Creativity:

Where Do Ideas Come From?

Where do ideas come from, and can creativity actually be understood, practiced, and strengthened?

Creativity is often treated as something mysterious: a spark that appears out of nowhere, available to some people but not others. But what if creativity is less mysterious than we think? What if there is a process behind the making of an original idea?

In this engaging lecture, we’ll explore the Creative Process and how it can help artists move beyond repetition, creative blocks, and the fear of failure. Drawing on Graham Wallas’s four stages of creativity - Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, and Verification - we’ll look at how an idea develops from a question or problem into something that can be tested, refined, and ultimately realized.

Along the way, we’ll discover surprising connections between the creative process, the scientific method, and the practical process artists use when responding to a Call for Entries.

Most importantly, this is not just a lecture about creativity... it’s about where ideas come from and how we can generate more of them. We’ll explore techniques such as provocation, motivation, experimentation, and simply learning to ask better questions. Examples from the speaker's own artistic work will demonstrate how these approaches can lead to unexpected ideas and creative possibilities.

Whether you are an artist, designer, maker, student, or simply someone curious about how creativity works, this lecture offers a fresh way to think about the creative process, and practical strategies for putting it into action.

Come with questions. Leave with ideas.

F. G. Yost was born and brought up in Connecticut and educated at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and Iowa State University. He was employed by Sandia National Laboratories for 28 years and retired in October of 1999 as a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. In early 2000 he began a second career, this time, as an artist. Because his mother was an artist, participation in art-related activities began very early. He has taken art courses from several institutions and attended many art workshops, including those from C.W. Mundy, Robert Liberace and Sherrie McGraw. He spends a significant amount of time painting and experimenting with various materials for sources of artistic inspiration and is an active member of the New Mexico Art League and the Rio Gande Art Association.