The Virtues of Water and Creativity

Concetta likens water with creativity at several levels. Here’re some practical tips for creative writing. An exclusive for Different Truths.

As the American author Stephen King says, “Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So, drink. Drink and be filled up.”

The crux of my idea is that there is a connection between water and creativity.  Water flows; rarely, can it be tamed. Creativity is the same way; it also flows. If you are a writer, words flow from your pen to the page. If you are an artist, paint flows from your brush to the canvas. When a musician plays, sounds are eminent from their hands or mouths to the plethora of instruments that send a composer’s work out into the air. Whatever form your creativity takes, it is an adventure. Each involves emotions, experiences, how they affect our lives, and the visions around us.

I compare water with creativity because both have a connection to nature. Nature isn’t just scenery; it lives and breathes the same way creativity does. As vessels of indescribable beauty, ask yourself this question, “How does water taste?”

Think about this question. When it comes to the sense of taste, there are only four possibilities: sweet, sour, salty, or bitter. Was your answer one of these four choices? Water’s taste is so unique that there is no adequate adjective to describe it. We are forced by the question to think outside the box. Creativity is the same. Like nature and water, in particular, creativity is a bundle of resources that ebb and flow as water and nature do; we just have to remember.

One of water’s most striking characteristics is its transparency. Just as clarity is the foremost measure of quality in a jewel, there is something magical about clear water.

The virtue that nature, water, and creativity have in common is clarity or transparency. As you read the following, see if you can call up an image of the clearest water. Imagine that every water molecule in your body (and it’s about two-thirds of what you are) contains the virtue of clarity – it’s already in you. 

When you write, play music, or paint, each creative form must be clear. Words move, sometimes going everywhere on the page yet, ultimately, composing a clear story, poem, or narrative. Art paints a picture through so many different mediums but, in the end, expresses the vision of the artist; one that has nothing to hide. Notes can be helter-skelter ultimately, forming a beautiful composition for the ear to hear.

An example of my idea is “Water, Creativity and Meaning: multidisciplinary studies of the human-water relationships.” (Edited by Liz Roberts and Katherine Phillips, 2020). From the Forward of the book, Veronica Strang, University of Durham, UK, writes,

“Water, Creativity, and Meaning makes an insightful contribution to current understanding of human-environmental relationships. Centering on creative practices, it explores the intimate and interconnected engagements with water that people experience and embody at a personal and local level, showing how these generate important memories and meanings; enable the composition of individual and community identities; and encourage deep and affective relations with place.”

Another example of water and creativity is “Making Waves: artists and writers tell stories, explore different sides of water through their creativity.” The “Making Waves” initiative was a project funded by Making Waves, the College of Liberal Arts and Science, and the Center for Scholarly and Creative Excellence. If you lived in Grand Valley, chances are you took one of Rapid transit. 

Among the promotional placards lining the interior Rapid buses that cater to the Rapid Valley community were pieces with artist water scenes and prominent titles such as “Fish are Jumping” and “Summers with Martha.”

Contained within each is an excerpt from a poem about water, part of the project, “Poetry on the Grand,” to help promote the beginning stages of the “Making Waves.” Initiative.

Placed in a sea of advertising materials conveying straightforward information, the pieces designed by Vinicius Lima, associate Professor of graphic design, instantly invited reflection, and contemplation.

That effect is exactly what the creative works tied to the “Making Waves” initiative are meant to evoke, according to GVSU (Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI) artists and writers. The creations help convey the imperatives of “Making Waves” by promoting deeper thought or feelings about issues surrounding water, thereby complementing the scientific and data-driven aspects of the initiative. (Peg West, GVNet, 2020).

This initiative is a true collaboration among artists, poets, and the educational community. It shows the extent certain communities come together to address an environmental problem. Patricia Clark, recently retired professor of writing, the one-time poet laureate of Grand Rapids and former GVSU poet-in-residence, said, “It’s critical for poets to address the tough parts of any issue, including water, which takes on added significance because it surrounds us, and is so basic to our Everyday living.” 

While a gifted poet can remind us of water’s beauty, Clark said those words are equally important to address threats to this life force. That tension is evident in her poem “Wrack Line,” which is posted on the “Magic Waves” initiative’s website in both written form and in a video collaboration with Kirsten Strom, professor of art history, with Clark reading her own work. Her poem can be heard; hear: https://youtu.be/hg1Alo6XkLo

Whether you agree with this comparison or not, there is a strong connection between water and creativity that is unquestionable. Both are pure. Both have nothing to hide. One of the first lines from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman is, “And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

Visuals by Different Truths and video from YouTube