The Creative Mind
Even at fifty-eight, there are things to learn about being visually literate. That is what I have always called myself: visually literate. I devised this label to describe a significant aspect of my life: I notice things and I have a strong visual memory. My women friends have often told me that they appreciate that I notice whenever they make visual changes to themselves such as change their hairstyle or colour, get new clothes or accessories, or making changes around their home.
I think I am good at spatial design, and I can choose colours for my home in seconds. I can say why I like a painting and why I don't easily, and I love doing it. My favourite "test" when I was dating and meeting someone new, was to propose a walk through an art gallery because I find art provokes such interesting and meaningful conversations. I love the sensate life. I love food, colour, incense, the smell of flowers, trees and the sea; I love the gentle touch of friends with whom I am close. All these things I have known for a long time.
And I have known in a certain way, that I am creative, but I have never labeled myself that way or really even thought of myself that way. Recently, however, I learned something about creativity. I have developed rapid-onset arthritis in my hands that has forced me to change the taps on all my sinks. That led me to do something about my lighting because my failing eyesight requires more light in more areas. And then, well, why not paint everything as well? Suddenly I was renovating my whole place and despite having never done this kind of work before, I still wanted to do as much of the work on my own to save money.
One of the problems that I wanted to address most was the issue of visible "BX wire" all over my walls. It is coiled cable that electrician's use when electrical cable has to go on the surface the walls. It is seriously ugly. I decided that there must be a product that would cover it in some attractive way and I headed off to the nearby big-box hardware store to find some. The very helpful man who served me spent a lot of time calling round to his suppliers to see if they had such a product, but they didn't.
In a section of the store that had stuff for aluminum doors and windows, I found long lengths of extruded metal tubing, including some that was U-shaped and open at the top, looked to me like something that might nicely cover the BX wire, so I took a length of it and went back to where they sold the BX wire to see if it would fit. It did as though it was made for the purpose; it almost clung to the wire. And the man who had served me earlier, saw me and what I was doing. Like me, he found the brass tubing to be ideal for the job.
Two weeks later, I was having glass installed in my bathroom to enclose my shower and show off the brick. In one location, glass met glass for about eight feet close to the shower itself. The man providing the glass had no idea of how to ensure that the seam between the two pieces of glass was watertight. While he worked on installing other pieces, I took some "teflon tape" — ultra, ultra thin tape that you wrap around a pipe fitting to ensure it doesn't leak’Äîand I was twirling it into a long twisted thread and stuffing it into the crack between the glass pieces with the blunt end of a needle. The glass man thought I had invented a pretty cool solution and he said so as he left.
But I was not confident in the solution, so I went back to the hardware store, this time to get a long length of half-inch L-shaped, brushed aluminum where I had found the U-shaped brass tube. The L-shaped piece would, I knew, fit perfectly over the glass-to-glass edging and provide an excellent seal if I loaded the inside with silicone. At the check-out, the man who had helped me try to find the BX wire saw me and said, "What problem are you solving this time?" So I told him about the glass-to-glass problem and my solution, and this is what he said: "You know, I have twenty years experience as a tradesman and I have worked here for many years, but I would never have thought of the solutions you have found." He told me that he and I would make a perfect home renovation team. "Experience is a great teacher," he said, "I have that in spades, but you have a creative mind and that is just as valuable as all my experience."
Again, a few weeks went by, and more glass was coming in-this time tabletops. When the tradesman arrived, he checked out what I had done in the bathroom since he had installed the glass. He noticed my metal corner piece and he complimented me on my work and he asked me where I got the L-shaped metal. "Honestly," he said to me when I told him, "I would never have thought of that. You're a really creative guy."
I never before realized how "creative" I was and how practical creative thinking could be. I have "known" it in that way we can know things intellectually but in a way that is shallow compared to experiential understanding. But now I know. It is a valuable and practical asset that we creative people share. I found these very recent experiences to be enlightening and rewarding. I was moved by the generosity of spirit in both men and by the respect they had for creative thinking.
ctyrell@shaw.ca
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