Monday, March 30, 2009

Creative Cat







When I was in elementary school I put a lot of worth into the idea "creativity."

I think that was the buzz word back then. If you were creative, you were going somewhere, you were doing something, and you were somebody.

Funny how all of those things sound like somebody somewhere doing something else.

I often wracked my brain trying to find ways to be creative because I worried that I was not. I worried that the fact that I was wracking my brain meant that I was not creative, because creative was a gift that people had and it exploded out of them like a woman in labor. Sometimes you wanted to avert your eyes from creativity, but you didn't deny it either.

I think now that I am married to creativity, I know even better how creativity is like labor.
Difficult, inevitable, draining. And amazing.

Jake is on fire about 95% of every day. If he's lucky the other 5% is extinguished sleeping. His brain is on constant overdrive output. Creating is very different than explaining, assembling, or producing. It's that intangible idea that becomes tangible, abstract to concrete (and even abstract concrete). It's more than a plan and involves difficult manipulation to bring about, and I think the key here is that it IS created. Plenty of people have good ideas. Jake actually makes them happen.

We've watched more than a few movies about musician, writer, or artist geniuses. They're often on the haunting side, but they leave me with the strong feeling that Jake is in that category. He has the same need to create and work and love/hate his talent. Luckily for me he has worked very hard to put his fires under control, the ones that lean those geniuses to destruction.

Even luckier for me that I get to witness creativity in action. Jake is doing art, now, here. That kind of makes him a big deal.
Happy Birthday Jake.

11 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Love those pictures.

I have a lot of people tell me I'm a creative person, on my blog, but I don't really think of myself that way. And I can't just turn it on.

Damaris @Kitchen Corners said...

Happy birthday Jake.
Being raised by an artist was hard for me especially because now I feel super critical of any art I see. However, I've said this to you before so it's no surprise I.Love.Your.Art!

Robbie said...

I can't wait till we can afford to have Jake's ceramic pieces around our home! I love them. Of course, we do have those complimentary pots on our carport roof...:) Happy Birthday, Jake! Here's to another great year of creative things made my you.
and nice post, Mighty!

Masayuki said...

Jake has some ridiculous-sweet art. I like it a lot. Excited to see you guys. Only a few more weeks. Crazy, eh? Love you guys.

IZ said...

yes.


All of it.



Badumpbadumboooooooooombtastic!

Heidi said...

He's a total cutie-patootie! (the word verifier word is "cringun" which is what I was doing when I read my comment & consequently deleted most of it.)

Heidi said...

Soooooo, are you going to be in Provo/Orem Saturday the 25th? Huh?

ephraim said...

Though I've never envied the racing brain, I've always envied the racing stripes. Happy Birthday, Jake. I'm just trying to keep up. Oh, I've thought about the night marchers idea a lot today. I think we gotta do it the next time in HI for a couple days.

IZ said...

night marchers? Why am I always left outta the loop? :<

Jesse said...

happy birthday. i am seriously thinking about how to get this artist colony started. the nightmarchers path is marked on the old map of laie in the hawaiian studies room at byuh.

Smiths said...

I envy his creativity AND creating-ness. I think he took all of those things and left me without. At least I got to grow up around it. And if you think you are not creative or don't create Mariko... you crazy.