Presentation: Learning from the Process of Putting it Together

I worked on putting together a powerpoint presentation for an event this fall at the Jordan River Arts Council show, Rare Threads.  As I sorted through my photos of the steps involved to make a batik piece, I was taken with the same reaction my customers have had after I explain how I make a batik, which is always, "Wow, that is a lot of work!"  Odd that when I am doing it, I don't "see" the effort, the planning or all the steps involved, I just, "do" them.  That, I believe, goes back to the most important concept of the arts and the creative process. It is a good thing I don't "see" the effort or work when I'm engaged in creating them because the goal is experiencing the process, not the piece or the result.  I find it somewhat amusing that after 35 years of creating so many pieces that I don't even have a clue how many I have made, that it is only now, with the advent of doing this blog, photographing some pieces step by step, that while I have taught the importance of embracing process not product to my students, I'm "seeing" and understanding that concept in a new and enlightened way.  To truly reap the multiple benefits of the creative process and there are many, all one has to do is surrender to the process.