Dancing at the Edge of Knowing

Artist Katie Paquette working at Fine Line Studios in Bridgeton, MO, USA.

In recent posts, I’ve been writing about creativity as a strategy - something we use to give form to the unknown, to approach ambiguity not with fear, but with curiosity. Today, I want to take a closer look at where this creative strategy lives: right at the edge of what we know and what we don’t yet know.

That border is where creativity stretches out its arms. It’s not a fixed line, but a shifting edge - sometimes blurred, sometimes sharp - where the known meets the possible. Creativity dances along this threshold, inviting in new experiences that might eventually become new knowledge. This isn't knowledge gained from instruction alone, but from personal, embodied experience: the sensation of manipulating a new material, the surprise of a technique behaving differently than expected, or the realization that even “mistakes” can open unexpected paths.

In Supported Studios, this edge is not only honored - it’s actively supported. Artists are encouraged to explore, to try something new without the pressure for it to be “good” or “successful.” A new material might be picked up once and never returned to. A technique might be tested and abandoned. But none of it is wasted. Each encounter builds out the artist’s personal library of experience - an evolving, intuitive knowledge base made up of textures, gestures, reactions, and choices.

And when this kind of exploration is supported consistently, something bigger happens: the artist begins to broaden the very boundary of their creative world. They build trust in their ability to approach newness, to shape ambiguity into something tangible. Over time, they become not just more skilled, but more fluent - able to speak in the language of materials and ideas with growing confidence.

In this way, creativity isn’t just a means of expression. It’s a mode of growth. It expands the edge of what we know and brings more of the world within reach.