Originality...or Not

"What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original."

"If we're free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it."

From Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You about Being Creative, pp. 7 & 8.

The Meaning of Craft

"...There is an inherent pleasure in making. We might call this joie de faire (like joie de vivre) to indicate that there is something important, even urgent, to be said about the sheer enjoyment of making something exist that didn't exist before, of using one's own agency, dexterity, feelings and judgment to mold, form, touch, hold and craft physical materials, apart from anticipating the fact of its eventual beauty, uniqueness or usefulness."
Ellen Dissanayake, "The Pleasure and Meaning of Making", American Craft, April/May 1995