I recently had a discussion with friends about creativity and the creative aging movement that is currently taking place. The premise, as I understand it, is that as we move into our later years, say 60 years and beyond, we are poised to become more creative.

I suspect that our increased creativity in later years is due to a number of factors, including more dedicated time to spend on creative pursuits away from the stresses of work and career, less concern about perfection or being judged critically by others that affords freedom of expression, an interest in developing social contacts with other like-minded people and an innate curiosity and interest in learning that began in infancy and continues throughout the life-span provided that we do not stifle it with traditional views of aging.

I mentioned in an earlier essay that I was getting back to working with Polymer clay again, with an emphasis on heads and in particular, faces. I had done three or four pieces awhile ago that have sat looking at me expectedly from a shelf in the office.

So I started again, the initial pieces, according to Mary, appeared to represent an element of self-portrait. This is often where creativity begins, with something that is very familiar, and as we move away from the familiar we become more creative and as we become more creative we move further from the familiar.

For example, this first picture is of an early piece that has a rather predominate nose. It looks quite a lot like an older brother to whom that I bear a strong family resemblance. I did not plan the piece so I can only conclude that, in the absence of a decision to do otherwise, I did something familiar.

I followed that work with another one that also looked very familiar to me and then I realized it could have been me as a youth.

I was determined to move into unfamiliar ground so I created three whimsical characters in rapid succession. The hair on the first two is tangled thread provided to me by Mary. The hair on the third “winking” character came from passing a comb through Deirdre, our younger dog.

I became interested in the ways of changing facial features to express different moods and states so I tried, on purpose, to do a “poor me” expression by manipulating the mouth, eyes, and facial furrows of a rather pitiful fellow. Again, the hair is thread.

The cotton filler from a vitamin bottle was my inspiration for the last two heads pictured here. I realized that it would make good hair for characters, particularly those who looked old and worn.

That is a large part of my current repertoire of creative efforts with polymer clay. I have been able to dedicate time to this creative work, I am not concerned about it being perfect, only satisfying to me, and the pieces have been a conversation starter with other creative people. And of equal importance, starting this creative work has, in the words of an artist friend, afforded me the opportunity to “step into another world”. This is how I like to think about creativity. It is stepping into the new and unfamiliar and all that can be learned in the process.

© C O P Y R I G H T   2 0 0 9.  Gary Holdgrafer ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.