I found Amy Tan’s talk on where creativity comes from to be an interesting insight on the matter, and I liked the way that she addressed the matter as something that can vary depending on each individual life experience. She points out the way that outside forces are at work constantly in a person’s life, and each thing that happens influences how someone goes about expressing their creativity. I agree with her that there is an element of ambiguity to being creative or having an inspiration for a creative expression.
However, I don’t agree with her when she says that ambiguity is necessary. I believe that it can be a useful tool for expression, but I believe that any work can be done just as well without ambiguity. Personally, I find things easier to understand if the meaning is clear on the surface, not muddled with ambiguity, causing someone to search for the meaning. In my life, I can draw inspiration more from the things that I can easily understand than the things that confuse me.
Aside from that, I do agree with her when she states that there is more than “random luck” at work. The outside forces that influence a person’s life also influence their understanding of the world, and a person can always draw upon these coincidences as guidance or assurance for their work.
Overall, I do believe that it is important for an artist to draw their inspiration and creativity from many sources, both of the supernatural nature and in the world we live in today. I think that creativity depends on the kind of life that a person chooses to live, and that their experiences will almost always reflect onto their work.