creativity – Page 14

November 14, 2011December 3, 2011

Creativity~ More Than One Right Answer

When I teach a design course, students are encouraged to brainstorm and draw multiple sketches of many ideas. After this, they are to select the idea that is most creative and best meets the design problem. It’s interesting to me that there are always a few who have one initial idea and want to immediately begin their project.

One Answer,(c) 2011 Joni Beach — One Answer, (c) 2011 Joni Beach

Why is idea generation important to the creative process? Because as Dewitt Jones, photojournalist, says, “There is more than one right answer…” Using divergent thinking, we think of multiple answers and solutions and then select an idea to develop through experimenting, playing,and improvising. We can evaluate as we go, making changes as needed to the design.

MoreThanOne,(c)2011JoniBeach — More Than One, (c) 2011 JoniBeach

In using creativity in problem-solving in art, as well as in life, the focus is on considering multiple possible answers and eventually selecting one vs analyzing to discover the one right answer… Many times it is not the initial idea that has the most creative outcome… Use creativity and discover more than one right answer.

Dewitt Jones, photojournalist (dewittjones.com)
Living Life Using Creativity (jonibeach.com)
Creating Our Futures (creatingreciprocity.wordpress.com)
Stimulating Creativity and the Brain (eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com)
Physical Act of Creativity. Moving helps. Research. (creativityland.ca)
New Insights on the Creative Brain (psychologytoday.com)

November 2, 2011December 3, 2011

Living Life Using Creativity

How do we use creativity in living our lives? Everyday…

1. In our thinking--Imagining…many times life presents us with situations that do not follow a typical path. For example, the economy downturns and the professional positions we have trained for evaporate…a spouse becomes ill just as the children graduate from college…the safety in the community where we live has been compromised. Creative problem-solving helps us to consider possible solutions.

2. In our hearing–We respond to the sounds around us. For example, in engaging in conversations we have with others…as we play an instrument and create music…in singing a melody. We both make and respond to sound in creative ways to express our emotions and ideas.

3. In our visualizing–What we see as shapes and colors impacts our daily lives. For example, we can visually study the characteristics of something to better understand it…artists sketch as a way to design and work out the details of their creation…we watch someone else do something and imitate them. Leonardo da Vinci was a master at using drawing as a way to think about how a machine might work or how a bird flies. Using our sight, we visually take in information about the world around us that can be used to design and create in our daily lives.

4. In our life experiences and family interactions–Whenever we change from what is to what could be. For example, reaching a new stage of life and making some changes…parents finding positive ways to teach their children good behaviors…adult children helping their older parents adjust to a disability. We can use information and design the future to be different from the past, bringing into being something that is new, or novel in its perspective.

One of my favorite books on using creativity and holistic thinking is How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael J. Gelb. Gelb presents the ways da Vinci used a holistic approach to create major works of art, as well as to understand the subjects of science. Da Vinci was ahead of his time in using art and science to inform one another.

So, in answer to the question, How do we use creativity?

People use creativity everyday to meet the challenges of daily living and to design and create new ideas, solutions, conversations, music, visual works of art, life stage transitions, and family traits & values.

Leonardo da Vinci: the wonder years (telegraph.co.uk)
Creativity in Everyday Life (www.goodlifecoaching.com)
Dewitt Jones, professional photographer/National Geographic and speaker on creativity (www.dewittjones.com)

October 11, 2011October 19, 2011

Flow~~~

In art, as in life, experiencing a state of flow can be very exciting and great motivation in moving toward one’s goals.

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In Flow

[click to view You-Tube video of Csikszentmihalyi on Creativity, Fulfillment, & Flow.]

~In Flow your activity matches your skill level–mismatches equal boredom if too easy or anxiety and frustration if too difficult.

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Lost in Time

~We lose an awareness of time…our focus and concentration is on the creative process and task at hand.

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Go With the Flow

~It includes patience and an easy, gentle pace…but also the failures, frustrations, impatience, and rebellions! (Make Your Creative Dreams Real, by SARK)

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Optimal Experience