Lorne Buchman’s New Book: How Does Uncertainty Lead to Creative Discovery?

Dr. Lorne M. Buchman (Photos – artcenter)

Lorne Buchman, president of ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, weaves vivid stories and conversations in his new book, Make to Know.

By News Desk

The book features a collection of probing conversations with prominent artists about the transformative nature of the creative process. Buchman weaves a cohesive theory mapping the connections between the act of making and creative inspiration itself.

The ideas that fuel the book took root early in Buchman’s tenure at ArtCenter. As he immersed himself in the ArtCenter’s culture of hands-on learning by making, he saw students produce spectacular works of art and design, well beyond their experience level while being thrown into the metaphorical deep end creatively. Buchman began an investigation into the very source of creative inspiration that took him around the country, across borders, and into the studios of some of the world’s most influential creators. Those experiences are presented in Make to Know.

“The majority of makers I have interviewed for this book do not see their work as the product of predetermined vision,” writes Lorne Buchman. “Instead, they recognize that what they produce evolves from the process of making itself… These are artists and designers who talk about how they make to know. This is a book of stories of writers filling blank sheets of paper, designers solving complex problems, installation artists engaging space and materials, and musicians and actors improvising composition and performance. It explores how artists talk about what the creative process itself might reveal.”

Make to Know, published by Thames & Hudson this month (Oct., 2021,) is a book full of insights that will change the way readers think about innovation and self-expression.