Martin Filler's "Makers of Modern Architecture: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry" is a biographical survey of mainstream architects, in particular their personal relationships. The true creative lives and breathes their work, learning from those they encounter, and succeeding with the support of a constant, a rock; something familiar. Consciously, but more often subconsciously, we use these influences and comforts to make artistic decisions. Only to find out later, we had a common thread all along.

The familiar was always a foundational argument in graduate school. 'We' as art historians are drawn to particular genres because it is familiar. As humans we draw inspiration from similar areas of thought, concepts, and visual stimulation because it is all familiar; "we like what we know."

My struggle as a creative individual is to develop this constant; or at least recognize my constant. I am often so aware of my decisions that any continuous planning and obsession with strategy inhibits what should be an organic process. I tell myself, remain true to familiar thought to find that thread in my creative thinking.

BIOGRAPHY (noun):
1) the story of a real person's life written by someone other than that person
[ORIGIN: Late Greek biographia, from Greek bi- + -graphia -graphy; first known use in 1683]

FAMILIAR (noun)
1) a member of the household of a high official
2) one who is often seen and well-known; especially : an intimate associate
3) a spirit often embodied in an animal and held to attend and serve or guard the person
4a) one who is well-acquainted with something, 4b) one who frequents a place
[First known use in 13th century]

Sol LeWitt
Five Towers, 1986
Wood and white paint structure
The Whitney Museum of American Art

Photograph © 2009 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York