the creative endeavor...

"A man becomes creative, whether he is an artist or scientist, when he finds a new unity in the variety of nature. He does so by finding a likeness between things which were not thought alike before." –– Jacob Bronowski

"To develop a complete mind, study the science of art, study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else."–– Leonardo Da Vinci

"This combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought." –– Albert Einstein

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences than other people.’

— Steve Jobs

In response that last quote, I suggest that it is not the number of experiences that a person has, but the quality of the experiences that matters. If everyone were to come from standardized schooling, with each child forced to adhere to the same standard, and each receiving the same scripted lessons, American creativity would be brought to an absolute stand-still. And yet, that kind of scripted environment is exactly what American politicians and educational policy makers are demanding. 

If a normal person were to seek to discover his or her own creativity, perhaps the least fertile grounds would be in a normal American public school in which children are all induced to think alike and know the same stuff.

The image above is of my mix and match veneering technique, making the lids for what I hope will become Japanese puzzle boxes.

Make, fix, create... and teach others to do likewise.