Career
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Musings on Women and the Creative Urge
July 2019 
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By Sandra Bertrand
I’ve been thinking about what triggers the creative urge lately and have discovered that when I relax, put my mind at rest, and just face a blank canvas or a blank piece of paper if writing, something comes up from the well within, unforced and unprompted – a gesture of the brush that can lead to the next gesture, a sentence that may lead to another, then another. It’s a flow really, and the artist’s job is to gently guide the stream she has set in motion and follow it where it will lead.
Women have been creators from the most elemental act of giving birth. Improvisation comes naturally as we are grounded in the daily routines of living and often providing for others besides ourselves. Necessity is the mother of invention - that’s an axiom that still rings true. We give each other the right to invent.
I wonder sometimes if a woman’s urge to create is more fluid, more inclined to embrace new styles, new approaches. Men have created schools of art and philosophy down the ages that have often restricted the freedom to step outside the boundaries created. With the male adherence to a particular principle, a power and exclusivity can be the result. If a woman has been excluded from that power circle, the paradox is that she is set free to roam in the playground of her imagination.
That does not imply that a woman shouldn’t strive to “join the club,” so to speak - if that’s where she wants to be, then let her be front and center. The recent publication Ninth Street Women (Little, Brown, and Company) makes it clear how a few women artists embraced abstraction in the mid-twentieth century, often at great cost to themselves, and how they often did so because of their intimate relationship to power through husbands and lovers.
My Personal Creative Journey…
What I strive for is a kind of renaissance of creativity. My own life has been a series of leapfrogging from one form of creativity to another. One of my favorite quotes is from a master of creative ingenuity: Albert Einstein. His advice: “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
As a curious child and young teen, I always had a crayon or a pencil within reach, so drawing became second nature. I started with an art major in my California high school, and as my school had a large enrollment with several active departments to explore the arts, I switched to the drama department, soon discovering that playacting offered a wealth of chances to switch identities, to take on different personas. Giving life to the playwright’s words led to wanting to write plays myself. And that is what led to more writing, in the form of poems, short stories and, later, criticism. A break from the theatre, led to investigating photography and the thrill of finding the myriad shades of gray on the black and white scale. Now that I’ve retired from business with more time to step into that playground of my imagination, I welcomed painting back into my life, and felt the thrill of facing a blank canvas. Classes at the Art Students League, followed by a few group exhibits, led to my discovering the National Association of Women Artists and the support and friendships this prestigious organization has provided.
Finally, trusting in oneself is essential. Martha Graham said it best: “There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and it will be lost.”
Women have been creators from the most elemental act of giving birth. Improvisation comes naturally as we are grounded in the daily routines of living and often providing for others besides ourselves. Necessity is the mother of invention - that’s an axiom that still rings true. We give each other the right to invent.
I wonder sometimes if a woman’s urge to create is more fluid, more inclined to embrace new styles, new approaches. Men have created schools of art and philosophy down the ages that have often restricted the freedom to step outside the boundaries created. With the male adherence to a particular principle, a power and exclusivity can be the result. If a woman has been excluded from that power circle, the paradox is that she is set free to roam in the playground of her imagination.
That does not imply that a woman shouldn’t strive to “join the club,” so to speak - if that’s where she wants to be, then let her be front and center. The recent publication Ninth Street Women (Little, Brown, and Company) makes it clear how a few women artists embraced abstraction in the mid-twentieth century, often at great cost to themselves, and how they often did so because of their intimate relationship to power through husbands and lovers.
My Personal Creative Journey…
What I strive for is a kind of renaissance of creativity. My own life has been a series of leapfrogging from one form of creativity to another. One of my favorite quotes is from a master of creative ingenuity: Albert Einstein. His advice: “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
As a curious child and young teen, I always had a crayon or a pencil within reach, so drawing became second nature. I started with an art major in my California high school, and as my school had a large enrollment with several active departments to explore the arts, I switched to the drama department, soon discovering that playacting offered a wealth of chances to switch identities, to take on different personas. Giving life to the playwright’s words led to wanting to write plays myself. And that is what led to more writing, in the form of poems, short stories and, later, criticism. A break from the theatre, led to investigating photography and the thrill of finding the myriad shades of gray on the black and white scale. Now that I’ve retired from business with more time to step into that playground of my imagination, I welcomed painting back into my life, and felt the thrill of facing a blank canvas. Classes at the Art Students League, followed by a few group exhibits, led to my discovering the National Association of Women Artists and the support and friendships this prestigious organization has provided.
Finally, trusting in oneself is essential. Martha Graham said it best: “There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and it will be lost.”
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Sandra Bertrand has been immersed in the arts all of her life, as a theater actress, award-winning playwright, painter, photographer, book reviewer, editor and art critic.
She is Chief Art Critic for Highbrow Magazine and a contributing writer for GALO Magazine. Her journalism credits also include reviews and profiles for Our Town, A Manhattan Weekly, The New Orleans Review and Show Business Weekly. Sandra was Sanctuary's May Featured Artist, and the Sanctuary Team is thrilled that she will be writing for us in our new, inspirational travel section launching in September 2019. Stay tuned for more from Sandra... |
