The Artist's Way

viewed solely in terms of its shortfalls. Time and again I saw
promising work met with a volley of should-have-dones,
could-have-dones, and might-have-dones, instead of being
worked with as it was.
It is not my argument that the world of academia be
turned into an exalted artists’ studio. It is, however, my
point that artists attempting to exist, grow, even flourish,
within that milieu recognize that the entire thrust of
intellectualism runs counter to the creative impulse. For an
artist, to become overly cerebral is to become crippled. This
is not to say that artists lack rigor; rather, that artistic rigor is
grounded differently than intellectual life usually admits.
Artists and intellectuals are not the same animal. As a
younger artist this was very confusing to me. I myself have
considerable critical gifts, and have in fact won national
awards for practicing them. It was to my own rue that I
discovered that these same skills were misapplied when
focused on embryonic artistic endeavors—mine or others.
Younger artists are seedlings. Their early work resembles
thicket and underbrush, even weeds. The halls of academia,
with their preference for lofty intellectual theorems, do little
to support the life of the forest floor. As a teacher, it has
been my sad experience that many talented creatives were
daunted early and unfairly by their inability to conform to a
norm that was not their own. It would be my hope that the
academics who read this book and apply it would do so with
an altered appreciation for the authenticity of growth for the
sake of growth. In other words, as taller trees, let us not