3-Eva Cohen: Creative Process

I think my creative process is somewhat similar to what Alex described, at least in terms of how ideas come to me. Said ideas/the little sparks that grow into bigger things are always spontaneously occurring, usually in response to different kinds of outside stimuli. Sometimes they're in direct response to specific material objects, like for instance when I found some miniature plastic doll hands and feet and immediately wanted to string them together like little candies in a necklace. Other times I'll respond to snatches of a narrative, trying to somehow represent something I've experienced, a snippet of conversation, a story I've heard. Trying to glean more abstract patterns in my working and thinking, it seems like some overriding impulses definitely govern which ideas strike me as most interesting, important, or worth developing. I like most art I do to serve a function, and generally try and make it so that a project can be functional in my eyes...lots of creative energy goes into developing a function for something/arriving at a good solution to a creative problem posed in the form of a commission (art for money=instrumental/functional in and of itself). The imbuing of functionality might concretely occur in the process of deciding that a painting I want to make should be on a pair of shoes (wearable art--hot shoes!), or could come more abstractly in the fact that I choose to make a comic that tells a funny story and could make a good birthday present/be submitted to a magazine, etc. I like to conserve and recycle things, and spend a lot of time thinking about how I can use junk/materials in my home in new ways. In a more metaphorical way, I think I also like to conserve/preserve, seeking to record and elaborate on memories of people, places, and events as a means of cementing these memories and and their meaningful textures/emotional quality. I also like being made to respond to specific prompts and stimuli; I do some poster-design work, and enjoy the process of listening to a group's songs, identifying dominant sonic and emotional qualities, and seeking to represent this musical texture in a visual way that is eye-catching, reads clearly, and serves the functional purpose of promoting a show and 'branding' (though I don't like that ad lingo) a particular band/rapper/etc.