Transcripts
Resources
Here is a partial list of books I highly recommend for gaining a better understanding of the foundations of creativity.
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Taken together, these writings have informed great deal of how I think about and practice creativity on a daily basis.
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These books are easy to find online, in used bookstores or even your local library. I will add more, so check back on occasion.​
The granddaddy of them all. Aristotle spent a lot of time watching and thinking about Sophocles' play Oedipus The King, and his observations on the nature and structure of tragic drama is still the oldest and most respected resource for dramatists.
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What is most interesting about this short book is how Aristotle unpacks the underlying mechanics of how tragedy works, and why audiences were so affected by Oedipus even after multiple viewings.
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A classic on the art and craft of story. The Norton Critical Edition is a good translation and packed with a lot of useful annotations.
Legendary educator John Dewey describes art as work that makes us respond not with our rational or logical minds, but rather with our deeper selves. When art becomes an experience, words and conscious responses fade away and there is an inherent recognition of something unique going on.
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Think of the most affecting artwork you have encountered and consider that most likely you responded with silence, awe and recognition of something powerful, yet intangible.
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How we as artists approach our creative work can make the difference between the mundane and the sublime.
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The 1960's were an era of experimentation, bold ideas and rebellious happenings.
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Author and psychologist Rollo May was among the most influential of the so-called "astronauts of the inner self" during that time.
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In The Courage to Create, May examines the tension between limitations and freedom in making creative work, creativity as an act of personal courage and the need to harness chaos and doubt in being creative.
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Though clearly a product of its time, this work still stands apart in its unique insights on the creative act.