Creative Magicians
Creative Magicians aren’t as common as you would think. Many magicians purchase tricks and ideas that are created by a select few. Like any creative endeavor, it takes time and effort to come up with new ideas. Magic tricks leave little room for error because if they don’t work, the magician has failed in the primary task.
How Magicians Become Creative
Every magician who creates or invents their own tricks have a process that works well for themselves. Some are better at streamlining difficult sleight-of-hand. Others create profound plots that engage an audience on a more emotional level. We admire creators for their unique way of approaching the problem of making magic.
Cultivating Creativity
This year I had the honour of being interviewed by Eric Yuhasz for his brand new book, Cultivating Creativity. Eric is a school teacher who also has a passion for magic. He wanted to discover some of the methods and processes for creating magic by the top in the field. Each chapter in his book features the wisdom of magic creators. He does a deep dive for every performer and distills the ideas, strategies and insights of each performer.
Chapter 11
Usually, in business, chapter 11 is not a good thing. For me it is! Eric Yuhasz, in his book, Cultivating Creativity, dedicated a chapter of describing my creative process. I love how Eric took the transcript from our interview and translated it into amazing words on the page. His style of writing is very engaging for the reader looking to add to their creative toolkit. In my chapter, we discuss tricks I’ve created and also delved into the reasons for creating tricks. As a performer it is important to express our own point of view and so each trick gets tailored to achieve that goal.
A Cactus In A Balloon
In magic circles, the trick I’m most well-known for is magically putting a cactus inside a balloon. This trick alone has literally taken me around the world! The idea started from a photograph I saw of comedian, Steve Martin, holding a cactus in one hand and a balloon in the other. I thought it would be cool to put a cactus in a balloon. Some of the creative process to bring this idea from a dream to reality is described in Eric’s book.
Creative Magicians
From reading the book, the one constant from all of the performers is that it takes persistence to transform an idea into reality. Rarely, does the idea succeed the first time. Most of my creative output has gone through many iterations until it is ready to present in front of a paying audience. The reactions to the new magic always make the effort worthwhile. I love creating and look forward to the new creations that lie ahead on my magic path.