By SARA ARTHURS
Staff Writer
Creativity can transform people — and it’s accessible to anyone.
“It’s not something special, for only a few people,” said Philip Sugden, chairman of Bluffton University’s art department and an artist with a studio in Findlay. “It’s just a matter of finding out what your interest is.”
And sometimes those who explore creativity reluctantly find they love it. Attendees at one Awakening Minds Art corporate event last year were grumbling audibly. Afterward, they requested the nonprofit organization’s director, Sarah Crisp, for future events.
“They hung up their paintings in their office,” Crisp said.
She said “a lot of positivity” comes from making art. One client with dementia always believed she was painting for the first time. Each time, she would say something like, “Oh my gosh, I finally did something right.”
It’s something Crisp commonly hears from new painters. There is a sense of pride, although “art was confusing for them before,” Crisp said.
Sugden said creativity forces a person into the present moment, so the brain cannot process baggage from the past or anxiety about the future.
He draws a lot while traveling, and has sketched monks at monasteries in Nepal. He is with the monks and becomes a part of their process. This forces him to be in the present moment, “and your nervous system just unravels and relaxes,” he said.
Sugden taught art classes in a prison for 10 years. He found art was therapeutic for inmates, who would spend weeks perfecting a picture of a loved one they missed.
Dave Morrow, the photographer behind the “Humans of Findlay” Facebook page and the book of the same name, has found creativity improves his health. Morrow has chronic depression and said if he is not doing something creative, “then it’s very easy to slide back into the darkness.”
Melissa Friesen, professor of theater and communication at Bluffton University, often experiences creativity as a collaborative process.
A student-actor may interpret a role differently than Friesen had anticipated, which inspires another cast member. Friesen said the “spark of discovery” can make it a particularly joyful process.
Also important, Friesen said, is “looking for humor. That’s another thing that I find really helpful in creativity, is looking for joy, looking for humor, looking for the offbeat.” She said even a funny facial expression, or someone doing “something quirky,” may open up a creative space between people, who may become open to “playing together.”
Friesen is also department chairwoman, and she said this, too, requires creativity. She said being open to ideas may affect how to approach something as mundane as a business meeting.
“You can see that other opportunities exist, if you look for them,” she said.
Creativity at work
Longtime local entrepreneur Terry Terhark, founder of the Right Thing and now CEO of Randrr, said creativity is “essential for all types,” but especially in business. Those who can think outside the traditional norms will differentiate themselves from others, which he said is particularly important with changing technology.
“You have to be able to move very, very quickly,” Terhark said.
Terhark has not generally thought of himself as a creative person, but has found he does have “adaptability” and can change quickly, which allows him to solve problems.
Some people are more predisposed to creativity as they are “open to change,” he said. But, he feels anyone can be creative. “I believe that we all have creativity in our bones,” Terhark said.
Kristie Pohlman uses creativity both in her work and in her personal life. She is a marketing specialist at the University of Findlay, where she has designed outfits for Derrick the Oiler, the school mascot, including a cowboy outfit, a birthday hat and a full tuxedo. She also converted a plush “Elf on the Shelf” into a mini-Derrick for a Christmas video.
Pohlman creates crafts for friends, such as sleeping bags that look like mermaid tails, or a mobile for a baby. And she’s an avid photographer — particularly outdoors, which allows her to feel connected to nature. She said creative work can be a way to solve problems, but can also bring about relaxation and better self-expression.
“It’s a good outlet and a nice stress reliever,” she said.
‘Meant to be shared’
University of Findlay music professor Jack Taylor, a longtime professional performing and recording artist who composes and arranges music, said in an email to The Courier that he tries to find creative ways of teaching, as well as improvising and writing music. Even changing daily tasks, such as taking a different route to work or shaving and brushing his teeth in a different sequence, helps him to avoid the “same old, same old,” he said.
Taylor has found that creativity provides “an inward feeling of accomplishment and the hope that perhaps the object of my creativity (whether a solo on my saxophone or a musical composition) might touch another.”
He said inspiration is everywhere, and getting enough sleep, eating a nutritious diet and reducing stress makes him more open to it.
He sees the Duke Ellington song “East Saint Louis Toodle-oo,” which was inspired by a billboard slogan, as “a reminder that inspiration can come from the least expected places.”
Celia Stockton, who directs S2O: Seniors Singing Out at 50 North, said creativity “is meant to be shared.” One singer, retired music teacher Emily Cronenwett, a retired music teacher, said it’s something anyone can do.
“If you can talk, you can sing,” she said.
And Anita Montgomery said singing “just kind of uplifts you.”
Poet and artist Sharon Hammer Baker said too often when people hear “creativity” they think of “the product, like a painting or a sculpture.” But sometimes it isn’t a tangible product. The verb “to create” means “to make,” but this could be making a product or could be making a way to express oneself or a solution to a problem, she said.
Hammer Baker said an important part of it is “observation. Really paying attention. What do you see?”
Poet, photographer and University of Findlay professor Marianna Hofer has found that art in one medium inspires another. She used to take photographs of old farmhouses, which led to writing a series of poems in which an “apprentice photographer” took similar photos.
Both Morrow and Crisp said creativity is about stepping outside of one’s comfort zone. And, Crisp said, doing this with art may make it possible in other areas.
Being creative may mean having to let go of perfectionism, which Crisp said is hard in modern society.
“We have the Internet at our fingertips and that’s a good thing and a bad thing,” she said. All kinds of inspiration are available online, which is great, she said. But it is also easy to compare your own first draft to someone else’s finished masterpiece. Don’t compare, just create, Crisp advised.
Pohlman said it’s easy to bring more creativity into one’s life by just trying something new, such as cooking or building furniture. Today, videos are available to teach a person how to do anything, she said.
Crisp said adding more creativity doesn’t have to be difficult. “Don’t be afraid to doodle on your notes at work,” she said.
Arthurs: 419-427-8494 Send an E-mail to Sara Arthurs
Resource: http://thecourier.com
Staff Writer
Creativity can transform people — and it’s accessible to anyone.
“It’s not something special, for only a few people,” said Philip Sugden, chairman of Bluffton University’s art department and an artist with a studio in Findlay. “It’s just a matter of finding out what your interest is.”
And sometimes those who explore creativity reluctantly find they love it. Attendees at one Awakening Minds Art corporate event last year were grumbling audibly. Afterward, they requested the nonprofit organization’s director, Sarah Crisp, for future events.
“They hung up their paintings in their office,” Crisp said.
She said “a lot of positivity” comes from making art. One client with dementia always believed she was painting for the first time. Each time, she would say something like, “Oh my gosh, I finally did something right.”
It’s something Crisp commonly hears from new painters. There is a sense of pride, although “art was confusing for them before,” Crisp said.
Sugden said creativity forces a person into the present moment, so the brain cannot process baggage from the past or anxiety about the future.
He draws a lot while traveling, and has sketched monks at monasteries in Nepal. He is with the monks and becomes a part of their process. This forces him to be in the present moment, “and your nervous system just unravels and relaxes,” he said.
Sugden taught art classes in a prison for 10 years. He found art was therapeutic for inmates, who would spend weeks perfecting a picture of a loved one they missed.
Dave Morrow, the photographer behind the “Humans of Findlay” Facebook page and the book of the same name, has found creativity improves his health. Morrow has chronic depression and said if he is not doing something creative, “then it’s very easy to slide back into the darkness.”
Melissa Friesen, professor of theater and communication at Bluffton University, often experiences creativity as a collaborative process.
A student-actor may interpret a role differently than Friesen had anticipated, which inspires another cast member. Friesen said the “spark of discovery” can make it a particularly joyful process.
Also important, Friesen said, is “looking for humor. That’s another thing that I find really helpful in creativity, is looking for joy, looking for humor, looking for the offbeat.” She said even a funny facial expression, or someone doing “something quirky,” may open up a creative space between people, who may become open to “playing together.”
Friesen is also department chairwoman, and she said this, too, requires creativity. She said being open to ideas may affect how to approach something as mundane as a business meeting.
“You can see that other opportunities exist, if you look for them,” she said.
Creativity at work
Longtime local entrepreneur Terry Terhark, founder of the Right Thing and now CEO of Randrr, said creativity is “essential for all types,” but especially in business. Those who can think outside the traditional norms will differentiate themselves from others, which he said is particularly important with changing technology.
“You have to be able to move very, very quickly,” Terhark said.
Terhark has not generally thought of himself as a creative person, but has found he does have “adaptability” and can change quickly, which allows him to solve problems.
Some people are more predisposed to creativity as they are “open to change,” he said. But, he feels anyone can be creative. “I believe that we all have creativity in our bones,” Terhark said.
Kristie Pohlman uses creativity both in her work and in her personal life. She is a marketing specialist at the University of Findlay, where she has designed outfits for Derrick the Oiler, the school mascot, including a cowboy outfit, a birthday hat and a full tuxedo. She also converted a plush “Elf on the Shelf” into a mini-Derrick for a Christmas video.
Pohlman creates crafts for friends, such as sleeping bags that look like mermaid tails, or a mobile for a baby. And she’s an avid photographer — particularly outdoors, which allows her to feel connected to nature. She said creative work can be a way to solve problems, but can also bring about relaxation and better self-expression.
“It’s a good outlet and a nice stress reliever,” she said.
‘Meant to be shared’
University of Findlay music professor Jack Taylor, a longtime professional performing and recording artist who composes and arranges music, said in an email to The Courier that he tries to find creative ways of teaching, as well as improvising and writing music. Even changing daily tasks, such as taking a different route to work or shaving and brushing his teeth in a different sequence, helps him to avoid the “same old, same old,” he said.
Taylor has found that creativity provides “an inward feeling of accomplishment and the hope that perhaps the object of my creativity (whether a solo on my saxophone or a musical composition) might touch another.”
He said inspiration is everywhere, and getting enough sleep, eating a nutritious diet and reducing stress makes him more open to it.
He sees the Duke Ellington song “East Saint Louis Toodle-oo,” which was inspired by a billboard slogan, as “a reminder that inspiration can come from the least expected places.”
Celia Stockton, who directs S2O: Seniors Singing Out at 50 North, said creativity “is meant to be shared.” One singer, retired music teacher Emily Cronenwett, a retired music teacher, said it’s something anyone can do.
“If you can talk, you can sing,” she said.
And Anita Montgomery said singing “just kind of uplifts you.”
Poet and artist Sharon Hammer Baker said too often when people hear “creativity” they think of “the product, like a painting or a sculpture.” But sometimes it isn’t a tangible product. The verb “to create” means “to make,” but this could be making a product or could be making a way to express oneself or a solution to a problem, she said.
Hammer Baker said an important part of it is “observation. Really paying attention. What do you see?”
Poet, photographer and University of Findlay professor Marianna Hofer has found that art in one medium inspires another. She used to take photographs of old farmhouses, which led to writing a series of poems in which an “apprentice photographer” took similar photos.
Both Morrow and Crisp said creativity is about stepping outside of one’s comfort zone. And, Crisp said, doing this with art may make it possible in other areas.
Being creative may mean having to let go of perfectionism, which Crisp said is hard in modern society.
“We have the Internet at our fingertips and that’s a good thing and a bad thing,” she said. All kinds of inspiration are available online, which is great, she said. But it is also easy to compare your own first draft to someone else’s finished masterpiece. Don’t compare, just create, Crisp advised.
Pohlman said it’s easy to bring more creativity into one’s life by just trying something new, such as cooking or building furniture. Today, videos are available to teach a person how to do anything, she said.
Crisp said adding more creativity doesn’t have to be difficult. “Don’t be afraid to doodle on your notes at work,” she said.
Arthurs: 419-427-8494 Send an E-mail to Sara Arthurs
Resource: http://thecourier.com
No comments:
Post a Comment