yet another stupid thought

okay, so i'm not an artist, i only pretend to be one when no one is looking... but because i'm a parent, it's natural for me to extend my ideas about parenting to the nature of art.

i believe that inspiration (your "muse," whatever) is like a child. of course, you want your child to be good, be smart, be successful... but here's the rub: you can't change the child's essential nature, and you can't force the child to perfectly live up to what you want (those of you parents who read this and laugh with a disapproving cluck: "yes you CAN"; well, this blog is definitely not for you...). the best you can do is "follow the child," "follow the child's interests," and play fair. if you treat a child with respect, and allow the child to freely choose (yeah, yeah, i'm being hypocritical, making it all sound much too easy and clear... but), then you may be surprised by what the child accomplishes.

again, i'm thinking about this in relation to art. in many ways, i BELIEVE (again, not an artist myself) that an artist makes him/herself fundamentally subservient to the muse/inspiration/whatever. that is, the artist must FOLLOW the process. any imposition of overt control tends to deaden things; it scares the muse away (and then you have to go through the long process of finding her scroll and burning it; read "calliope" by neil gaiman, sandman comics). sure, sometimes by asserting control over the process, you may seem to "get where you want to"; but more often than not, the work will seem stilted, forced.

parents can accomplish marvelous things with their children. teach them geography, get them to read at age 1. but at times, this "artwork" appears stilted, forced, rehearsed. and let's see if its enduring at all...

children/the artistic process is diametrically opposed to force. children/the artistic process is by nature spontaneous, creative... let children play. the world will steal away their souls soon enough; the world will teach them who's boss soon enough. in the meantime, in the dwindling playtime, the time for art, let the children play, let the muses set about their "work."