Creativity From Without

As with any artist or designer, there are times where it is necessary to take inspiration from the natural world. It is important to learn to draw from experience and very important to utilize one’s emotions felt in the moment. It is important to seize the opportunity to express one’s idea, whether through basic sketching or using raw materials around for a simplistic depiction of that idea. Even using a camera to expose a detail about life never noticed before is a genuinely new simplistic idea, one that conveys using nature to inspire.

One artist that I have been learning about lately from two of my current classes this quarter is Karl Blossfeldt. A photographer that took up close up shots of plants, these magnified shots changed perspectives in the way people looked at plants. In design, we examined his work as a way of seeing designs in the way plants grow, how they have design forms in the way the vines twisted and curved. How natural forms can depict common design forms, demonstrating exactly how designers and artists can learn from nature if they take the time to notice the way nature designs itself in raw materials.

Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932)

Where as in my art history photography class, we talked about Karl Blossfeldt, as an artist who saw the beauty in natural forms. How the natural form appears to be an imitation of people and due to the way the shapes of the plant embodies humans, he shows us our deeper connection to nature.

Karl Blossfeldt, Pumpkin Tendrils Magnified 4x, 1928

The intriguing idea of plants seen through a magnified view was interesting from the art and design point of view. While design and art both examined form, they both saw and understood something different through the pictures he took. Design saw concepts, and art seek a deeper meaning in the close up forms.

Karl Blossfeldt, Unknown

The idea that a picture can stir up several different meanings without explanation from the artist brings up the concept that art should be freely interpreted. I believe that is the true meaning of art, that art should be allowed to be interpreted by anyone without knowing the artist’s true intention.