Invention

Imagination is a source of ideas. Imagining things that do not exist in any tangible way allows us to invent art, invent medium, or improve on existing medium.  

We developed language to communicate, told stories of our hunts, imagined an afterlife and drew pictures of it, figured out how to make marks that meant words, developed all manner of tools - including the one I'm writing on right now.

Somehow we have the capacity to look at a problem in our minds, envision a way to resolve it, and then craft it with our hands...

Story as healer

I am always fascinated by our need to tell stories, whether it's " real" (what happened at the bank, or what we did at work, or what's on the news), or something we "make up" (filmmaking, fiction writing, music making, art).

As a teacher, like many others, I give instruction using a technical method that works to enhance the understanding and use of the voice until it can be fully actualized.  The thing that sets me apart from those others (and them from me) is my "story".  It resonates with the shy, budding singer, and affects the manner in which I teach, because my "how" involves sharing my history and experience. I tell my students my stories, they tell me theirs, and we connect and progress together.

In fact, it was when I began to teach and hear the stories of my students I realized I was not alone in how I felt or perceived the world, and that made a world of difference to me as a human being.  I was able to better appreciate the experience of other human beings and focus less on myself in the presence of others, which lead me to feel less shy.  I evolved. ~

Nowhen...

The magical no-place of fiction makes possible such journeys in space and time.

The quote above from Sonya Andermahr's book entitled Jeanette Winterson, which is a literary analysis of Winterson's work. Her words suggest that the mind is quantum while the body remains rooted in the progression of time.  Perhaps that is the the undying fascination writers have with writing and fans of fiction have with reading. There exists a parallel world made up of collective creative thought that continues to inspire and manifest across history and across genre. As Winterson herself writes in her memoir Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal?:

Creative work bridges time because the energy of art is not time-bound. If it were we should have no interest in the art of the past, except as history or documentary. But our interest in art is our interest in ourselves both now and always....Life + art is a boisterous communion / communication with the dead. It is a boxing match with time.

It is also potentially a means of understanding the arc of our lives in a larger frame. Much like the gods of old, our stories can be writ large. The seemingly random progression of events can be imbued with a new kind of order and meaning. That is why great works endure and certain story arcs, no matter how ancient, are recognizable to us regardless of technological innovations and social democratic developments. Unlike art objects, stories--narratives--live within us.

Below is an image of one of the nine muses from Greek mythology, likely Calliope, with barbiton. The original is housed in the Louvre and is attributed to the vase painter Asteas and is therefore believed to date from the late classical period between (360-340 BC). The concept of inspiration coming from the muses is naturally still with us today.