Creative States of Mind

Drawing on interviews with professional artists, this book takes the reader inside the creative process. The author, an artist and a psychotherapist, uses psychoanalytic theory to shed light on fundamental questions such as the origin of new ideas and the artist's state of mind while working.

Patricia Townsend is an artist, working with video, photography and installation, and a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Her artworks have been exhibited widely and her writing on psychoanalysis and the artist's process has appeared in a variety of publications. She recently completed a PhD at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London.

Foreword by Ken Wright Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: The Pre-sense Chapter 2: Preparation, Research and Gestation Chapter 3: Illumination and the Idea Chapter 4: Working with the Medium Chapter 5: The Artist's State of Mind Chapter 6: Play and Playing Chapter 7: Creativity, Aggression and Destructiveness Chapter 8: Spaces and Frames Chapter 9: The Artist's Internal Frame Chapter 10: Out into the World Chapter 11: Recurring Themes Postscript Appendix: Archiving of Interviews Bibliography