What Does Creative Intelligence Feel Like? Have you ever thought about that?!

There’s a question I often sit with in my studio and it's not what I’m making, but how I know what to make.

This deeper current; the force behind technique, trend, or even talent, is what I’ve come to call creative intelligence. It’s also the foundation of how I teach. But recently, I’ve come to realise something deeper: creative intelligence isn’t just a method or a brain-based function.

It’s not about performance.

It’s not about intellect.

It’s a way of perceiving, a form of inner knowing that moves through textures, stories, and emotions.

The Feeling of Creative Intelligence

Creative intelligence doesn’t always announce itself. It arrives quietly. It shows up in the feeling you get when a color 'whispers' instead of shouts. When you don’t know why two things go together… but they just do. It's a funny thing.

In my collage work, creative intelligence reveals itself like this:

• Art where nature is given a voice and story

• A camera that turns its photos into flowers

• A sudden splash of colours and patterns

• An angel transforming into an abundance of flowers

These aren’t just aesthetic choices. They’re translations. Collective stories and dreams. They speak to something older and deeper than words - just like the on the 'Blue Lily' poster below.

The Language Behind the Language

As an artist, writer, and educational psychologist, I’ve long thought that creativity isn’t just about leadership and problem solutions, it was also an act of self-expression. It’s a conversation with something greater and deeply meaningful.

Call it the 'Imagination'. Call it 'collective memory'. Call it soul, or earth, or intuitive design. But one thing is certain: creative intelligence is not chaotic. It’s a pattern we feel, even when we can’t explain it.

It’s the intelligence that lives in myth, in folklore, in the collage of human experience. It is, in essence, all about communication. Like my sweet poster with the Pelican below. That Pelican walked into a friends studio one day, via a story full of love, and it said, I want flowers. So I gave it flowers.

Art as Emotional Intelligence

We often separate art from logic, and emotion from reason. But the most powerful art is emotionally intelligent.

It knows how to hold paradox. It dares to be quiet in a loud world. It manages to be beautiful, strong, soft, and funny all at once.

That’s the kind of intelligence I work with every time I sit down to create.

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What About You?

What does creative intelligence feel like in your life? Is it a color? A sound? A sense of knowing without words?

I’d love to hear from you either in the comments below, or by replying to my newsletter. Let’s keep this conversation alive, because I truly believe that this kind of knowing is not only personal, it’s something connects us all.

Written by Louise Sommer

Collage artist, graphic designer, and Educational Psychologist

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