The word inspiration literally means, “breathed upon”, with its roots in Hellenism. The Greeks believed that inspiration came from the muses as well as the gods Apollo and Dionysus. The Romantic notion of inspiration was that genius was the God within. Inspiration came because the artist tuned himself to the divine or mystical.
Modern psychology has said that inspiration is located in the inner psyche of the artist. Sigmund Freud believed that inspiration came out of unresolved conflict or childhood trauma. Freud placed inspiration in the subconscious mind. This is why Surrealist artists used dream diaries and automatic writing to find inspiration.
Carl Jung believed that an artist is someone who is attuned to something outside of the individual experience, called genetic memory. Genetic memory is memory that is incorporated into the genome over long spans of time. This memory is part of the “collective unconscious”.
There are many ways to find artistic inspiration. One of them is to keep an art journal where you jot down ideas and do small sketches. You might write your inner feelings, or ideas from your imagination. Sometimes when you first wake up in the morning and are not fully awake, ideas may come more easily. Keep your journal near your bed so that you can write ideas down before you forget them.
There are sources of inspiration all around us. We just have to be aware of them and be observers. There are the people around us, natural and constructed environments, designs and patterns, the culture we live in or a past culture or foreign culture. Try looking at things from a new perspective, like from a high vantage point. One can also look at the world through a macro lens on a camera. Early childhood memories or reading a new book or going new places are also possible sources of inspiration. A trip to the museum is usually inspiring.
When you feel bogged down and want to find something exciting, try a new artistic medium and listen to music that you are not familiar with. Sometimes just giving yourself the freedom to play around with new materials will give you a spark. Most of all, remember to enjoy the process and allow your self to have fun without thinking of producing a masterpiece.
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