Your Creative Ancestors
Honoring those who inspire you
Who inspires you to create your own work?
Chances are, your artist exists because of the art you admire. Every time you show up for your art, you step into the lineage of people who have come before you. You are in the company of your creative ancestors. Consider the writers and artists whose work has inspired you to create.
When I visited the Georgia O’Keefe Museum years ago, I knew I wanted to claim my visual artist. This was well before I devoted myself to making art; I was writing a novel and that took my focus. But the surge of energy and knowingness when I saw her work was something I also felt when I visited artists’ studios in Boulder’s Open Studios program. It was a visceral “I want that.”
Think of all the art, movies, and music you have experienced that has made a difference in your life. These makers have paved the way for you.
Knowing our creative ancestors can give us clues to the kind of art we want to make. Our creative ancestors can give us courage when it gets tough. When you know who has paved the road for you, you can draw on their accomplishments to pull you forward.
INVITATION
Honor your creative forebears by identifying them. Make a list, mindmap, or family tree of your creative ancestors.
What artists and writers do you admire? Who has created in a style or about a theme that inspires you? What lifestyle choices did they make that inspire your own life?
Make a list in your notebook of creators you admire and perhaps emulate. Look at your bookshelf, your film and TV viewing history, and the artists you recommend again and again. This can be an ongoing list that you add to over time.
Put yourself on the family tree of your creative ancestors. You can do this as a list or a visual family tree or a mindmap. See if you notice any patterns or themes around style, subject matter, or medium.
From there, see how you can incorporate their influence into your creative practice. Perhaps explore one of their techniques as your next creative edge.
You may establish a shrine or a special place for one of your favorite makers. Arrange pictures of them, copies of their work, or a totem that represents them in your studio.
Engage in written dialogue with one of your ancestors in your journal. See what you can learn and apply to your art.
You may wish to do more research on one artist’s process. Look at how they accomplished their work. We often appreciate our own struggles more when we see that our favorite artist or author or screenwriter also faced obstacles.
Affirmation: My artist exists in a rich lineage of creators.
In the comments: Who did you add to your list that you’d love to have over to your studio?
I had a revelation doing this segment. I write and do photography. I always knew my dad was an inspiration because he did both. During periods of his life he had writing side projects going alongside his full-time job as an advertising writer for a movie studio. But I never had included my mom in the list. She was a maker. She knit sweaters, beaded bags (some beautiful), did mosaics. The mosaics may have been from patterns, but she clipped the little glass squares and glued it all down. Today we'd think they were very mid-century modern (they were), but at the time they were pretty cool. I have to sit with what it means to include her in the list. The rest of the list mostly includes people I have actually studied with, people who have been direct teachers, as well as people I have traveled and photographed with. They are the people who are like me, people who started as amateurs but are also taking it to another level. They add another layer of inspiration. And Georgia O'Keeffe for teaching us how to see.