Art As a Way of Being

Lessons in thinking creatively

I will confess that, although I am a working photographer writing ostensibly for an audience of my fellow photographers, I feel a sense of kinship with anyone trying to create any form of art, especially if they’re navigating how to do it for a living. To that end I like to learn from musicians and writers and painters and really anyone who’s professionally creative. And sometimes I write here with that broader audience in mind. Today is just such an occasion. 

There’s an age-old argument about whether or not creativity can be taught. I come down on the side of yes, it can, insomuch as creativity is just an approach to thinking. If we can be taught to change the way we think, we can learn to be more creative. 

It is with this idea in mind that I approached the “self-help for artists” book of the moment, Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being. 

So many people have written about super-producer Rubin and his tome that I’m almost embarrassed to belatedly add to the fracas. He’s most definitely overexposed, at least in my social circles where I encounter almost daily discussions of whether his book is genius or trite. Just today I heard three separate mentions of his name, once in the real world and twice online. It seems if you’re thinking about creativity, you’re thinking about Rick Rubin. 

To be clear, I don’t have a hot take. I liked the book and found it quite useful. But I can understand how some might be left feeling like the secret sauce for Rubin’s genius went unexplored. This could simply be evidence of different modes of thinking.1 

More importantly, The Creative Act helped me get a handle on an idea I’ve been mulling, that creativity is just a mindset. It’s a way of thinking and, as the book’s subtitle suggests, a way of being in the world. 

I want to share a few things from The Creative Act that I found especially helpful.