Draw Inspiration from the Creative Work of Others

It’s a Saturday afternoon. I am walking through a gallery at the Bergamot Station Arts Center during their seasonal block party when I happen upon this work of art.

As I take it in, the image takes me beyond the white walls of the gallery into my own memories. My twenty-something self parks on the street late night at night with a friend. One thing dominates my view: the glowing sign on the taco truck, guiding us to the next stop of the night. I can feel that moment with me, stirring memories of all the other limitless nights of my twenties.

I ponder: How did a piece of art by a stranger evoke such a meaningful personal experience? How could I bring this into my own work?

I pull out the mini-notebook that I carry with me everywhere and jot down a few thoughts:

Art isn’t the content itself. It represents the whole. It zeros in on the most poignant detail to give you the sharpest, most vivid sense of the whole.

The lights of the taco truck are the first thing you’d see in real life. They evoke the most feeling along with the shiny flames on the bottom, so those two elements are a different medium than the rest. They are designed to stand out.

I notice how the accented elements bring me closer to the real experience of going to a taco truck: The first thing I see when I’m driving or walking towards one is the light-up sign.

This realization inspires me to explore this question in my own work:

What are the most poignant moments in the story that represent my main character’s present, past, and growth?

I feel a new sense of clarity in how to take the complexity of the story I’m telling and offer it meaningfully to readers.

It also drives me to explore this question, integral to creating these poignant moments:

What drives me to create this story?

Every sentence, every word, every punctuation comes back to this question. I have been feeling a little stalled on my own writing, and I am thrilled to find clarity in such different creative works.

Another show at the event that resonated with me was Perpetual Motion by Gregory Malphurs, which had a collection of paintings, many of which looked like these:

These stop me in my tracks. I love the vividness of the colors and the way they evoke thoughts about identity. I find these to be such a beautiful expression of one’s internal experience vs. outward appearance. We see these outer shells like clothing choice, gender expression, skin tone, and body art. They can evoke preconceived notions about a person, but they don’t show us what it’s really like inside their individual mind. To me, the many colors show how multifaceted we are as human beings. The streams of motion evoke how we are always changing and (hopefully) growing. It takes time and open-minded perception to get to know the real person.

Even after we know a person fairly deeply, the ability to continue to truly see them requires openness to how they are changing and to sides they haven’t expressed to us yet. It brings to mind a quote that’s been marinating in my mind lately:

“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

To me, this is the basis of creative thinking: taking something familiar and seeing it in a new way.

How to Draw Inspiration from the Creative Work of Others

I think there is a communal reservoir of creativity that we can all contribute to and draw inspiration from. In my upcoming posts, I’ll share some of the ways to do this based on my own experiences and advice from others. Here’s the first:

1. Explore local art galleries and events for pieces that resonate.

I haven’t studied visual art in any formal way. I’m a beginner, learning as I go. I’m usually not sure what I’m looking for. But I’ve found that, when I go with an open mind, there’s usually a piece or more that resonates with me. I’m especially drawn to spaces like the Bergamot Arts Center because it’s a collection of galleries, offering a wide range of artistic styles and mediums to explore.

The most intense exhibit I discover that day, Crude Aesthetics, is very different than the kind of creative work that I aim to create, especially in its tone. Yet, it evokes one very important aspect of my creative efforts: how art can immerse us into an idea in a unique and memorable way.

You walk into a dark room where video footage is projected of oil pumpjacks at work, hidden in unassuming urban spaces. On the walls are photographs like the one below about the oil industry and made of oil itself. The entire room creates an experience aimed to show how prevalent yet hidden the oil industry is in our daily lives. It was eerie. I can still hear those oil machines pumping away. I can still see their haunting presence beside a McDonald’s drive-thru.

Continuing the theme of different yet meaningful works of art, the unusual piece below combining technology and visual aesthetic by Mark C. Estes gave me a sense of peace to watch as it morphed in color, shape, and motion. It’s designed to never repeat.

Standard Random Digitization, 2023

I love diving into spaces like these. While I did look up which exhibitions interested me before going, I couldn’t have predicted how it would be to experience them in person. That day turned out to be one of my most memorable experiences of the summer.

I also learned a valuable lesson: whenever I’m feeling stagnant in my own creative efforts, I can get up, get out into the world, and explore the creativity of others. We can help each other remember why we do this: why creating matters.

This article, like most of my pieces, is a part of an ongoing series. In an upcoming article, I’ll share the many ways I use music to inspire my creative endeavors.