Creativity and Aesthetics

Technical excellence, while admirable, is not an end in itself. It is simply a tool to help the artist effectively express his or her personal vision. Therefore, while meeting the essential need for every student to acquire sound technical skills, Atelier Stockholm also actively encourages students to develop and exercise their creativity and imagination. This is very important, because it is only these qualities that can elevate a painting beyond mere technical excellence up to the level of work that is original, personal, and meaningful. A student’s creativity, as well as their courage to express imaginative ideas, can suffer substantially from the prolonged and intensive study of technique and continual striving for accuracy. For this reason, Atelier Stockholm balances the mastery of technical skills with the practice and development of creative skills. Non-technical subjects, such as conception, composition, expression and mood, are touched upon throughout a student’s training but are more thoroughly addressed in assigned creative exercises. For example, each week, a sentence, subject, or a fragment of an idea is presented as a starting point from which students must imagine and create a drawing or painting. The finished sketches are presented and discussed the following week and a new starting point, or “seed,” is assigned. Also, to inspire and encourage students to think creatively, the school plans museum visits, sketching trips, symposiums and lectures, has formed an extensive library and displays original artwork throughout the school.

To see examples of student creativity exercises visit the Creativity Seeds gallery.