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99U: There will always be the outliers, but most accomplished creatives need many years of practice, mistakes, and determination before they make their best creative work. So when can the average person expect to hit their stride?
What I found most interesting about this article, is how they compared finding the peak of your creativity (at 62%) of your lifespan to the golden ratio. That's a strange coincidence. But how does this account for artists who die young such as Mozart or Hendrix? I'd be interested in more empirical data from studies of brain productivity and chemical compounds to see if there are any biological connections to creativity as well as that of experience, emotions, and less quantifiable influences.
Quite a fascinating statistic really. One that makes me feel a bit more comfortable with the status of my creative abilities at this point in my life. If I have another 20 years or so until my creativity peaks than I only have the best of my work to look forward to, rather than back on. I'm surprised at how consistent Franses' results were. I was previously unaware of the 'Golden Ratio', and it's deep routes in various parts of nature and business, I suppose it's not surprising that it also coincides with Franses' findings.
I think its really interesting that they found a way to quantitatively measure the peak in creativity. But i also find this to be a little bit of an exaggeration of the word creativity. What they were really measuring was at what point in painters lives do they produce the most popular work. Like with theatre, you could be doing the most creative work of your career, but its not mainstream enough for the general public to appreciate. I think the true high point of artistic talent, is when you do something so creative that no one appreciates it at first but as you keep doing it, it becomes the new standard.
This is really a fascinating study. I don't think the results are true for everyone, but they could certainly have some value as a general rule. I'd like to say that anyone can be as creative as they want at any time they want, but upon further thought I'm not sure I believe that's true. Creativity comes with experience, and most people in their teens and twenties haven't had as much experience as someone at peak creativity age. In creative works, you often pull from life experience, or others life experience's, or something you've seen or read. To take in all this information requires time. Can this be frustrating to young artists, sure. But I believe it can also inspire them to continue experiencing throughout their years.
4 comments:
What I found most interesting about this article, is how they compared finding the peak of your creativity (at 62%) of your lifespan to the golden ratio. That's a strange coincidence. But how does this account for artists who die young such as Mozart or Hendrix? I'd be interested in more empirical data from studies of brain productivity and chemical compounds to see if there are any biological connections to creativity as well as that of experience, emotions, and less quantifiable influences.
Quite a fascinating statistic really. One that makes me feel a bit more comfortable with the status of my creative abilities at this point in my life. If I have another 20 years or so until my creativity peaks than I only have the best of my work to look forward to, rather than back on. I'm surprised at how consistent Franses' results were. I was previously unaware of the 'Golden Ratio', and it's deep routes in various parts of nature and business, I suppose it's not surprising that it also coincides with Franses' findings.
I think its really interesting that they found a way to quantitatively measure the peak in creativity. But i also find this to be a little bit of an exaggeration of the word creativity. What they were really measuring was at what point in painters lives do they produce the most popular work. Like with theatre, you could be doing the most creative work of your career, but its not mainstream enough for the general public to appreciate. I think the true high point of artistic talent, is when you do something so creative that no one appreciates it at first but as you keep doing it, it becomes the new standard.
This is really a fascinating study. I don't think the results are true for everyone, but they could certainly have some value as a general rule. I'd like to say that anyone can be as creative as they want at any time they want, but upon further thought I'm not sure I believe that's true. Creativity comes with experience, and most people in their teens and twenties haven't had as much experience as someone at peak creativity age. In creative works, you often pull from life experience, or others life experience's, or something you've seen or read. To take in all this information requires time. Can this be frustrating to young artists, sure. But I believe it can also inspire them to continue experiencing throughout their years.
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