Flash Forward

February 2, 2009 by Leave a Comment

When I first started this blog, one of my goals was to highlight creativity in the international, national, and local spotlight. I realize I have been a little lax in the last area.

I hope this post makes up for that. On Friday, I attended the opening of Flash Forward at SPACES here in Cleveland. Well, me and about several hundred other also people attended. This is the first time I’ve been to an opening here that was so crowded I could barely enjoy the art.

However, I did have a chance to check out works by two up and coming artists, each who use traditional materials in very non-traditional and creative ways.

The first is Jon Nathaniel Cotterman, a local artist working in glass. What is so interesting about his work lies in the way he deconstructs glass goblets. Cotterman reuses the pieces to create box-like sculptures transforming their original decorative and utilitarian purpose into art.


The other artist is Yumiko Goto. She works in ceramics and her work is based on nature. One of her most stunning pieces is an installation of many ceramic containers nestled together to create a new larger piece of art that you can move around and admire.

  • What could you create out of ordinary materials?
Filed Under: Artists, Contemporary Art, Imagination

Seth Godin on Creativity

January 29, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Earlier this week marketing guru and blogger, Seth Godin made an interesting creativity analogy: creativity as a stretched sweatshirt.

His claim is that creativity is about getting to the edges, much like every time you wear your favorite sweatshirt it stretches and the edges become larger.
So why is this useful to creatively solving problems? Here’s Godin’s take:

1. If you want to be creative, understand that you’ll need to get to the edges, even if the edges have moved. Being creative means immediately going to the place the last person left off.

2. If you are “not creative,” if you are the sort of person that gets uncomfortable being creative or has been persuaded you’re not capable, don’t worry about it. Just stretch the sweatshirt in your spare time, watch the creative things other people have done, keep up with the state of the art. Then, when you do your “not creative” thing, most people will think it’s pretty creative indeed.

  • This week try to find your creative edges.

Image from SethGodin.com

Filed Under: Ideas, Problem Solving

European Year of Creativity and Innovation

January 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment

This year marks the beginning of a celebration of creativity and innovation in Europe. Just launched this week in Prague, the goal is:

“to raise awareness of importance of creativity and innovation for personal, social and economic development, to disseminate good practices, stimulate education and research, and promote policy debate and development.”

The year will address a variety of issues around creativity and innovation including:

  • fostering artistic and other forms of creativity through pre-school, primary and secondary education including vocational streams, as well as non-formal and informal education
  • cultural diversity as a source of creativity and innovation
  • promoting innovation as the route to sustainable development
  • regional and local development strategies based on creativity and innovation

Several conferences and events are planned throughout Europe during 2009 to spark discussions on creativity and innovation and to promote its benefits.

Filed Under: Creativity, Innovation

When Are You Most Creative?

December 31, 2008 by 2 Comments

So, when is your most creative time? I’ve discovered that mine is at night. More like the middle of the night. I’ve found that I do my best thinking and come up with more ideas when I wake up in the middle of the night. It’s not then that the ideas percolate, but rather during the time that I am tossing and turning, trying to get back to sleep.

In the past, like most people, I would lie awake worrying. But then last year, I started to use that time more productively. I began actively focusing on ideas I was working through and that’s when the real creativity started.

I’ve come up with some of my best ideas during this time. And of course, I get up and jot down notes, because I know that once morning comes, they might be gone for good.

  • Read this article to find out how to maximize when you are most creative.
Filed Under: Creativity, Ideas, Inspiration

How to Think Creatively

December 23, 2008 by Leave a Comment

It’s a skill that all of us use, yet a skill all of us could probably improve. Thinking creatively can help us not only create art but guide us through our daily lives. That’s why I love this list of 50 Ways to Think Creatively.

Here are my favorites from the list:

 

  1. Be curious – wonder about things
  2. Surround yourself with diverse types of people
  3. Live in terms of exploration and discovery, not just solutions or right answers
  4. Use visual, metaphorical and analogical thinking – not just analytical
  5. Embrace, rather than avoid, ambiguity as an essential part of the creative process

Plus some that I plan to explore and experiment with in the new year:

  1. Take improv theater classes to feel more comfortable creating in real time
  2. Use different types of music in the background while thinking
  3. Surround yourself with life-giving and inspiring people, images and objects
  4. Meditate – cultivate presence and mindfulness
  5. Give your Creative Self space, time and attention
  • What are your favorite ways to think creatively?

Margan Zajdowicz image

Filed Under: Business Creativity, Creativity Techniques

Keeping a Visual Journal

December 11, 2008 by Leave a Comment

One of things that I am not too good at is keeping a journal. When I have tried to keep one, it usually lasts no more than a few months at a time. That’s why I am so impressed with people who are diligent at documenting their lives and even more so with those who keep a visual journal.

This article on local artist/designer Karen Blados gave me new hope and inspiration that even I could start a visual journal. I think I will add this to my list of things I want to try to incorporate into my creative practice in 2009.

  • Start your own visual journal today!

Karen Blados Image

Filed Under: Ideas, Imagination

Looking for Inspiration?

December 1, 2008 by Leave a Comment


Writing prompts? Project starters? Story beginnings? and other random idea generators?

Filed Under: Ideas, Inspiration

Your Brain on Creativity

November 24, 2008 by Leave a Comment

A recent article in the Times asks the question, Can Everyone be an Einstein? The article focuses on the relatively new discipline of neuroscience to explore the ways in which we can mold our own brains, focusing on mental exercises to improve everything from intelligence to creativity.

One of the things that intrigues scientists is the ‘aha’ moment in creativity that is often referred to as insight. Such a revelation usually arises from what scientists deem as a pattern of thinking where associations are made between seemingly dissimilar thoughts.

So, with that in mind, answer this question: how many uses can you think of for a brick? Or this: what would happen if people no longer needed to sleep?These were questions asked in psychological tests specifically designed to measure creativity. They have been attacked as far too subjective. But they do point to a crucial way of defining creativity. If you are now idly imagining dozens of uses for a brick or the novelties of a sleepless world, then you are probably a divergent thinker. If, instead, the questions make you impatient — a brick is for building walls, dammit — then you are a convergent thinker.

  • What kind of thinker are you?
Filed Under: Creativity, Ideas, Problem Solving

Inspiration Quote

November 16, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Imagination is the true magic carpet.

– – – Norman Vincent Peale

  • How can you use your imagination to achieve your creative goals?
Filed Under: Imagination, Inspiration, Quotes

Who’s Your City?

November 10, 2008 by Leave a Comment

That’s the question that Richard Florida asks in his latest book entitled, Who’s Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life.

It’s a question I’ve asked myself. Early in my career, I chose to move to our nation’s capital because I was looking for work in museums and with the plethora of cultural institutions dotting the Washington, DC area, I figured I was bound to find a job. And, I did.

Ultimately, I realized that my family was more important. After attaining my career goal in DC, I decided to move back to Ohio to be closer to my loved ones. Although Cleveland has some amazing arts organizations, I decided to take a different path, one in the corporate world.

Filed Under: Books, Creative Economy
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