While we often imagine a muse whispering in our ear as we sit at our workbench bending wire or stringing beads, this romantic idea is far from the reality that occurs in most jewelry makers’ studios. Too often, it’s feast or famine. We are brimming with creative productivity or we are drier than a dessert, a blank slate without a piece of chalk in sight. For the serious jewelry artist, Tharp’s book may have some answers for this dilemma. Not only does the author provide practical advice, each chapter ends with a set of exercises to help you stretch your creative muscles.
The premise of her message seems simple enough: make creativity a habit, and in turn, you will be more creative and productive. But, of course, this isn’t that easy to do, and though I highly recommend any artist (jewelry maker or otherwise) read Tharp’s book, I have to say this is probably the only real criticism I can find with it. Not many of us are lucky enough to have a life that we can build around our chosen art form. Instead, we are usually forced to do the opposite, squeeze in time and energy for it in between our “real” jobs, our families, our homes, and other obligations. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t find a few minutes a day to work towards our artistic goals, and that is the main point of this book. Dreams are great, but they will never become anything other than dreams if we don’t regularly, routinely work towards making them come true.
More than likely, you will cull through Tharp’s suggestions and find what will work for you, but I feel confident that you will find more than a few answers to help solve some of your own creativity problems.
