Artists Assisting Artists
By Peter LloydArt, just like invention, begins as a product of the mind. Then—whether a creative person plays the bassoon, invents a smartphone, sings an aria, spins a pot, formulates a theory, or leaps off a pommel horse—the body of the creator always seems to be involved.
Can an artist or inventor create without enlisting hands, feet, fingers, lungs, or voice box?
Creative expression boils down to choices, which take place, of course, in the brain. People who cannot speak or move their bodies have what it takes to create and invent. They simply need someone or some device to speak or act on their behalf and execute their choices.
Hattie Larlham Creative Arts and others have made creative collaboration possible for artists with limited physical abilities.
As part of an audience, we stand up and cheer for creative giants who execute with their bodies the creative choices they make in their minds. One, because we know it takes years of practice to excel at this translation. Two, because the result can be astonishing.
What an admirable, creative feat to decide repeatedly in a series of nanoseconds how and when to move through a group of the world’s best athletes, modifying and executing your strategic plan and tactical choices all the way, and to succeed in putting a ball through a hoop!
Just how much more impressive then when artists negotiate the even greater chasm between their creative decisions and a collaborator’s ability to execute them!
Anyone who has attempted to master the French horn knows how reluctant the body can be, how much tedious repetition it demands before it will comply. Only those artists who have attempted to cross the chasm imposed by physical limitations know how much more artistic courage and perseverance such collaboration demands.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.
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