“An artist is never poor.” This empowering quote (from my favorite film Babette’s Feast) expresses what I love about the creative impulse: the ability to see big possibilities in small things. All it takes is a little moment in time -- the observation of a single, compelling human interaction -– and one can say “there’s a song in there.” All it takes is one melodic idea to clothe the first phrase of a poem, and the rest of the setting can begin to unfold. I also love that this unfolding never has to be forced. Rather, it is a receptive listening that enables one to sense, little by little, what else is needed for the creation to be complete. With patience and attention to the significance of the smallest detail, the music comes into being. It is like the slow blooming of a flower, which would not even exist without the artist having “seen” its possibility. As Georgia O’Keeffe says, in another favorite quote of mine: “Nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small. We haven't time - and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time.” |
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