The Key to Unlocking the Door to Your Creativity
by Amy Smith, MHC Mending Art Coordinator
Picture this, you have just seen a door swing open and before you lies a place where anything you can imagine, you can create! You hold the key to this illuminous place and you enter. On the other side of the door, your unique creative voice guides you through this new place. It might feel silent at first but the more you quiet your thoughts, the more you begin to hear your creativity speaking to you and you begin putting it into action. You take the first step and enter, then another step and another. Soon you are running, skipping, jumping, and leaping in this new found place! You are free to play, explore, discover, express yourself and enjoy! You are on a journey and each step you take is teaching you something new about yourself, you are connecting to your unique creative path and it is taking you places you never knew existed before. You are learning and problem solving. You are finding peace and balance. You are feeling less anxious and more accomplished. You feel more refreshed and your life feels more enriched! You are finding more purpose and hope. You are filled with new ideas! You begin to look over here, over there, and everywhere! The possibilities are endless! Wouldn’t you like to explore this creative place?
Now, let’s take a moment and reflect on the door and ask ourselves “What is stopping me from opening this door to my creativity?” Any number of things may appear to be holding you back or slowing you down from opening this door. Don’t give up, you deserve the opportunity to explore your creative place, it is just on the other side of this door. Taking the time to acknowledge what is keeping this door closed will help you open it and take the next step in pursuing your art.
Spend a few minutes writing down or reflecting on some of the things that might be preventing you from opening the door to your creativity. Do you think you are not an artist? Do you feel like you don’t know anything about art so you shouldn’t try to create? Do you feel uninspired? Do you feel like you just don’t know where to begin? Do you think you lack the right art materials to use? Do you feel like you don’t have time to work on your art? Do you feel like art is just a waste of time?
- start a list of ideas or themes you have in mind to be creative with
- set some time aside for yourself each day or each week to work on your art
- find materials you have access to that you could create with or work on your budget to allow for purchasing some new art materials (found materials make amazing works of art)
- talk with other artists about how art has benefited their wellbeing and ask them about skills they have learned through art
- find a story to read about an artist or visit a gallery or museum
- share artwork with your family, friends, and neighbors and ask them about their artwork or artwork they have seen, heard or read
- sign up to take an art class, or you could even begin by setting up your own environment to work on your art.
What does your key look like? What will help you open the door to your creativity? With this idea in mind, let’s go back to our drawings of our doors. You are ready to add the key to open the door to your creativity!
Mending Art participants find the keys to unlocking the doors to their creativity by setting time aside for themselves to engage in the Mending Art program. Mending Art allows for everyone’s unique self-expression within in a safe, trauma informed, nonjudgmental studio environment. This environment meets each individual where they are and helps them take the next steps on their unique creative journey with an art guide on the side. Mending Art Artist take steps along their creative journey through: working in sketchbooks, creative conversations, weekly workshops, open studios, exhibits, museum visits, sharing their stories in the Mending Art Newsletters, Art Pal projects, working on Mending Art Activities Booklets and Creative Challenges, learning new skills, exploring new mediums, and listening and learning about other artists and their artwork just to name a few. Mending Art Artists learn that art is more than a painting or sculpture in a museum, rather it is creative energy put into action, it is about process and finding inner peace and balance, and that there are artists and stories behind each work of art. They discover that there is art all around them and that they too are artists with creative energy to bring forth. The more an artist puts their creative energy into action, the more their intentions and unique creative voice develops in their work and they explore other avenues to express themselves and share their art with others. Art is never a waste of time, the benefits of art on an individual’s wellbeing are countless. Taking the time to work on our wellbeing is always important, it is always time well spent. We hope you will let Mending Art inspire you and be a key to unlocking the door to your creativity too!
Inspiring Statements from Mending Art Artists on “Unlocking the Door to Your Creativity”
“The key to my creativity is infinite imagination.”- Terrex C
“I would unlock a door to imagination.”- Jackie S
“My door is a door to hope.”- Christina P
“Start with coming from the mind. You may not have what you want but you have what you need. Do it for yourself and share it with the people you love. Use imagination, I kept my imagination from when I was a kid.”- Debra C
“The door represents a new place.”- Anonymous
“My key isn’t going to fit someone else’s door.”- Anonymous
“I feel like I am almost through the door but not quite.”- Anonymous
“Patience is the key to my creativity” – Keon C
