Dust: The Creative Process
In the presence of dust, artists find a place to write their names. Dry, desolate land, is just a home for our seeds. For most of the creative process, artists stare at bland photos, blank canvases, and empty documents. And more time than this is spent editing what we hoped would’ve been the final draft.
A final draft is just an idea, an end I’ll never reach like chasing the wind to see its last stop. For me, art isn’t final when the world has experienced it, not until it’s completely out of my reach. In my possession, it will always be subject to inconstant eyes, new ideas, and fresh inspiration. Seeing my way through this fog is lengthy. But in the wilderness is creative clarity and ideas hanging low from trees like savory fruit.
A virtuoso might not emerge from the jungle with a mink coat, but rather with portraits of lions, poisonous plants, and the vast green scenery. The creative process is one in which we bask, and learn in and out. While it may isolate us, we lean into what eventually no longer feels like a toilsome “process,” but rather an artistic ritual.
Mass Appeal’s “Rhythm Roulette” series certifies that there's nothing methodical about the creative process. It's organic creative alchemy. And inspiration is fickle, hidden, and revealed by our interests. It invites rap savants to follow producers while they struggle, laugh, and sometimes confuse their way through the process of sampling beats.
An artist is invited into a room full of old vinyl records and told to choose 2-3, while blindfolded and left to the process. Amalgamating the past and future, hip-hop and soul, through drums timed perfectly over loops of the voices of legends. Even as convoluted as it might be, sampling reminds us that art is the best means by which we time travel.
In this particular episode, Hollywood Cole was the artist featured, an Atlanta-based producer, credited with work for rappers like Isaiah Rashad, G Herbo, Latto, and Jack Harlow. Cole is also notable for his nostalgic producer tag, “Cole, you stupid.” Finding a record seemed like being given a pop quiz. Many of them are out of reach or foreign to some producers, but what might be confusing, and a place of sonic unfamiliarity, is only an opportunity to learn.
The moment when dots connect and unchartered creative territory is in sight, their passion, and commitment to seeing the process through is the wind that carries the boat to the shore. Cole cycled through what he hoped would’ve been ideal records to flip before reaching a moment of creative clarity in Gloria Lynne’s “Intimate Moments.” He assured himself in relief, “she came through.”
I once struggled to craft my own creative process. I forced patterns of preparation and habits that made fleshing out inbred passions feel more like workplace routines; clocking in and out.
Ideas for writers aren’t kept in our heads well. But the weight leaving your mind once thoughts are dropped onto paper brings solace, reminding us that thinking was the process. If you’re a thinking artist, you’re a writer. What seems like a struggle might be an organic means by which you witness ideas resuscitate.
Watching others document their journeys as content for social media tempted me to believe my work hadn’t withstood the winds of writer’s block, or it needed a trial to be validated. The creative method, for some, is like being stuck at sea. Unedited photos, bland and undecorated documents, or dried paint brushes are all like land on which we must settle.
Stare at the process, master it and customize it to make it our own. I usually spend 15-20 minutes on the first and last sentences. But what I believed to be writer’s block or creative stoppage, was just an expression of my need to be perfect. It reflected an ingrained desire to pull readers into my world, then stick to their thoughts and musings like velcro holding together the back of dad hats.
Passion makes the creative process organic. If yours is prolonged and toilsome, it means you care. Let it be convoluted, but make it yours. The process will always take you somewhere, sometimes alone, but your gift is your compass. The dilemma of aspiring for longevity means you must settle on land that hasn’t been sustained or nurtured. It means being okay with being a lonely settler.
Told by: Kwon
