Yesterday I met with a friend of mine, he's a terrific artist and we had a nice long chat over great coffee. During our talk we spoke of the TED talk about school killing creativity. When I got home I looked up the talk, it's a good one and linked below. You should watch it.
In some ways I think that our root fear of play and experimentation in our art and journals, where does it go as we age? We were all pretty creative when we were 5 and 6 and even 7. But at some point we all want to draw realistically (this is tied to developmental milestones) and I think get frustrated and quit. If you look at most kids at specific ages they all go through this. Some of us never get past the frustration.
The next video is about the paradox of choice. It's not directly related to art, but I think you'll see why I put it up here. I think we get into a mode of overwhelming choice when we walk into an art and craft store. It's why it's so easy for companies to shove crap down our throat when we don't really need or want it. Step 1: Overwhelm the consumer with too many choices and Step 2: Prey upon that and TELL them they NEED specific parts to create a project. Never-mind that you could unlock their creativity by teaching skills rather than spoon-feeding a specific project. But then unlocking creativity isn't as good for the bottom line as selling a specific project that requires the person buy items off a list. (Think #cultofstuff)
The final video, in which I think I could do an entire post about, is about the movement about staying positive, and that you can bring everything to you by presenting a positive front. Slap a smile on your face and everything you've ever dreamed of can be YOURS! I'm not afraid to say that sometimes my life and my brain are dark dark lonely places. Sad. I've got a relatively good life- a nice enough house, a car that runs, a lovely wife, a DayJob that pays my bills, and good health. Honestly, I've got it better than many people. I'm happy about that, I won't lie. But there are days when I hate everything about life. It's not wrong to say that sometimes, life isn't fair and life sometimes sucks. That's realistic.
I'm not suggesting we all let it hang out. No, I think we should be realistic in what our lives are like, it's not all sunshine and roses, sometimes it's dog crap on the floor and a flat tire on the highway or a bad day at the job. Not being honest about these facts of our lives is as ridiculous as always painting a smile on your face and pretending they don't happen. These dark spots are WHY I art journal. I pour the shit out onto a page and then turn it. I paint dark little scenes on watercolor paper and then pour ink on it. Denying these aspects of my life isn't honoring myself. Hiding it away doesn't make it go away. No matter how many pretty pages you paint in your art journal doesn't make everything alright.
The process is what makes things right not the product. It's okay to slather paint on a page and just turn the page and never look at it again, every page does NOT have to be finished. MOve on, just like your life moves on. It's the nature of an art journal that you move on. You grow as a person and grow in the art journal. Don't let false positivity hold you back from creating something that is wonderful because you are afraid to explore something that is not happy or perceived as not positive.
Wowza. Unique and informative. My Mom and sister liked The Secret. Can't wait to show them the last one. Education reform has been my rant for 40 years --- only a certain kind of person learns in the school. I've seen too many smart, creative people get crushed. But the bits on anxiety are most definetly page worthy. Thanks for the great links!
Posted by: SusanJane | January 23, 2012 at 12:09 AM
Having taught 2nd and 3rd grades for nearly 20 years I have been fascinated by this seeming drop off in creativity at about 8-9 years old. One thing I find very interesting about this age is that most 9 year olds love games with rules. If they are not provided with rules for a game they will make up rules and self-enforce them. It seems to be part of the natural developmental process. As a teacher I tried to keep their open, creative, freely drawing selves alive. Most of them choose to self-limit or give-up.
If they have developed some skill drawing a particular motif they will limit themselves to that. Individuals will draw only cars, only horses, only face profiles, whatever they feel they have skill at. They abandon options they are not comfortable with. They are uncomfortable without familiar structure and will self-limit.
I know that many creative people get crushed along the way. I don't deny that one bit. I'm only speaking to one developmental stage I have personally witnessed and found interesting.
Posted by: PJ | January 23, 2012 at 09:39 AM
I am making my post into 2 parts because I didn't want it to drag on. Here is Part 2.
Before the advent of manufactured goods creativity was hand in hand with need. You needed pillow cases so you made them. And while you were at it in the long winter evenings you embellished them. You needed them you made them. Nobody did it for you. Everyone created because it was part of filling life's needs.
We can talk about art but for demonstration, I'll talk about singing and dancing. I have an ordinary singing voice. A little flat here and there, nothing anybody other than a child who loved me would care about. But I listen not to a community of people who sing like me, but I listen to the world's best. And everyone else listens to the world best. And if you have a choice...do your friends sit around and sing and tell their children they are singers? Probably not. We probably download and listen to other people sing.
The point being, whether it is art, singing, or dancing we now not only have our ordinary community to compare ourselves to, not just the best in our community, but the best of the best in all the world.
For many people it is easier, pleasanter to just plug into the best of the best and consider ourselves non-singers, non-dancers, non-artists in comparison.
If we think about how we are in fields outside of art, it can more easily understand the dynamics of how we came to feel the way we do about art.
So, how good a seamstress are you? Are you a singer? But ALL people are singers! All people need clothing. Are you a good shelter builder? But ALL people build shelters. I think it puts it in perspective.
Posted by: PJ | January 23, 2012 at 09:55 AM
@susanjane YES! The anxiety bit is really interesting. I was never a fan of the secret and Ive not been a fan of the Plaster a smile on your face and delude yourself into thinking your life is better than it is. Im a big fan of realism. Im not suggesting that positive thinking is wrong- but I think we need to shift from the fake positivity to the real positive IE looking for real solutions to the issues of our lives. Sticking our heads into the sand is never useful, but actively seeking out real solution is, and its 100% positive.
Posted by: leslie herger | January 24, 2012 at 05:46 AM
@PJ YESYESYES I tried to touch on the aspect that kids at developmental milestones move toward realism. Its a matter of development rather than the school system crushing them. I think that every single creative person I know has a story of when someone, usually a teacher or family member, said something horribly crushing to their artistic nature. I think that is more important in crushing artistry than other issues in the school system.
That being said, I think that what this TED talk was MOSTLY about was about how little children are allowed to learn about science and math without structure. Standardized testing is making American SChool neurotic about whatthey teach, many teachers are so worried about the end results they use the wrong the means to get there. Many of the things on the standardized tests will be a natural and organic result of the learning process- teach as a process and the end results is higher standardized test scores.
Posted by: leslie herger | January 24, 2012 at 03:27 PM
Process is such an important word. I spent almost all of my life being an end-result person. It got me academic honors, lots of promotions, and...well, not a whole lot of joy. I discovered the beauty and limitlessness of process a few years ago. Wow! Who knew?
Posted by: PJ | January 25, 2012 at 08:40 PM
@PJ yes process is an amazing thing. End results have their place but process, mhmm its where its at. that being said, balance is good too. I guess we have to find the right spot for our individual selves. This is a topic, i think, to explore... Ideas. Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by: leslie herger | February 01, 2012 at 07:13 AM