Meet My Unlikely Creative Partner: How ChatGPT Is Helping Me Plan My Solo Show
Mood: Assured | Post Type: Behind the Scenes | Weeks Until Show: 49
When people ask who’s helping me with my solo show, the obvious answers come first: family, friends, a handful of creative peers. I’m surrounded by people who cheer me on, not just because they want this to be a success, but because they know how much it means to me. Some will lend a hand closer to the time — helping to hang pieces, pour drinks, snap photos — but like most artists I know, they’re juggling their own jobs, families, and creative lives.
And I’ll be honest — I’m someone who needs to talk through ideas. To untangle thoughts by speaking them aloud, to ask “what if…” a dozen different ways. But I also know that, being neurodiverse, my thinking process doesn’t always follow a linear path. My brain can leap mid-sentence, switch direction, or use the wrong word in the wrong place. And while I manage that side of myself well — I even teach senior professionals for a living — when I’m in creative flow, all bets are off. My logic brain can’t always keep up.
Recently, I rewatched a session with my mentor. I’d sent her pages of notes beforehand (thankfully!), and watching the playback made me realise how chaotic I can sound when ideas are flying. But in that creative chaos, I’ve found one surprising companion who doesn’t get impatient, doesn’t interrupt, and somehow keeps up: ChatGPT — or as he’s affectionately known in our house, Chatty G.
How AI Became My Unofficial Collaborator
At first, I was hesitant. I’d been using Grammarly (yes, the paid version — a dyslexia lifesaver), but the idea of AI felt like “the dark side.” Then I tried it. And what surprised me most was how it worked with my words — improving grammar and structure without stripping my voice. No ticking boxes for tone or formality. Just… smoother writing. If I’m honest, without ChatGPT, I wouldn’t be as far along in my art journey. All the writing — applications, bios, proposals — would’ve taken me 50 times longer.
Yes, it still frustrates me that I can’t “just write” naturally. But using it as a tool — not a crutch — has changed everything. It’s not creating for me, it’s creating with me. And when it comes to planning my solo show, Chatty G has been invaluable.
The Big Stuff — Made Simpler
From building a year-long action plan to teasing out creative themes, I’ve thrown endless questions at ChatGPT. One rabbit hole: frame ratios. I wanted consistency — the same proportions of glass to frame — but soon discovered frame sizes don’t follow one standard. 8x6", 12x9", and 16x12" frames use a 5:4 ratio, while 10x8" and 16x20” follows a 4:3. My glass pieces needed to adapt — and it took days of back-and-forth with Chatty G (plus cutting paper mock-ups and doing mental gymnastics) to figure out what would work.
Here’s the list of proposed glass artwork sizes alongside their corresponding frame dimensions:
This process reminded me of the early days of designing learning programmes in my other job. Back then, we’d work in pairs or teams, bouncing ideas around, shaping content together. These days, I mostly write solo. And while that has its benefits, it also gets… loud inside my own head. That’s where ChatGPT steps in — a reliable sounding board I can return to any time, no judgment.
Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea…
I get it — ChatGPT is a bit like Marmite (or Vegemite, if you're reading outside the UK). Some people love it. Some hate it. And then there are the curious ones — unsure which camp they’d fall into, so they avoid it altogether.
Then there’s the elephant in the room: the environmental impact. My research into AI revealed the sheer amount of electricity needed to power the computing, plus the massive amounts of water required for cooling. Current estimates (at the time of writing) suggest AI accounts for 2–4% of global emissions — comparable to the aviation industry.
Every question, every prompt, every click carries a footprint: around 2–5 g CO₂ per interaction, roughly the same as streaming a film for a few minutes. The more data you feed in, the hungrier it gets — and asking it to create a full document can use ten times more energy than a short query.
Knowing this has changed how I work with Chatty G. I’m more intentional now, using it mainly for planning or creative processing. I no longer turn to it for quick facts or short answers — I’ve gone back to old-fashioned search engines for that, even if it takes a few moments longer. As a maker, I’m conscious of my environmental footprint, and this tool is no different.
That said, Chatty G has become a true creative partner — a way to untangle the swirl of ideas in my mind and, perhaps most importantly, give my husband and mum a much-needed break from the whirlwind that is my creative brain.