut get together and swap ideas. 

Picasso said a lot of interesting things. One of them was something like the following..."Creativity comes, but it has to find you working." 

Then again, he may have replaced creativity with inspiration. .

I can't remember. In any case, to me they're nearly one and the same. You're inspired to be creative and you're creative when you're inspired. 

The two aren't always reliable though. 

That's when discipline comes in. The discipline of making something, every single day. I value that discipline more than the creativity or the inspiration becauseI know both will come when I am engaged with the work. I just have to shut up long enough to hear them. They whisper, real quiet like, but when you know what to listen for they can tell you some incredible things. You might just be surprised. I know I am on a daily basis. 

I just surround myself with the things that fire me up, roll up my sleeves and get to work. I let the creativity and inspiration sort themselves out. 

They're smart. They know what they're doing."

-Vincent Nappi (Author/illustrator)

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Kosisochukwu Nnebe

"I believe creativity is most valuable when it can be used to spark a conversation, precipitate new ways of thinking and allow for further innovations. In other words, I appreciate creativity most when it is functional. I love coming across artwork that makes me stop, think and think some more, just because the concept is so interesting or so well executed/articulated. Some of my favorite creatives include Carrie Mae Weems, Hank Willis Thomas and Kajhal Benes."

- Kosisochukwu Nnebe (Artist)

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Xinjian Lu

"Creativity is creating something that is mind blowing and changing our perspective. Moreover, creativity can stimulate us to think and imagine."

- Xinjian Lu (Artist)

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Uinverso

"Creativity in our​ everyday​ practice is an exercise of perception and transformation​.​"

- Nadiuska P. Furtado & Priscila Furtado (Uinverso)

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Orion

"My opinion on creativity is that it is infinite, possibilities in this world are endless, embracing this thought has given my life a new path."

- Orion (Artist)

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Adam Lupton

"Creativity for me extends beyond what people normally associate it with: art and craft and design. People do creative and innovative things every single day on the simplest and mundane tasks. Creativity is a new take or angle on a problem. Sometimes that's pushing pigment around on a canvas, or composing a song, and sometimes it's arranging your laundry and groceries to carry them up the stairs."

- Adam Lupton (Artist)

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Yoon Hyup

"Creativity is an endless communion for me and I attain a state 

of perfect contentment when I paint."

- Yoon Hyup (Artist)

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Judy Kaufmann

  "I think the time you spend drawing is proportional to the quality of your artwork, and the time you spend traveling is proportional to the quantity of inspiration.”

- Judy Kaufmann (illustrator)

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Tope Eletu

"Creativity for me has always been about getting in touch with your soul and getting to know who you are at the core. Not everyone is good at it but everyone CAN do it, if they are open to it. It’s about beauty and it’s about expressing the real conditions of human life and emotions with every action you take and every stroke of the pen. It keep life moving. Without it, we would all just be soulless creatures."

-Tope Eletu (curator/creative director of Bad Girl Confidence)

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Dawn Okoro

"Creativity means seeing outside the box.  It means bringing my individual aesthetic to a project."

- Dawn Okoro (Artist)

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Tyler Spangler

Creativity is taking your unique experiences and translating them into your passion. 

-Tyler Spangler (Graphic Designer)

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Jane Radstrom

I am naturally a very scientific person. I do not see this as an opposite of creativity. My work starts with parameters, from there exploration happens. By setting clear goals at the start of each piece I have a way to determine when it’s finished - otherwise I am likely to wander off and start several new ideas right on top of the original one. If a new idea occurs to me while I’m working on a piece, I try to set it aside and make it part of my goals for the next work. So, much of the creative process happens while I am reflecting in between working on paintings. 

- Jane Radstrom (Painter/Designer)

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Arnold Butler

“My idea of art isn’t normal. I feel the artist should appear in his work no more than God appears in nature. Man means nothing-his work means everything.”

- Arnold Butler (Artist)

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KaCey KalifraGIListic

"#ARTGAMEstressful". It’s a little phrase that I came up with out of my frustration for the current state of the type art that has become popular in the age of Twitter and Tumblr. No one is even trying to be different artistically anymore because it’s so easy not to. 

Not only that, but the fact that a lot great works of art get looked over in the process. I respect everyone who actually try and understand the struggle. 

- KaCey KalifraGIListic (graphic and digital artist and illustrator)

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Ekow Nimako

"Creativity can be accessed to serve just about any purpose; the more creatively attuned of mind, the more fascinating the results.”

- Ekow Nimako (LEGO artist)

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Grégoire A. Meyer

Creativity gives a new reality to the world the artist inhabits.

- Grégoire A. Meyer (digital artist/photographer)