Does Creativity Require Curiosity?

Blog 5


Last week, I wrote about Creativity (read blog here). Its close cousin is Curiosity.


Talking about curiosity, you might immediately think of the proverb, Curiosity Killed the Cat. It gives the word a negative meaning by warning of nosily poking into other people’s business, looking for weaknesses.


There is also a positive side to being curious. I associate it with a desire to discover and explore the world, to learn and grow by trying new things and asking questions.


We are born curious but sometimes, we push this curiosity aside when we grow up because we assume that asking questions makes us seem stupid. Or, we get so overwhelmed by the everyday routine that we do not make space for curiosity. However, questions and experimentation lead to new discoveries and developments.


If we lose our curiosity, we stagnate. The world around us keeps evolving, and we feel no longer connected to society due to our lack of understanding of new trends, developments and discoveries. We lose our sources of inspiration and become outdated because we stop learning about the world and ourselves.


Curiosity and creativity make our lives more exciting. Our curiousness can lead to new knowledge, experiences and adventures.


Creativity uses our memories and knowledge to transform them into something that creates an emotional reaction, a connection to others we touch with our works.


Did you know that there is a second part to the proverb? I only learned about it when I looked for a German proverb expressing the lesson. There is none, even though some book translations from English to German made it into some dictionaries.


The complete proverb is: Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. It suggests that looking for answers is sometimes frustrating until a discovery excites you to embrace the next steps.


My Cartooning and Comic courses for children at François Dupuis Recreation Complex have started. I am curious about the interests and requests of my students that I would never consider drawing on my own. With every course, I learn something new and widen my horizon.

This Week's Daily Art - watercolour painting from a Michael Solovyev demonstration

As creativity and curiosity can enhance each other, stay open to change. Try new things to stretch your limits, grow and keep life interesting.