On Creativity, part 1 - The Allure of the Creator

I listen to radio. My all-time favorite radio host is Kerri Miller of Minnesota Public Radio. She had a daily current events show which made evident her smarts, her discretion, and her savvy. She was astoundingly well prepared and exhibited a pervasive goodwill. In my opinion, the work she did there remains unmatched.

After many years Kerri retired from that daily radio show and then, later, came back with a weekly interview show featuring noted authors. The show seemed to me to be a pet project, maybe a vanity project. She would interview authors about themselves and their work. She seemed personally drawn to them. I think I heard the legendary Kerri Miller actually fawning.

Kerri had been someone at the top of her field, in command of every situation when grilling and drilling the movers and shakers in world affairs, national politics, and local happenings. But it seemed like she felt she was the kid who got to sit at the adult table when it came to interviewing the people who could create beautiful and consequential stories. What’s the difference between interviewing an ambassador and an artist?

We obsess over actors, writers, and musicians as if they are royalty. Why do these people captivate us more than the diplomats, engineers, and nurses (who are ostensibly doing much more important things)? Maybe it’s because they can bring us singular moments of beauty and wonder. On a personal level, we are captivated. 

I think a creative person is often seen as a kind of alchemist, a person who can summon some unseen power to turn something mundane into something magical. A blank canvas, a piece of paper, or a block of wood can somehow be transformed into a thing with life and beauty. This fascinates us. It fixates us.

Think of the enduring quality of the world’s most revered figures, objects, stories, and music. Cultures around the globe have elevated creative people and works as their icons, their touchstones, their pride. We pay hundreds and thousands to stand in the presence of these creators. We pay thousands and millions to own a thing they made. From prehistoric cave paintings to today’s guerrilla graffiti, the work of creators fascinates us and so, survives. In a way, the creator is immortal.