{"id":867945,"date":"2020-07-29T09:52:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T07:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/?post_type=articles&p=867945"},"modified":"2020-10-30T12:05:50","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T11:05:50","slug":"sara-flynn-creativity-is-a-way-of-thinking","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/sara-flynn-creativity-is-a-way-of-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Sara Flynn: \u201cCreativity is a way of thinking\u201d"},"featured_media":870301,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[28,35],"areas":[20,25],"subjects":[414,421],"class_list":["post-867945","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schools-architecture-and-design","schools-university","areas-human-behavior","areas-talent","subjects-design-and-architecture","subjects-humanities"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-summary-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-summary":["Creativity plays a fundamental role in every artistic process. At the same time, skill development is essential to creating, experiencing, and growing the creative process. The Irish ceramic artist Sara Flynn brings these two capacities together in the conception of her clay vessels. Her works, known for their original curves, are the result of years of self-discovery and skill development with this traditional material."],"wpcf-article-leadin":["Creativity and skills are a fundamental tandem in any artistic process. Creativity is how you approach the reality of your environment, but you also need skills to create, experience, and grow the creative process. In this interview with Andrea Caruso, Professor at the IE School of Architecture and Design and co-founder of the Ciszak Dalmas studio, ceramic artist Sara Flynn talks about how her career illustrates this approach."],"wpcf-article-body":["Andrea Caruso:<\/strong> How did you get interested in this work and how did you develop your approach to the materials you use? How has your practice evolved over time?<\/span>\r\n\r\nSara Flynn:<\/strong> Creativity is a way of thinking. I was influenced by how my mother used to cook and tend to her garden. She had a creative way of thinking when it came to solving problems. I wasn\u2019t a good student, but in our home there was a problem-solving approach that was really useful to me. It\u2019s not like clay was my calling, but I was immediately drawn to it when I started working with it in college. Over time, my work has evolved from functionality-driven to purely sculptural vessels that are not necessarily meant to perform a function. I have creative freedom and am very lucky that things have worked out financially<\/a>, which is quite unusual.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAndrea Caruso:<\/strong> You went to college in Cork, where you studied ceramics at the art school. What was that learning experience like?<\/span>\r\n\r\nSara Flynn:<\/strong> It was the late 1980s, when heuristic, skill-based learning was popular. This is very important because, when you\u2019re working on something, it\u2019s hard to experiment or grow<\/a> if you don\u2019t have the basic skills.\r\n
What really inspires me is the material and my relationship with it.<\/blockquote>\r\nAndrea Caruso:<\/strong> Let\u2019s talk about inspiration. As a designer, I understand that inspiration is something spiritual that can happen at any time of day, with any object. In your case, however, perhaps it comes from a specific environment.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSara Flynn:<\/strong> If you had asked me that question 15 years ago, my answer would have revolved around my environment\u2014the sea and the coast. It\u2019s taken me a few years to gain more confidence in myself. However, what really inspires me is the material and my relationship with it. Sometimes I try something based on my ability or on an idea I have in my head. Other times it\u2019s more about my relationship with the material, which takes me a step further, to something I may not have been able to draw on paper.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAndrea Caruso:<\/strong> By moving away from functional design, are you trying to achieve some sort of emotional message? How would you define your work?<\/span>\r\n\r\nSara Flynn:<\/strong> With pieces that are asymmetrical, as mine are, people tend to look for similarities in shape to a forehead, a back, or certain postures. That\u2019s how people read them, but my intention is purely abstract. It\u2019s fantastic that everyone has their own interpretation, since that can be a subconscious thing. We all have bodies, with limbs, elbows, hips, curves... but that\u2019s not my focus.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAndrea Caruso:<\/strong> It\u2019s a lot like working on a sculpture...<\/span>\r\n\r\nSara Flynn:<\/strong> Yes, absolutely.\r\n
It\u2019s amazing what technology can do, but for me, the engagement with the material is completely lost.<\/blockquote>\r\nAndrea Caruso:<\/strong> Do you think you are closer to design, craftsmanship, or art?<\/span>\r\n\r\nSara Flynn:<\/strong> I hate that question. [Laughs] I hate labels because they totally classify you. I think design and art both play important roles and that craftsmanship is fundamental. In my opinion, they are inseparable.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAndrea Caruso:<\/strong> Innovation<\/a> is one part of all this and technology<\/a> is another. Are you interested in exploring new avenues or in delving deeper into traditional ones and achieving their fullest expression?<\/span>\r\n\r\nSara Flynn:<\/strong> Every day when I go into the studio, I feel that I still have so many unanswered questions about my current practice. To me, technology<\/a> is just another tool. I am very traditional, but that doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m against new technologies. It just means I haven\u2019t felt the need to use them yet. For example, 3D printing is a very useful tool, but not everyone will use it and set aside traditional techniques. It\u2019s amazing what technology can do, but for me, the engagement with the material is completely lost.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights."],"wpcf-article-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-extract":["Creativity and skills are a fundamental tandem in any artistic process. Creativity is how you approach the reality of your environment, but you also need skills to create, experience, and grow the creative process. In this interview with Andrea Caruso<\/strong>, ceramic artist Sara Flynn<\/strong> talks about how her career illustrates this approach."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/867945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=867945"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=867945"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=867945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}