Inspiring Creativity

Flier for my talk.

Happy Tuesday! This week I am working on getting my thoughts together for a presentation I'm doing on Rekindling Creativity at the Hood River Library.  When I embarked on my journey into learning about creativity, I had no idea there was so much work already surrounding it. As an artist and a bit of an introvert I tend to think of myself like an island. What I have learned the most my googling, listening, and reading is that there is a wealth of information and research already out there on creativity. However, rather than focus on the work of neuroscientists, philosophers, and psychologists I'm most keenly interested in what creative people have to say about being creative. I've been listening to interviews with Miles Davis and some of Joyce Carol Oates lectures. Its fascinating to me how this idea of being creative and generating work has similarities across disciplines.
I now feel much less alone and part of a greater universal community of artists. Stoked to present my thoughts and my research. The opportunity to spark discussion and build a local network of creatives is exhilarating! Since this will be my first presentation since college my biggest goal is to build momentum to drive my research and art making.

This is a taste of what my week has been like, listen and enjoy!

Miles Davis Quintet Live at Teatro dell'Arte in Milan, Italy on October 11, 1964

 

Joyce Carol Oates on Inspiration & Obsession

I've also developed a strong liking for Dr. Nancy Andersen and her work with The Creative Thinking Project.
Some of what she has to say is over my head, but a good bit is fascinating, particularly her take on Dr. Lewis Termin's 1921 study of IQ and what happens to kids with high IQs as they grow up (IQs between 140-200). His subjects went on to live very 'successful' lives, they were well off, had good jobs, and overall possessed a good quality of life. However, Dr.Termin,when setting up this study, excluded two children which went on to win Nobel Prizes. Their answers to his IQ questions were divergent and their IQ scores were slightly lower than the range in his study (120 +/- 5pts). So, while creative types are not typically in the 'genius' range of IQ scores, creatives are still above average. Geeky food for thought. I wish I had the time to go down that rabbit hole too!

Parting shots:

My good friend Natalie photographing my work :)

 

Far right panel of 'Spanning (the distance between us)' as seen in the flyer for my talk.