A Scientific and Metaphoric Examination of the Creative Self: A Self Study of Creativity, the Creative Process, and Aesthetic Awareness

Abstract

The following self-study examines the role of creativity, the creative process, and aesthetic awareness among the life of an artist. The study further examines the relationship between creativity generation and drawing. This self-study is motivated by three fundamental questions: How is creativity developed within an individual? How is creativity influenced? Can art production incite creative thinking? The research approach to this study suggests that a new generation of data collection including rich and descriptive narrative is warranted to gain a greater understanding of the human phenomena of creativity. Data collection includes a triangulation of three components: written biographical narratives of the artist’s experiences, the completion of a self-portrait in graphite with an accompanied journal log of process analysis, and self-conducted interview. Each piece of data, are coded and analyzed for thematic relevance. The literature offers a descriptive account of the various existing theories of creativity, its relation to art making procedures, and the role of creativity in education. The findings represented within this study highlight the fundamental theories of creative development, cognition, process, and problem solving. The significance of this study exists within the contribution to advancing the understanding of creativity development and generation.