Sir Ken Robinson On Creativity

Some time ago (2007) I watched Sir Ken Robinson on YouTube, talking about creativity, and was blown away by his presentation (it was taped at  TED). This man offers serious ideas, but with a charm and humor that makes them entertaining.  One of the stories he shared was that of a little girl drawing during an art exercise. When asked by the teacher to describe what it was, she replied “I am drawing a picture of  God.”

“But no-one knows what God looks like,”  the teacher insisted.

The six-year old was not deterred: ”They will in a minute.”

Don’t you love that innocent confidence?

So when I found another talk (Creatively Speaking: Sir Ken Robinson on the Power of the Imaginative Mind part 1 and part 2) on Edutopia,  I listened and watched eagerly. Robinson is an astute observer, and an engaging speaker.  This man is a champion for creativity and the imagination, and he presents a terrific case for how important they are, not only for personal enjoyment, but for society. Reform of education, he insists, is not enough. It needs to be transformed. Creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy, and it should be a centerpiece of education, an operational idea. it is vitally important to train people to have good ideas!

Wikipedia offers the following information about Edutopia:

Edutopia is the magazine, Web site, and video documentaries published by The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF). Founded in 1991 by filmmaker George Lucas, the Foundation documents and disseminates information about exemplary programs in K-12 schools to help spread these practices nationwide. A nonprofit organization, GLEF serves their mission through the creation of media: films, books, documentaries, the magazine Edutopia, e-newsletters, and their website.

While at the TED site, I also found an amazing presentation by Pattie Maes about metainformation, gathered by “a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. ” I felt like I was watching something based on an excerpt from a sci-fi novel. What’s your reaction?  Could the use of this device cause atrophy of the brain (if you don’t use it, you lose it)? Seriously, can you imagine what a boon this could be for someone suffering from the effects of dementia? Memory loss? (Menopause?)

Elena Ray’s Project in Progress

I have written about her before, because gazing at her photo based illustration makes the spirit within me flutter its wings. Elena Ray’s works are evocative, subtle, multi-layered. And she is humble about the amazing way she intertwines her images, tells her stories, suggests and entices, insisting that:

The creative process comes through us, not from us. We are creativity.

She channels creativity so effectively because her ego steps aside. Her arms are perpetually outstretched, ready to receive. Take a look at this, or this. Revel in her entire project in progress. It’s definitely worth your attention.

Thank you for these, Elena.

It reminds me that doing art is not just about the work: the right techniques, mastering color theory, nailing down the principles and elements of design. These are important, of course, but what the artist is becoming as she does the work, what she is mindful of, aware of, awakening to . . . . these are the less tangible, but every bit as real benefits of art making.

Quilts Incarnate: a Solo Show

It’s official!

I will have a solo show in the gallery at Greenwood Quiltery October 3-31, 2008. The opening is on Saturday, October 4th, and I’ll be there from 2 until 4 pm. I named the show Quilts Incarnate, and being a writer and teacher, I felt the need to include a subtitle, explaining what my title meant (sigh). So, are you ready for this? Quilts Incarnate: celebrating the evolvement from conception to manifestation. It will include a range of mixed media art quilts.

I am captivated by that process of conceptualizing, imagining, and where it comes from. A gift from the universe? God? the angels? My own brain? A combination? A mystery? But once that concept has been conceived, ah, then comes that totally absorbing, joyful, crazy, wonderful process of bringing it into manifestation. One could say manifeastation, because it is much like preparing a feast, for the eyes, mind, and spirit. But process doesn’t quite cover it; there are so many! Art processes, in mixed media, cannot be explained in a moment, and then there are all those delicious things happening in your body as you manifest the piece. Hands are working their magic, so many gestures, so many moves, but the whole body is involved. And the mind! The mind is sending off synapses like firecrackers, and the spirit is glowing like a sun, or at least a moon.

As I said, process really isn’t adequate, and evolution provided another word ending in “ion,” which is good in terms of forming a trinity (one of my favorite symbols) but rather awkward to say (All those sh sounds at once probably give away the fact that I’m also a librarian). Hence, I chose evolvement. It’s a word that makes you think, and slow down. E-v  o  l  v  e-ment.

I have now employed three paragraphs to further clarify a title that may already be too long.

My main point is, you are invited! Celebrate with me! Celebrate creativity (which is evolvement from conception to manifestation). Clever, eh? (I’m Canadian). I snuck it in again; snuck it in like a woman with a suitcase-sized handbag who comes down a narrow aisle in an airplane, with the weighty weapon swinging from her shoulder on your side.  

I shall stop and change the subject. In reference to the little bags I used to make, here is an example:

Amulet bag, cotton, embroidered, beaded, crocheted, clay element

Another Revelation . . .

Just the other day I posted a new piece of work. I commented that I wasn’t sure if it was finished. Today, I went to the edge of the abyss, as Carla O’Connor would say: I completely covered one side of my paper quilt with white, so I would have to repaint it. This is the kind of risk that, O’Connor teaches, actually encourages us to grow as artists. It’s when we “let go” of the product, of being afraid to ruin the piece as it is so far, and just get lost in the process. It’s very freeing.

We push ourselves to learn by capitalizing on our “mistakes.” We might even make them on purpose! We might cover up a problem area, or an area that just doesn’t sing. We might get really brave and paint out a great area, or add a color somewhere that we are sure will not work with the surrounding colors. Adding or subtracting such elements with a flourish can add to the drama, and make it exhilarating, as opposed to terrifying. Then we have to solve the conundrums we have created. We have challenged ourselves, dared ourselves by throwing down our own gauntlet. Next, we have to pick it up. ACCEPT that challenge! Accept it from the inside out, letting our intuition inform our hands, feeling the energy flow. When the flow lessens or subsides, we summon our analytical mind, study what we have done according to the elements and principles of design.

It’s a great strategy. Our mistakes are not cause for despair about our artistic ability. They are our impetus for improvement, our opportunities for invoking creativity and originality!

Let me show you the before and after of Revelation (click on after when you reach the old post).

=

Revelation: after the "abyss"

Au revoire, ma soeur

Creativity leaps when you work with a compatible companion.

I’ve been writing lately about my experience with my sister, Barb, during a recent visit, where we created art together. As I noted in the title, creativity leaps when in the presence of a compatible companion. Ideas were shooting out of our heads like firecrackers. I’ll have more to say about that later.

Previously, I had shown Barb’s ripped, cut, sewn watercolor canvas. I have included it again, below.

Ripped, cut, and sewn watercolor canvas

Here is her completed piece:

Barb's completed piece: acrylic on watercolor paper

Barb described working on this as “painting eight small, connected paintings.” Interesting. Perhaps it’s a different way to do a series, or we could call it an octych. In any case, she found the method fascinating, and is now indebted to the Fran Skiles’ art process, as am I.

One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity. ~Edward de Bono

Milagro deMeng

How could I write about shrine artists and leave out Michael deMeng? He specializes in “making the unsacred into something seemingly sacred.” Interesting word, “seemingly.” Obstensibly, apparently, seemingly all cast doubt on the authenticity of the item in question. Of course, deMeng uses objects in his assemblages that make hilarious and outrageous connections between the sacred and profane (such as his lightbulb shrine–a “better idea” in shrine making, and his “Head Sea Scrolls” made with toilet paper dispensers–certainly more fun than, say, the Dead Sea Scrolls, unless you are a religious scholar).

There is, however, an artist to whom the word seemingly simply would not apply. Her name is Dale Devereux Copeland. This woman does smart art. I’m not trying to sound cute about her work–there is nothing cute about it. Her work is intriguing and thought provoking, as are the comments she provides about process, inspiration, subject matter. And despite, or perhaps because of, a penetrating intelligence, Copeland has chosen an optimistic approach to life:

People have been puzzled by the contrast: my optimism and enthusiasm for living seen against my work, which finds its beauty in images of fear, death, and the follies of the living. To me there is no contradiction: given the horrors, the brevity and the pain, an intense joy is the only rational response; dance till they drop you, exult while you can.

I couldn’t agree more–why waste one’s brief dance on earth being miserable? I prefer to explore beauty, creativity and joy. Why solicit ugliness, destruction and depression? Shallow? I think not. There is nothing shallow about joy. I’m exulting with you, Dale!