The Fearless Designer

I got a care package a couple weeks ago; among the bubble wrap, Orbit gum, and Swedish fish was a glass jar filled with little folded up paper stars. My instructions given to me from my family: Open a star whenever you're missing us, it'll give you a little piece of home you can carry with you for the rest of your day.

So today, I unfolded a little yellow star and came upon this quote in my sister's writing:

For those of you who are scrambling for your reading glasses... "To live a creative life, you must lose the fear of being wrong."

Wow Amy, what a saying. As artists, we all want to live and breathe creativity. But don't we also want to be told we're right? "Well yes, of course" is usually the immediate answer. But here's the tricky thing: with art, there is no right or wrong.

Jeremy Shellhorn, one of Monday night's lecturers, gave this scenario: In your calculus class, you ask what you're supposed to do for homework and your professor will spit out the assignment in a matter of seconds. In your design class, you ask your professor what to do for homework, and well, they tell you the requirements and hand you the reins.

When I first walked into BDS 101 I'll be honest. I was intimidated. I thought to myself, "Katie, you're in the big leagues, University of Kansas by golly, you've got to leave your mark" I think that fear resonated in my art. So this quote, I'm talking as my own. I need to lose the fear of being wrong and dive head first into the creative life. No fear. No regrets. No looking back. Thank you Amy Whiteman for keeping this sister of yours on track.