Lakewood Arts Festival

Art festivals are a staple of summer in Northeastern Ohio. Normally, the endless jewelery and photography booths bore me and don’t even get me started on all the pottery! But Lakewood’s festival usually contains a few creative surprises and even some interesting artists.

Creative Thinking

A specific type of creative thinking involves using images. Since most of us are visual learners by nature, and frankly can’t escape not being so in our society, thinking in images is a natural progression to creativity.

  • That’s the point of this fun tutorial on creative thinking.

Creativity Cure 2

  • Keep a daily passion log. What makes your heart race? What causes you to lose track of time? Take note of these, for at least a month or longer. It will give you great insights on which creative projects to pursue.

Slightly Askew in Cleveland

Because I am an advocate for using the skills you learn developing personal creativity to improve your community, I was excited to learn about Slightly Askew coming to Cleveland.

Slightly Askew is an experimental group from NYC, with a local connection, that combines art, education, performance and culture.

They have landed in Birdtown, a part of Lakewood that I have family ties to. While in the neighborhood, they are working with local residents and teens to create a video project documenting the history of this unique neighborhood. In exchange, the teens are learning skills and gaining knowledge about other cultures and history.

  • How can you use your creativity to build community connections?

Image Slightly Askew

Creativity Quote

What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.

– – – Eugene Delacroix

  • What are you creating that says more than what’s already out there?

Susan Danko Artist

During a recent day trip up to the Lake Erie Islands, I stumbled upon a small gallery. At first writing off the shop as another touristy art trap, I was pleasantly proved wrong, when I discovered some small works by Ohio artist Susan Danko.

They were constructed like reverse shadow boxes with the painting on the back of the box providing a hollowed surface to hang the works easier. The dreamy landscapes were layered with vivid colors and lines, which reminded me of contemporary designs

Image  Bonfoey Gallery

Creativity Cure 1

Take small breaks. Whenever I am working on something creative, I only work as long as I am in flow. When I become blocked, I switch tasks, even if it’s to get up and get a glass of water or check a website. This allows my brain to rest and incubate ideas. Then I come back to the project and work some more and the cycle continues till I complete it.

  • Find your own techniques by, well, being creative. How do you finish a creative task?

Creativity Cures

Soon, we begin a new bi-monthly feature on Dose of Creativity called creativity cures. My goal is to provide one small dose based on my own experience that will help you develop or enhance your creative thinking ability. While there is no formula for sparking creativity, there are small things that can help shift your perspective. Some may work for you and some may not.

The purpose is to get you to try something different. Creativity starts with an open mind and an exposure to a wide range of ideas.

USA: United States Artists

I think this graph says a lot about how we view the arts in this country. From this statistic, USA, United States Artists was created to support artists. Their goal is to inspire innovation at its source by investing in artists. Last year, they awarded grants to 50 artists totaling $2.5 million.

The organization is funded by foundations, arts patrons and corporations and awards $50,000 grants in the following disciplines: Architecture & Design, Crafts & Traditional Arts, Dance, Literature, Media Arts, Music, Theater Arts and Visual Arts.

Image United States Artists and the Urban Institute

Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution

Ok, to say that I am a bit obsessed with the feminist art movement is an understatement. I spent over 6 years in undergrad and grad school doing research on it. So when this exhibition debuted earlier this year, I was ecstatic.

The feminist art movement transformed the landscape of the art world in the latter half of the 20th C. It opened up new dialogues about what it means to be a woman artist and has paved the way for the artists of today.

  • If you’ve seen the exhibition in LA, please let me know what you thought, since I won’t be making it out there.

Image MOCA LA