Creativity and the aging brain

Defining creativity

There are many definitions of creativity. It can be loosely defined as the ability to solve a problem by taking insights from one situation and applying it to another. Artists may do this with a design or aesthetic problem.

Frank Lloyd Wright, for instance, had the problem of how to provide lots of wall space for hanging and viewing art in the Guggenheim Museum. He did not want a building made up of small rectangular rooms. As an answer to that challenge, he designed the now famous spiral building in New York City. He was 80 when he designed this masterpiece.

Creativity does not expire

Creative thinking is a component of intelligence that does not diminish in the aging brain! There is no expiration date on creativity.

In fact, older adults have so many more experiences to draw from, they have an advantage. With such a superb inventory, they can bring thinking or strategies from one context and apply it to another.

Famous older artists

• Verdi was age 72 when he composed Otello and 76 when he wrote Falstaff.
• Picasso painted until he died at age 92.
• Bach, Stravinsky, Beethoven, and Monteverdi also composed with innovation right up to the year of their passing.

And physical handicaps do not need to get in the way.

• The Spanish painter Goya was very productive in his sixties and seventies despite deafness and needing two pairs of glasses to see.
• Georgia O'Keefe did not let failing eyesight get in her way, either. She painted well into her late nineties.

Creativity is not just for artists

We don't have to be artists or musicians to exhibit creativity. Our everyday lives provide numerous opportunities for creatively addressing problems.

Creative thinking in daily life

Dr. Mark E. Williams, author of The Art and Science of Aging Well, tells the story of an older couple in New York. They took the subway late one winter afternoon to get to their son's apartment for dinner. As they emerged from underground, they realized that the snow was coming down too hard. They would not be able to walk to their son's apartment. No one was home just yet. And all the taxis were already full with commuters. The gentleman in the couple spied a pizza parlor that advertised home delivery. They went to the restaurant and ordered a pizza to go. When the cashier asked for the address to deliver the pizza, the man asked to ride with the delivery person to their son's house. They arrived warmly and safely and with dinner in tow. That is creative thinking!

Want to increase creative opportunities for your loved one?

Contact the experts in aging:

Senior Total Health Network 562-844-1991