Scott Berkun

Don’t be precious

Creativity is best studied creatively, and for me this means studying what the masters actually did. Not what we think they did, or what we’re told they said, but how they lived and worked everyday. And while I’m not an artist, I’ve spent a lot of time studying them including the one I’m married to.

So when I got a chance to chat with Teresa Brazen, who runs a podcast called Tea with Teresa, it was a thrill since she’s an artist (painter and filmmaker) and agreed to watch one of the coolest, and most obscure, films about creativity I know of: Picasso’s documentary, The Mysteries of Picasso (trailer here).

In this lively 20 minute conversation we explore what we both got from watching this crazy, mind-numbing and mind-blowing film, the importance of failure in art and life, how to apply ideas from the art world to everywhere else, and the challenges of creative work in the world and the workplace.

You can listen or dl the mp3 here at  Don’t be precious – my chat with Teresa.

Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the film – I suspect you’ll track it down after though :)  All of the paintings Picasso make during the film were destroyed on purpose after the film was made.

• Posted Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 9:42 am


• in creative thinking | 1 Comment » |