Imagine

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Chauvet Cave Painting, Ardèche, France, 30,000-28,000 BC

Before people invented money, before cars, stock markets or books, before religion—before anything was ever created by humans, there was imagination. Imagination is what distinguishes humans among animals and is still the key to our prosperity and survival. Imagination is the engine of creativity. Without it, humans could not have made the first simple tools. There had to be an idea in the mind first. Then a picture, maybe drawn in the dirt with a stick. From that first drawing, our culture and society has literally poured out of our heads and into the world. But, without someone to do that drawing—to make the imagination visible—and do it well, no man-made thing can even be manufactured today. Even computers can’t imagine things. They can’t visualize a thing which does not exist. Only humans can perform this amazing, powerful feat. So do not despair during these exceedingly weird and stressful times. Artists have…