Brewing Minds | The Creative Flow

Where does creativity come from—and what happens when something gets in its way?

After four decades immersed in the creative process, including 20 years as a producer helping artists turn ideas into finished records, Barb Morrison has seen the creative journey from both sides: as an artist and as someone helping other artists bring their work to life.

In this talk, Barb explores some of the forces that can make creating difficult: the loss of artistic innocence, social pressure, fear of judgment, the critical voice in our heads, procrastination and creative blocks. Drawing on their own experience, stories from a career spent working with artists, and ideas from research into creativity and human behaviour, Barb looks at why we can become our own biggest obstacle—and how we can learn to move past those obstacles.

From finding your creative voice to overcoming the fear of putting your work into the world, this is an exploration of what it takes to keep creating when doubt inevitably gets in the way.

You don't have to be an artist to recognise the struggle. We all have something we want to make, do or become.

What You'll Discover:

 

• Artistic innocence — What happens to our natural creative impulses as we grow up, become more self-conscious and start worrying about how our work will be judged?
• Social pressure: the prison of thinking small — How expectations, comparison and the fear of judgment can influence what we create—and the choices we make about our creative lives.
• The negative inner voice — Understanding the critical messages that can hold us back, where they come from, and how we can learn to respond to them differently.
• Getting past creative blocks — What happens when we procrastinate, lose confidence or feel unable to move forward, and what can help us get back into the creative process.
• Your artistic legacy — What do you want to create, leave behind or be remembered for—and what might be stopping you from doing it now?

Speaker: Barb Morrison (they/them) | Award-winning songwriter and record producer

American recording artist, songwriter, record producer and author, their career spans more than four decades in music and the arts. They began as a professional musician in New York’s 1980s punk scene, performing at venues such as CBGB and sharing stages with artists including the Ramones, Green Day, HOLE, Johnny Thunders and Cherry Vanilla.

For the past 20 years, they have worked as a record producer, helping artists turn ideas into finished records and collaborating with internationally recognised artists including Blondie, Rufus Wainwright, Franz Ferdinand and LP. A Top 5 Billboard dance-chart songwriter and Platinum record producer, they have experienced creativity from both sides: as an artist developing their own work and as a producer helping others bring creative ideas to life.

They are also the author of the memoir Bottoming for God, which was mentioned by Elizabeth Gilbert in her forthcoming book All the Way to the River.