Klara Holmström

Based on interviews with art teachers and students in the upper-secondary aesthetics programme, I have examined the word inspiration and the perceptions surrounding it in the subject of art. Being able to use sources of inspiration is a requirement for a passing grade in the majority of the arts classes. But what inspiration is, how it works, and how it is desired to work are not completely clear.

In conversations about inspiration, the question is often what rather than how. Where does inspiration come from? Is it a picture, an experience, a film, a song? What is more rarely discussed is what the journey looks like from role model or source of inspiration to completed work. What is it that happens in us and how does this affect creation? Is it a conscious or unconscious process? Can it be taught?