Are Unspoken Ideas Art?

R.G. Collingwood had interesting thoughts on art and creativity, which sparked a debate between a classmate and me. I don’t know how many of you have heard of him, but he was an English historian and philosopher in the early to mid-20^th Century. He basically thought art expressed emotions and the work of art came from the creator’s mind. Makes sense, right?  Well, he also thought even if something is created in the mind and not spoken/shared/produced/etc., it exists. A tune, for example, doesn’t need to be sung or written down in order to exist. So...if you are the one and only person who thought up the tune and never mentioned it to anyone, how does it exist? 

This classmate agreed with Collingwood’s thoughts. I did not. This person also believed those silent ideas were art. I did not. (It eventually took a turn where the classmate thought everyone is an artist, even if they just have an idea. Needless to say, I didn’t agree with that either.)

CLASSMATE: Creativity is the ability to be creative. To be creative means one has the power to create. Creativity creates! Ideas formed within one’s mind are creations from one’s mind. Why can't thoughts be art? If I thought of a fictional story, and told that story to other people, is it not just as much a work of art as if I had kept it to myself?

ME: Art is an expression or production of creativity. If it is not expressed or produced, it is not art. Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas in the production of art. Everyone is creative, not everyone is an artist.

The rest of it made my head hurt, and I’ll save you that pain by not posting it all here.

Imagine a picture you’d like to paint, but don’t tell anyone about it or actually paint it or write it down or anything. Voilà! Your idea is art and you’re an artist!

No. No, you’re not.

In my opinion, the ideas someone comes up with are not art nor do they exist if they are not spoken/shared/produced, etc.

What do you think? Do you agree with Collingwood and my classmate that unspoken ideas are art? What about art vs. creativity?

mw