Not all art is creative & not all creativity is art.

Interesting statement.

With which do you identify? Does it matter?

Does STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) need an ‘A’ to add ‘creativity’? Why not a “C”?

Interesting questions.

Creative approaches to learning, teaching & assessment apply across the whole curriculum. Equally, learners must be supported to apply their creativity skills in all learning experiences.

In a blog post several years back, Tanner Christensen points out that we often talk about art whenever the topic of creativity comes up because it’s easier to believe that everything outside of the world of art has concrete rules which we cannot break. Whereas art, with its freedom to interpretation, only has loose rules which are broken often and freely in order to create higher caliber—or questionable—art.

Drawing, writing, sculpture, photography, music, dance, you name it. Art isn’t creativity, and the reverse is also true. Although, art can be creative while creativity can be expressed artistically.

Actually, creativity is the mental capacity to generate novel and useful ideas, more or less. It isn’t about art or design, writing or music. I disagree slightly with Tanner on this point.

Creativity can be defined as the ability to see, feel, touch, think and imagine what one has NOT seen, felt, touched, thought or imagined before. Creativity is, at its core, about ideas and how we develop, understand, and communicate them. Not just in terms of the arts, but in every realm of thinking and work.

Mathematics, nutrition, and physics, are a lot more restrictive in how we interpret and work with them. There isn’t much room for rule-breaking in the realm of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Or is there?

Most problems are not like math problems. Still, there are plenty of opportunities in the world of STEM to think creatively. Elon Musk and his company SpaceX are pushing the known boundaries of engineering by creating rockets that can go into space and then come back to Earth and land, upright.

In mathematics creative strides have been made throughout history: calculus, binary logic, and matrix algebra, to name a few creative breakthroughs. Not only that, but math has been used as a fundamental creative device for propelling innovation forward over the last century.

One can be artistic and one can be creative, so does it really matter if they are not interchangeable?

Think about it.

Tanner Christensen shares insights and ideas covering everything from art, psychology, and the neuroscience of creative thinking.

Creativity Tip #48: The idea should be media and discipline neutral. Otherwise, you limit yourself.



Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.