Article January 12, 1974 Issue

Creative Thought

FRANCES MARY WU

Although we may not readily appreciate what some modern artists are trying to say to us, we should not shrug them off, since many are trying to put into communicable form concepts and images difficult to communicate in traditional forms. Modern man has certainly pushed forward mentally into new fields, so that we can expect to see expressed in contemporary art new forms we may not readily comprehend. And, without doubt, the effort to learn to appreciate new forms is rewarding. Creative artists often work with thought-expanding concepts and so extend and broaden their grasp on original thought. They are, often without knowing it, working with spiritual ideas, which to a degree they convey humanly through form, outline, color. The artist works to make these ideas visible humanly.

In my own experience, as I have developed both as an artist and as a Christian Scientist, my work has become much more abstract but closer to the basic elements of design—showing structure, proportion, geometric forms, forces, and directions. I am more aware of the intrinsic beauty of color against color, line crossing line, and the rhythm of forms as if they were notes of music. I find that through the flexible medium of abstract or semi-abstract painting, I can speak about the harmony and variety of things, and particularly my joy in them, which I could not as freely find means to express in the more traditional forms of representational painting. The possibilities in the field of the abstract forms of modern art are enthralling and virtually infinite.

Creativity, originality, and expansive thought belong to all men. Because they derive from God and man is His reflection, they are common property, and there are no barriers or boundaries to keep them from anyone. Each individual has these qualities to use.

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