Evaluating is being in first gear of “Let’s Do This” [but no one drives all the way in first gear].
Evaluating is testing and tossing.
Evaluating is sometimes going back-to-the-drawing board.
Evaluation is the 4th Step in my newly acclaimed “5-Step Creative Process” [formerly 4 steps]. This step acts as a necessary bridge between Illumination [your aha idea] and Implementation [you are planning on an end piece]. The goal at the end of the Evaluation step is to answer the question, “Is this worth doing?”
Evaluation was promoted to its own step after some in-trench epiphanies with our Creative Core Team for “4th Fridays.” After we brainstormed installation art ideas, it became necessary to figure it out “more” by material testing and micro testing the connections and beyond. Without this step, we would most certainly fall apart on the real project in areas we couldn’t foresee without evaluating and testing.
Evaluation used to live in the beginning of the Implementation Step, but it is not truly Implementation. Evaluation is merely testing to see if we are willing to move forward to Implementation. Remember, the end goal for the Evaluation step is to answer the question, “Is this worth doing?” If the answer is yes, you move on to the Implementation step.
Evaluation success should not lead us to premature feelings of accomplishment of the end piece. There will be stops along the way once we move to Implementation to re-evaluate and move forward. Count on this and learn to embrace it. It happens… all the time.
Pulling back the lens, every step of The Creative Process is important. We must commit to the whole process so we cultivate it for freshness, keep it moving forward and don’t drift apart. After all, you can’t get “there” consistently [there = consistently producing growing artwork that is moving in a direction you want to go], without going through the whole process, The Creative Process.
