Search the Archive

"Agnes Martin often speaks of joy; she sees it as the desired condition of all life. Who would disagree with her?... No-one who has seriously spent time before an Agnes Martin, letting its peace commun…"

"If necessity is the mother of invention, curiosity is the father. After all, you cannot produce something interesting if you are not interested in something. Outputs need inputs."

"Creativity is a constant process of call and response taking place inside our heads. If all is going well, the question–answer routine is like the two sides of our brain working together as if in an i…"

"The future depends on us taking a different approach. One in which we can all express ourselves and contribute to society by using our unique imagination and talent. It’s our brains not our brawn that…"

"The problem is, some of us have either convinced ourselves that we are not creative, or are yet to find our way. Confidence in our own creativity can wane. Which is bad. Confidence is crucial. In my e…"

"Creativity, like society, thrives when the individual elements fit within, and add to, a bigger picture."

"It is, after all, our imagination that makes us human. Vincent van Gogh asked, “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” To which the answer is, I would have thought, boring, bord…"

"Love is a practical desire for the good of another. It is much easier to talk about than to carry into action because it requires such sensitivity and unselfishness."

"A far more important lesson to learn from artists is not that they fail, but that they prevail. Artists make. Artists do."

"Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum"

"To give up before we even start, using low self-esteem or lack of qualifications as an excuse, is, frankly, gutless. As human beings we are all born with not only the wherewithal to be creative, but a…"

"Artists are entrepreneurs. They are willing to stake everything for the chance to go it alone and make the work they feel compelled to create. They will beg and borrow to pay the rent on their studio,…"

"In reality, artists are no more courageous or noble or single-minded than the farmers who go to extreme lengths, in extreme weather, to protect their herd. Or a restaurateur who—having waved goodbye t…"

"Sister Wendy's Story of Painting"

"Sister Wendy's Odyssey"

"That’s how ideas are generated. Unusual combinations, mixing old and new, stimulate original ideas, that is, ideas with origins."

"Decision-making is the tortuous by-product of the Socratic method. Because at some point skepticism and questioning have to give way to personal judgment in the shape of a decision made. And that is t…"

"Sister Wendy's American Collection"

"She pointed up to a shelf of plates stacked vertically in a rack above the sink. “Choose one,” she said. I must have looked nonplussed. “Choose a plate,” she repeated. And then explained that she coll…"

"I believe in loyalty. We should respect our church, but never believe that the church has the last word. The church is saying 'this', but I believe that sooner or later 'this' will change. 'This' is n…"

"If at first you don’t succeed, don’t try exactly the same thing again. You won’t succeed, again. Instead, have a think, evaluate, correct, modify and then try again. Creativity is an iterative process…"

"Sister Wendy's Grand Tour"

"Through one entered the city like a god. Perhaps it was really too much. One scuttles in now like a rat."