CREATIVE TOOLKIT: 5 BOOKS TO NURTURE CREATIVE GROWTH

Echo Studios is a physical and metaphysical space that brings together creative minds, practices and ways of engaging with the world. In our mission to encourage creative development and alternative ways of thinking, we continually engage with art theory and concepts in a critical and intentional way. This is our essential reading list to foster artistic and spiritual expansion.

1. The Creative Act, Rick Rubin

The Creative Act is something of a creative bible - a philosophy for how to connect with yourself and the world. In this widely beloved book, Rubin charts the small daily acts that speak to a larger creative philosophy and way of being in the world. Through beautiful writing about the creative act as a transcendent way of experiencing and connecting with the world, Rubin illuminates the artistic pathway as one that is open to all of us.

Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable.

Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn't, he has learned that being an artist isn't about your specific output; it's about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone's life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.

2. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron

A guide for creativity and artistic recovery, The Artist’s Way centres on unlocking creativity. From finding time to nurture your “creative consciousness” and methods for opening creative doors, many great artists swear by this book.

Julia Cameron guides readers in uncovering problems and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to open up opportunities for growth and self-discovery. A revolutionary programme for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

3. The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World, Jennifer Higgie

In a system which has often excluded women from the art world, spiritualism has offered a different means of expression. Art critic Jennifer Higgie explores a series of artists through history and their creative connections to other realms. An open-minded book about wonder, creativity, and finding a home in the metaphysical.

In an illuminating blend of memoir and art history, The Other Side explores the lives and work of a group of extraordinary women artists. From the twelfth-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen and the nineteenth-century spiritualist Georgiana Houghton to the pioneering Hilma af Klint, these women all - in their own unique ways - shared the same goal: to communicate with, and learn from, other dimensions.

Weaving in and out of their myriad lives, Jennifer Higgie considers the solace of ritual, the gender exclusions of art history, the contemporary relevance of myth, the boom in alternative ways of understanding the world and the impact of spiritualism on feminism and contemporary art.

4. The Artist’s Journey: On Making Art & Being an Artist, Kent Nerburn

Emotionally raw and insightful, The Artist’s Journey is a practical and spiritual exploration of the artistic experience. It is a guide for navigating the often challenging and unboundaried territory of creating and creativity.

The creative life is not easy. From the outside it can seem romantic and exciting, but in fact it is a unique journey filled with doubts and dreams and complex challenges that most people never imagine. From the obvious issues of making a living and dealing with rejection, to more rarified questions like how to know when a work is finished and the delicate balance between inspiration and craft, the creative artist - whether writer, painter, actor, or dancer - lives in a world of profound questions and subtle choices.

5. Steal Like An Artist, Austin Kleon

A quick, digestible guide that will help to motivate you in your practice. This is a book about learning from others, creative evolution, and creating despite uncertainty and fear.

Nothing is original, so embrace influence, school yourself through the work of others, remix and reimagine to discover your own path. Follow interests wherever they take you-what feels like a hobby may turn into you life's work. Forget the old cliché about writing what you know: Instead, write the book you want to read, make the movie you want to watch. And finally, stay Smart, stay out of debt, and risk being boring in the everyday world so that you have the space to be wild and daring in your imagination and your work.