Twyla Tharp Quotes

First thought is best in Art, second in other matters.

Conception, my boy, fundamental brain work, is what makes all the difference in art.

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.

If you're always thinking about someone else's work, about the tradition you're working in, how can you possibly make anything good?

O thou sculptor, painter, poet! Take this lesson to thy heart: That is best which lieth nearest; Shape from that thy work of art.

People frequently believe the creative life is grounded in fantasy. The more difficult truth is that creativity is grounded in reality, in the particular, the focused, the well observed or specifically imagined.

I was meticulously copying other art and then I realized I could just use a camera and put my time into an idea instead.

An artist must have imagination. An artist who does not use his imagination is a mechanic.

To be an artist, you have to nurture the things that most people discard.

Artistic inspiration ignores the law of supply and demand.

Indeed, an engineer designing a structure is not unlike an artist painting one. Both start with nothing but talent, experience, and inspiration. The fresh piece of paper on the drawing board is as blank as the newly stretched piece of canvas.

The creative act amazes me. Whether it's poetry, whether it's music, it's an amazing process, and it has something to do with bringing forth the old out into the world to create and to bring forth that which will rejuvenate.

Art revolves around creating something that isn't there.

Good artists copy, great artists steal.

Somebody informed me recently that the key to every art, from writing to gardening to sculpture, is creativity. I beg to differ.

You cannot possibly invent painting all by yourself.

In my experience a painting is not made with colors and paint at all. I don't know what a painting is; who knows what sets off even the desire to paint?

If Monsieur X spent an eternity studying treatises on optics, he would never paint 'La Grande Jatte.'

An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have.

I like trying to be creative.

Sometimes I think of creativity or art as this well that we all draw from.

We're all inspired by what has come before us, but hope to use the inspiration to create our own. That's the artist's journey. It's a pretty amazing path.

Sometimes I think creativity is magic; it's not a matter of finding an idea, but allowing the idea to find you.

The artist does not really create; he discovers.

You know a trillion times more about art than me. But I’ve learned that it isn’t necessary to know all that much. You just make what you wanna see, right? It’s a game, right? It’s like being paid for dreaming.