Art Education, January 2011
Melody Milbrandt and Lanny Milbrandt endeavor to clarify the ubiquitous, yet still unanswered question of defining the term creativity and to classify processes which are associated with it. They mention various definitions of creativity, especially in art, where students ought to be taught a good basis, which includes technical details of the artistic background and through having successful models they can endeavor to solve visual problems. The authors state that by centering art in the students’ general education, art will have positive and rewarding transformational effects on them. Thus, by employing different techniques and strategies when it comes to defining creativity, art teachers and professors are developing the imagination of their students, their ability to think and perceive things outside the established outlines. Still, the authors emphasize that although good background knowledge is necessary for the development of creativity, it is not crucial. When creating, the students should focus on their personal experiences and not on blindly following their established knowledge. In addition, through advancing their creative skills, students will also learn about the process of creative problem solving, reaching conclusions that are not characterized by being right or wrong, but which are more or less successful in a given environment and situation. The authors end their article with the conclusion that there is no singular definition for creativity, because it is not a stagnant notion, but a constantly growing and evolving one, and that it is exactly this abundance of definitions and strategies that can lead to a better formation of the student’s ability to express themselves in a more creative manner.
The authors successfully managed to provide several possible identifying traits of creativity, in the end stating the fact that any defining is really unnecessary, as long as art teachers and professors incorporate the true meaning of creativity in their classrooms. I agree with both the statement and with the way it was presented. By offering several generally accepted definitions, they portrayed one side of what creativity really is. And, in reality, any individual definition of creativity can essentially be considered true and valid, because creativity is individual and personal. The article’s final conclusion that art eludes any human effort of being defined, rounded up in one definition which would be applicable to all fields of creativity is one I also agree with wholeheartedly. As humans continue to develop, so will art. It is an inevitable fact. But, it is also something that will help students comprehend the idea of creativity not as a stagnant entity, but one perpetually enriched by individuals’ personal experiences and expressions. I also concur with the article’s emerging idea of art being a transformational force and that it should be the center of students’ education, because through the development of thinking processes in terms of open-ended questions and conundrums, the students are also developing their rationing and logical skills. Art offers the luxury of personal freedom of expression, where the body and mind together try to answer questions such as: What is beauty? What is truth? What is meaning? In my personal opinion, the overall purpose of schooling and education is to provide a fertile background for young minds to flourish, inviting them to surpass the merely physical existence of our everyday lives, and to grasp and express the ideas across the horizons of knowledge and beauty.
