Exploring the Impulse to Create Beauty

In this conversation with an artist, Rupert explores the desire to create something of beauty, drawing from his own experience as a potter. What is this creative impulse that drives artists and creatives, and what can they focus on to be successful in this pursuit?

Rupert says: ‘I didn’t want to be a great artist or even make great art, but I knew that beauty was real, that it wasn’t just a pleasant sensation or visual impression, and I had this urge to create something that spoke of beauty.

‘In your creative process it is important to keep alive this conviction that you have – to make something that evokes the experience of the sense of beauty. Keep following that and, without knowing it, you will be drawn there. It’s like that children’s game where you’re blindfolded and you’re getting close, and all you’re told is you are getting warmer or colder. That’s all you’re ever given as an artist. Your job is just to make sure you are always getting warmer.’

*This video is from one of Rupert’s in-person retreats at Garrison Institute, 26 March – 2 April 2023. For more information on upcoming retreats (many of which can be attended online via livestream) go to:

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