Dancers’ Workshop is currently in the midst of creating a COVID safe Winter Production film - Nutcracker Sweets - which we hope to release  to our community on December 25th…2020!

We have 50 passionate dancers rehearsing in very small “pods”, a now newly accepted term, with a creative team of six artistic DW staff. Everyday we assess and cope with whatever challenges arise...one by one putting the pieces together.

Rehearsals are sometimes held virtually and others have been held with the utmost care in remaining safe with temperature taking, distancing and masks required. 

In fact, what this means is completely embracing the edge of uncertainty with one defining factor: How can we enter the artistic process all together and still remain safe? We are, as artists, truly reinventing our creative process.

And what, you may ask, is the creative process?

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The creative process is a unique combination of vision, creativity, intuition, accidents and collaboration balanced with craft, technique, accountability, discipline, and use of time and resources…

The creative process is a complex multiplicity of processes.

And there are a multitude of artists, each with their own processes for art creation. The following artists (from 1916-2003) share their creative process, to attempt to teach us about unconventional methods to making art.

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Dadaist Artist,

Jean Hans Arp (

1916).

Hans was a member of the Zurich Dada, the most influential avant-garde art movement of the early twentieth century.

He embraced the part of his creative process that was accidental.

This - Collage with Squares Arranging to the Laws of Chance - work was made by dropping shapes from the air and seeing where they fell.

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Drip Artist, Jackson Pollock (1950).

Pollock pioneered his creative process, the Drip technique… with a Turkey baster!

Which is why he titled this work One.

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The Human Paintbrush Artist, Yves Klein (1960).

Do you see the human in Yves’ work? He used female models - Helena in this work - as his paintbrush, in his creative process.

The ‘brush’ strokes you see is her body being imprinted on the canvas.

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Gunpowder Artist, Cai Guo-Qiang (2003).

Cai’s creative process is using gunpowder in place of paint.

The self-created technique Cai refers to as ‘firework display’… birthed from the tradition from his home country, China, where fireworks are frequently used for celebrations.

DW will be continuing our creative process this Holiday week with Nutcracker Sweets.

Engage in your own creative process, whether you’re cooking, taking a walk or creating art.

Today, we celebrate Artist Louise Nevelson’s creative process with a video that’s a bit longer than most we share with you… but she is quite an entertaining character whose work remains one of the most important in 20th century sculpture.