Are you smarter than a penguin?
/Or smarter than an Atlantic harbor seal?
Actually, the question on the floor is, Are you as creative as a harbor seal?
[Spoiler alert: Yes, you are. Stay with me.]
Last week, we were traveling in Boston on a Pack Up & Go trip (check them out!) and one of our activities was to visit the New England Aquarium.
As we exited through the gift shop — always — there was an exhibit of art, paintings, for sale.
nice job, trumpet!
This and the other paintings were done by some of the residents of the Aquarium: harbor seals, sea turtles, and penguins! (Read more about that here.)
Look at that! I almost bought it on the spot. Look at that movement, that freedom of brushwork, those joyous colors! Any of us would be delighted to have produced this little bagatelle.
And yet many of us don’t even try. Fear of doing it wrong stops us. The harbor seal, of course, has no such fear, and it paints with absolute abandon.
Not bad, emily, but not as good as Trumpet’s…
Here’s the thing: Of course the seal is not being creative. It’s doing a thing that has proven to provide snacks in the past and probably will this time too. It’s engaging its curiosity and playfulness in ways that it never could — or would— in the wild.
And the main takeaway here, the actual answer to the question of whether you’re more creative than a harbor seal, is that these sweet little paintings are all ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS. The seal does not step back, look at it, practice a little GESTALT, and then go ahead with its SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION. Once it gets its snack, it’s done and can go back to swooping around its tank with its buddies and being adorable.
So of course you’re more creative than a harbor seal: You could take Emily’s haphazard little painting and keep working on it until it made artistic sense, at least to you if not to MOMA. And remember, MOMA is not your AUDIENCE.
If nothing else, grab those paints and pretend you’re a harbor seal and paint without fear. Then fix it. See how easy it is? [Spoiler alert: It’s not always easy.]
One random thought: There’s nothing stopping you from slapping that paint on that paper, grabbing a snack, and go back to swooping around your tank with your buddies and being adorable. Come back to it later. TASK AVOIDANCE is, after all, the prime directive. Cras melior est!
