kayleigh woodward

Creativity and knowledge are both a part of the creative process. Their relationship is symbiotic; they benefit from each other and act as a catalyst for an artist's mind in order for them to produce. Their interactions with each other are mutually beneficial and necessary for growth and efficiency. Knowledge is what is gained through experience and used before the supplication of creativity. Knowledge is stored information and creativity is the desire to create. I see knowledge as 'the how' in the creative process and creativity as 'the what'. Both of them together benefit the artist to come up with a new idea, solve a problem and produce art. I think this relationship is strongly connected, which is evidenced by the popular term 'creative thinking'. Without the practiced skills that are learned through repetition and instruction or the inspiration to innovate, and execute those skills, creating art would be an impossible task. One way that I visualize knowledge and creativity working together, is to picture two reservoirs in my mind, one for creativity and one for knowledge. As I work on a project, resources are being drawn from each pool and mixed to fuel the creative process and answer the questions, 'what to create and how to create?'. To be creative and to be knowledgeable are two different things, but for an artist both are necessary for success. Creativity and knowledge are different wells of information used to fuel an artist's creative process. While they may be differing in characteristics, their merit is equal. Artists need inspiration to answer 'what to create?' and knowledge gained through experience and practice to satisfy 'how to create?'. Without either, the creative process for an artist would never be complete.