Experiencing the creative process: narratives of visual artists

[摘要] Creative expression is a concept that is integral to the functioning of artists. The ability to think creativelyenables artists to devise innovative solutions to the numerous problems that they encounter in the processof art-making. Through creative expression, artists are able to transcend personal, interpersonal and socialboundaries to communicate messages through their artwork that can change the nature of social reality forthe people who experience the art. How the artist experiences the process of art-making will in return havean influence on the nature of the artistic product that comes out at the end of the art-making process. In thisstudy, I use phenomenology as a principal lens to study the lived experiences of visual artists in thecreative process of art-making.This study emerges from a narrative inquiry design, which is informed by the interpretive paradigm onwhich the study is embedded. In addition to using phenomenology as the main theoretical lens, I also madeuse of social constructivism, reflexive sociology, existential sociology and interpretive hermeneutics assubsidiary theoretical lenses to assist me in the process of acquiring understanding of the phenomenonunder study. The phenomenon under investigation is approached according to a qualitative framework.This is because qualitative research orients people's experiences at the centre of understanding social life.Fieldwork for this study took place over four months between June and September 2016 in Bloemfontein,the Free State Province. Non-probability and snowballing sampling were used to obtain the six male visualparticipants who composed the core research participant group of this study. The narratives of theseindividuals were elicited through the use of semi-structured interviews. In addition to this I made use ofvisual methodologies, namely, photo-elicitation, personal note-taking and documentation to accompany ourdiscussions on their creative processes and artworks. Lastly, participant observation is a key researchmethod that was used to arrive at an understanding of the unique experiences of each visual artist'screative process.The data gathered is coded thematically and aspects of the dialogical approach are used to analyse it. Thedata is in line with the study's primary and secondary research objectives and is presented and discussedin accordance to a total social science framework as proposed by Pierre Bourdieu. The findings suggestthat creative and artistic people are as much subject to the influence of external forces as any other humansubject. The creative process itself is affected by external circumstances that on the surface seem to havenothing to do with it. However, it is evident upon deeper reflection that the process of art-making relies on there being a balance between an artist's external conditions and what he/she experiences within his/hercreative process.The creative process of art-making for visual artists is one that mirrors their unique everyday experiences insocial reality. The art that these artists create is a reflection of what they know, who they are, what theywould like to become, their feelings and emotions, and the times and places in which they find themselvesin the history of the world. This is the nature of social experience. There is always a subjective componentto the experience that rests on objective circumstances for the verity of its existence. The creative processof art-making is a long process where an artist makes use of his/her lived-experiences in their totality; tocreate meaningful interpretations of social experience.

[发布机构] University of the Free State