LIFEWEAVINGS: A CREATIVE JOURNEY
*Wisdom [Learning] is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it. * (Albert Einstein)
Martha Stewart, being interviewed by Google Talks with Marissa Mayer, was asked what ideas she lived by. She answered that one idea guiding her was the saying,
Learn something new everyday.
This reminded me of a teaching concept--nurture a desire for lifelong learning. With an openness to continued learning, we take in new information and knowledge, which then impacts how we problem-solve, create, and behave. As an artist, we take in sensory experiences that impact our design process…whether through the music we compose, a wall-hanging we create, or a story that we write.
With a world that is changing quickly everyday, the changes and the speed at which they occur challenges each of us and our families continually. While it can create stress, it can also be a catalyst for growth. It is exciting to consider the new possibilities for the future.
It can be a stimulus for creativity, whether in our work or in our personal lives.
Change, while not always welcome, can force us to consider alternate ways of doing things, encourage us to try new experiences, and to consider the world around us with new eyes. In our families, we can use the latest technology as an aid to communicate with each other, provide up-dated information, and as tools for learning, while not allowing it to become a negative focus that erodes our time together and relationships.
As in most things, our changing world has the potential for positive or negative influences. So, perhaps the biggest challenge is to use the new things that we learn everyday…
…in ways that are good,
valuable,
and add quality and well-being to our work, families, and lives.
Reference:* Quote– Albert Einstein to J. Dispentiere—March 24, 1954. AEA 59-495.)
It’s a wonder how reorganizing a studio space can give a different perspective and encourage creativity. I guess it gives a sense of newness, of new possibilities, or a realization that there is more than one way to do things. I have been out of my studio for a while and as things are moved back in, I am rethinking the use of each area and what it is used for.
For example, the design area now has a table that is handy to spread out fabrics, books, and sketching supplies or it is great to use as a temporary office with the laptop and a lamp.
Across the room, by the design wall is a good place for the cutting table with patterns, rulers, scissors, and the pressing station is nearby. On the other side of the design wall is the construction area with machines, reference books, threads, and notions.
Perhaps, most important to reorganizing is de-cluttering the space and rearranging books, fabrics, and tools. I’m trying to decide how to store my quilting fabrics…folded on the shelves by color?… loose in wire mesh baskets? Katie Pasquini Masopust in her book, Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter, suggests sorting fabrics by color–yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, and green–then sorting each into 7 values, in a range from lightest to darkest. This will take some more thought and experimentation to discover what works best for me…
Of course no one says a studio has to stay neat and organized! But sometimes it feels good to begin with a blank slate of sorts…In returning to the studio, I have a new commitment to the goals made earlier in the year.
I have a new perspective and am ready to work!
*Happy Thanksgiving this week to everyone!*
Joni Beach 