The Creative Process!!!

The following is an excerpt from the Ontario curriculum document regarding the Creative Process in the Visual Arts:


THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Students are expected to learn and use the creative process to help them acquire and
apply knowledge and skills in the arts. Use of the creative process is to be integrated
with use of the critical analysis process (described on pages 17–22) in all facets of the
arts curriculum as students work to achieve the expectations in the three strands.
Creativity involves the invention and the assimilation of new thinking and its integration
with existing knowledge. Creativity is an essential aspect of innovation. Sometimes the
creative process is more about asking the right questions than it is about finding the
right answer. It is paradoxical in that it involves both spontaneity and deliberate,
focused effort. Creativity does not occur in a vacuum. Art making is a process requiring
both creativity and skill, and it can be cultivated by establishing conditions that encourage
and promote its development. Teachers need to be aware that the atmosphere they create
for learning affects the nature of the learning itself. A setting that is conducive to creativity
is one in which students are not afraid to suggest alternative ideas and take risks.

The creative process comprises several stages:
• challenging and inspiring
• imagining and generating
• planning and focusing
• exploring and experimenting
• producing preliminary work  
• revising and refining
• presenting and performing
• reflecting and evaluating

The creative process in the arts is intended to be followed in a flexible, fluid, and cyclical
manner. As students and teachers become increasingly familiar with the creative process,
they are able to move deliberately and consciously between the stages and to vary the
order of stages as appropriate. For example, students may benefit from exploring and
experimenting before planning and focusing; or in some instances, the process may
begin with reflecting. Feedback and reflection take place throughout the process.