Relay For Lifeis a support and encouragement to families and individuals who have been touched by the challenges of living with cancer and in memory to those whose cancer struggle has ended.
Virginia Tech is where we “Relay For Life” every year. VT was the top fund-raiser among universities in 2011, raising more than $600,000, and the student planned and implemented event is an inspiring experience.
This year every person at the microphone began by saying,“Why I Relay...“. The answers included “because of my mother …grandmother …roommate …uncle …father… friend…sister…brother, etc.”
As I look at the energetic, dedicated, youthful faces around me, who will walk, run, and stay up all night for this event, I am struck with the thought that perhaps it will be from this generation that a CURE will be found…
HOPE Illuminaries, (c) 2012, Joni Beach.
HOPE for a CURE.
Blessings, Hope, and Peace to all individuals and their families who are dealing with cancer.
A trip to the countryside can yield manyruralart objects. These are visual delights, made from whatever is around…such as old tools, wood, flowers, or rocks. It is an informal process of taking ordinary items and giving them a new purpose or meaning.
Spring Blossoms & a Rusty Pump, (c)2012, Joni Beach.
Spring flowers + a rusty old pump…
Where's The Herbs?, (c)2012, Joni Beach.
A piece of wood with scratched on letters–on a fence…
Tree Limb Bench & Twig Basket, (c)2012, Joni Beach.
Limbs from a tree nailed together and twigs woven into a basket… And, scraps of wood, bolts, rod, and paint mounted on a post.
Flying With The Wind, (c)2012, Joni Beach.
How many times in our lives and families are we required to do the same? Take what we have on hand…certain resources, opportunities, or situations…andimprovise and adapt responses and ways of living to meet a challenge? For example, when a person’s dreams and job goals do not develop exactly as planned after school, a person may find creative ways to make a living, earn income, or begin a business. Or, when a loved one develops a chronic illness, families find new ways to meet the normal daily schedule, while at the same time adjusting to a “new normal”.
In life, as in rural art, creative solutions require improvising, adapting, and designing novel outcomes…
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
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.
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.
