I recently Foxglove
watercolour painting saw a program on TV in which scientists examined why primates, who also use tools, have not evolved at the same rate that humans have. The answer seemed to lie in the fact that they seemed unable to teach their young the tricks they had taught themselves, so each generation had to learn from scratch. The monkeys studied were unable to follow a non-verbal human direction, such as a hand pointing to an object, although young dogs were able to do so. The scientists believed that the ability to pass on acquired knowledge and skills to your offspring or your social peers seems to be the crucial factor in the evolution of "civilization." Without that ability to educate, primates, and presumably other species, seemed unable to break away from the natural pattern of life dictated by instincts such as how to build a nest, or migrate, or hunt for food. Certainly most artists I know feel they are standing on the shoulders of all the artists who have gone before them, and I think most scientists do too.

And speaking of roots, Coffee
oil painting it's not just animals! If creativity is trying things out and discriminating among alternatives, some plants might make the cut too. The Great Lakes sea rocket made the news this week when scientists discovered it could recognize its relatives. "If the sea rocket detects unrelated plants growing in the ground with it, the plant aggressively sprouts nutrient-grabbing roots. But if it detects family, it politely restrains itself." ( New York Times ) The same article mentions the parasitic dodder weed, a plant which also selects its menu. "In time-lapse movies, scientists saw dodder sprouts moving in a circular fashion, in what they discovered was a sampling of the airborne chemicals released by nearby plants, a bit like a dog sniffing the air around a dinner buffet." When they smell one they like, they go straight for it.

I know, I'm being silly. But if plants can do this without eyes, ears or brain, it sort of backs up my conviction that creativity is mostly an unconscious activity. Sometimes when I feel as dumb as a cabbage, an image will appear! Or not.

Mankind
Antoine Ouellette
Photograph has been thinking a little bit too highly of itself and certainly not enough of other living beings - perhaps because it served its purposes of exploitation. Fortunately scientists have recently begun to spread the news! I would like to point to a fascinating book titled Le Chant des Oyseaulx by Antoine Ouellette, biologist, composer and PhD at UQÀM University. The literal translation would be The Song of Birds. Since Antoine is a proficient musician, he studies and explains his subject from both your point of view of animal creativity and that of the surprising relation between bird and human music and its evolution through history. It is in French, but maybe if there is a clamor it would be translated. In fact I have just insisted to Antoine about it.

Your material Tinkerlinks
sculpture commission for the 1972 Munich Olympics is perfect for the play art philosophy. It appears that you have come across some interesting animal research. Could you please name that source? I might find various quotable phrases in that literature and it would be preferable to name the proper author.

It is sad that our society is still largely burdened by a plethora of negative attitudes towards play. When it is regarded as infantile, frivolous, trivial, a waste of time, etc. we tend to lose the things that make life worthwhile. Considering that all of culture and science are based on play (according to Huizinga and Einstein) we shoot ourselves in the foot. A curator who heard about play art said: "Lose the name." Unfortunately this is typical. The most comprehensive endorsement of play is The Play Ethic by Pat Kane. Play will be to the 21st century what work was to the last 300 years of industrial society – our dominant way of knowing, doing and creating value.

(RG note) Thanks, Ernst, and others who needed to research further. A lot of the ideas for that letter came from Inside Animal Minds by Virginia Morell in the March 2008 issue of the National Geographic. There's a collie on the cover. Ernst Lurker is the founder of the Play Art Movement and the creator of the philosophy.

This has to be one Ballerina
oil painting of your lamest emails to date. I see new studies every day on the most banal subjects that a blind man with his hands and feet bound would stumble across without even trying. Can't we find some better use for the huge sums of money being giving to these types of research? There are studies on why we breathe? Why we Love? Why we advance? Why we chew our nails? We are so caught up with the "Why we" factor, why can't we see the trees through the forest? Why don't we study why we waste money on these studies? It's fun to delve into why we do things and how and why we learn. Agreed. But can't we spend the money on how we can live together better instead of breaking down why we sometimes walk?

We need to balance our lives so there is always time for play. Life is not all about work, work, work. Unfortunately, for many people, the time to play is pretty much gone. People are so hard at work, just paying their exorbitant tax bills, food costs, housing expenses, etc., there is little time, if any, left over for play. What becomes play for many is sitting in a vegetative state in front of the electronic indoctrination device; i.e. TV. Hence, because of this sad state of affairs, there is a very serious disconnect that has happened, severing people from their nature, and converting them into automatons, with very little creative energy left. The rulers of the world don't want people to be too creative. If people were, in general, creative, they would probably figure out how to extract themselves from the externally imposed madness that poses for the modern world. Creative energy would figure out an exit. Alas, for most people, the exit light is broken.

Many times Haiku of Spring
original painting I recall the creativity of my grandparents and parents. Both of my grandmothers were quilters and each had a different style. Paternal Gran did very careful precise pieces and quilted with "the ladies." Meanwhile, Maternal Gran did recycled cloth quilting. She used whatever fabric was available and made quilts that were warm and comforting. I credit her with my love of abstract/experimental art. Her work didn't have to be perfect--just interesting. In her later years, she would buy fabric and make a quilt, such as the one currently on my bed. But if she ran short of a fabric, which she usually did, anything was fair game. Thus my blue and orange running brick pattern has some surprise bricks that are completely other. The men were creative too, Maternal Papa was a musician and farmer. He taught all of his children, and there were nine, to sing or play an instrument. Saturday nights were a joy as everyone joined in for a sing-along. Today, I am the family artist. I paint, draw and recently started piecing a quilt. Life has a way of coming full circle.

Your notes on play as intrinsic to nature are supported by author Donald Winnicott who teases out the origins of play as it emerges in human infancy. It is also addressed by author J. P. Carse who teases out the ways in which humans play games. Winnicott worked with mothers and their infants and noticed that mothers were providing them with instant gratification when they cried for help. He surmised that the infant was able to experience the magic of inner imaging food and receiving it effortlessly instantly. He referred to this as an illusion since the child would eventually have to realize that they would later in life have to master language and techniques in order to realize their inner fantasies, and that it would never be instant. He noticed that mothers were later indeed disillusioning their infants by delaying the feeding time and gradually limiting their protective closeness. Providing a blanket or other soft object as a readymade gave the infant the illusion that they were able to possess an object, be creative and playful. The original experience of illusionment is then, according to Winnicott, the primary experience that every artist taps into when they are playing with art-making. We can see, then, how important the original illusioning is for individuals, later in life, enabling them to believe in their inner image as the source of their self sense, their creative potential, their need to play. Carse differentiates infinite and finite games that people play. Finite games are played with rules so that a winner can be declared and so that the play can end (in vogue these days on reality TV); infinite games are played with rules so that a winner can never be declared and the play can never be finalized. The former are short term events and can only exist inside the context of the latter as long term play.

(RG note) Thanks, Stanley. Donald Winnicott, 1896—1971, was a British pediatrician and psychoanalyst who, among other areas of interest, studied and wrote on relations between mother and child, and the nuances of objective development and learning. J. P. Carse is the author of Finite and Infinite Games an attempt to define just exactly what games are.

I do agree with you that we don't give animals enough credit for their small brains. Every day while walking our Border Collie Riley, we watch crows dropping walnuts on the road to crack open the shells. Riley does something similar with the large beef bones we occasionally give him by dropping them on the hard tile floor to crack small pieces off them. This is really not to be encouraged due to the sharp nature of the bones, but an interesting observation. I have also heard that crows have an amazing memory for individuals who do mean things to them and will eventually take revenge.

Never having taught Riley to "come closer," I was really surprised one day when he was sitting near me and I asked him to come closer - and he did. Thinking it was a coincidence, I tried it again, and he repeated it, and always has since. I did read an article about some dogs being able to be taught to "read" certain symbols, but I haven't had the time.

As a perpetual dreamer, I have found my inner voice to be my biggest deterrent. It asks me "why?"… all the time… Why would someone paint that? Why would I paint that? Why would someone like that? Why..why..why?…it has made me put down my pencil, or my brush, or my creativity, and walk away… I have incorporated a studio in my new house because I have seen my 17 year old son evolve over the last 5 years at a school that nurtures and celebrates art… he never asks "why"… he has the time, the space, the means, and the playfulness to sit at an easel for several hours a day when others are wandering the halls…so I decided to imitate him…And then came the words in your letter this morning… "what could be"… not "Why???" but "what could be?" The Breakfast painting club was inspirational…coffee in hands, pyjamas still on, I stand at my easel and just… paint. And what comes out is not what IS…not perfection…not even reality… but it's places I've been, moods I've felt, the wind in the lupines on the dyke on a spring day… it's the What could be…Is it art? Fine art? Or just what could be…enjoyable, fun, playful, satisfying. And if it makes someone smile and say, "Can you paint that for me only bigger," then it works for me.

Creativity
is deeply rooted within
our souls,
in sweet womb
as we swim
we listen and we learn
how to breathe
believe
find grace in
simple moments
may we travel far within
opening
into the light...