ON CREATIVITY AND THE ARTIST/CRAFTSMAN
By Darlene Nairne

Creativity, or the potential for man to create, may not
need to be defined in any theoretical sense. However,
for the speculative mind, a little theorizing on the
subject can both enrich one's personal sense of direction
and offer some practical insight for the artist or
craftsman.

Imagined images do not just materialize for no reason
and to no end, They need a medium or context in which
to gain meaning and they may need to be addressed to
an audience either directly or indirectly. In other
words, the image must find expression; for in its
expression is its reality or meaning.

The act of expression is a very personal experience
whereby the individual both initiates an idea and
follows through with an activity. During this process
the emergence of the image may be accidental, or
spontaneous in nature. An example would be where work
begins on one idea and ends up with an entirely different
result. On the other hand, the image may emerge from

a contrived, or methodically controlled activity,
whereby the end result is predicted from the beginning
and a series of proven techniques followed. Either way
an image is caught in the expression and recorded in
Our conscious processes.

It is toward this transitional act of expression that
I direct this exposition.

The antonomy of an individual and the resultant mastery
of his craft is directly related to the totality of
commitment with which he initiates the association of
himself and his resources with the particular medium or
Situation he finds himself in. The medium may be
material in that it has physical properties such as
clay, fibre, wood, or stone, or 1t may be abstract in
that it uses the context of a symbolic form, such as

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