Dec. 15 2011

vicemag:

Who do you think is the culprit behind the lack of creativity?

In part, teachers are to blame. In school, there is the sense that one must complete a succinctly explainable “project” that explores a subject with rational boundaries, art-historical context, and theoretical backing—if we’re talking about graduate school. These projects are intended to be original, but not so original that they cannot be validated by the similar creations of previously successful artists. 

So, what’s missing?
Simply put, art school should be more fun for all involved. I want the spirit to be less one of attempting to please authority figures, and more one of trying to surprise oneself. I like the rebellious students. I find the combination of rebelliousness and hard work seems to make for the best artists (and students).

The flip side of exposure to a system designed to rationalize and quantify creative success is that it reminds me that the rational intellect pushes my unconscious to be more interesting, but the unconscious should still drive my work.

Continue: Gregory Halpern’s Stories From The Rust Belt

related:  “Learners are doers, not recipients.”—Walter J. Ong, “McLuhan as Teacher: The Future Is a Thing of the Past”

May. 18 2011

Ownership

pieratt:

…

Creation is entirely dependent on ownership.

Ownership not as a percentage of equity, but as a measure of your ability to change things for the better. To build and grow and fail and learn. This is no small thing. Creativity is the manifestation of lateral thinking, and without tangible results, it becomes stunted. We have to see the fruits of our labors, good or bad, or there’s no motivation to proceed, nothing to learn from to inform the next decision. States of approval and decisions-by-committee and constant compromises are third-party interruptions of an internal dialog that needs to come to its own conclusions.

Feb. 25 2011

10 Lessons

photojojo:

Take note on these lessons from Wieden+Kennedy’s Executive Creative Director, John C Jay:

via SwissMiss

  1. Be authentic. The most powerful asset you have is your individuality, what makes you unique. It’s time to stop listening to others on what you should do.
  2. Work harder than anyone else and…

i adjusted the title slightly because this applies to everyone as a person.  not just folks who have foot in creative professions.  if you don’t try to stick to some or all of these tenants, you’re probably not happy in life.

Aug. 14 2010

bunch:

It turns out that our consumerist impulse stimulates the same part of the brain that fires when we’re on the trail of a great idea. As we go through the trial and error of executing an idea – What if I tried this? Ah! Now what about this? – we’re using those same wanting, hunting, getting instincts but in a nobler pursuit.

-Jocelyn Glei, Is Consumerism Killing Our Creativity?

Jun. 27 2010

Ira Glass on Being Wrong

One of the reasons I was interested in doing this interview is because I feel like being wrong is really important to doing decent work. To do any kind of creative work well, you have to run at stuff knowing that it’s usually going to fail. You have to take that into account and you have to make peace with it. We spend a lot of money and time on stuff that goes nowhere. It’s not unusual for us to go through 25 or 30 ideas and then go into production on eight or 10 and then kill everything but three or four. In my experience, most stuff that you start is mediocre for a really long time before it actually gets good. And you can’t tell if it’s going to be good until you’re really late in the process. So the only thing you can do is have faith that if you do enough stuff, something will turn out great and really surprise you.

Oct. 27 2009

merlin:

frakintosh:

The mental sausage* of modern storytelling

OR

How we do

@micahsaul made my brain work overtime on this.

*mental sausage is a term that was probably coined by Merlin Mann and I only assume that its okay that I use it here?

Not that you need my permission, but you are absolutely okay to use it anywhere. Honored. Thanks.

I realize that “using paper” should (intellectually) have zero effect on how I think about something, but I find exactly the opposite to be true.

Typing on a keyboard vs. using a pen on paper vs. talking to others or out-loud to myself deliver such wildly different results — and wildly different angles, approaches, insights, connections, synthesis vs. analysis, etc. — that I can’t even imagine trying to work on any project you really care about without iterating between the three.

Tool debates are fun and funny, but the truth is everything and nothing work equally well depending on how much you understand and care about what you’re making. I often don’t realize just how much I care about or understand something until I notice a piece of paper trying to tell me so.

See also: hammers and tree houses.

agreed.  it sucks that i have such crappy handwriting.  product of my grandfathers being doctors?  or just cursive being too slow?

Sep. 11 2008

⊗

merlin:

Multiplied By

Not sure what this is yet. Just something I’m playing with.

merlin,

whatever it ends up to be, i’m sure it’ll be great.  if you’re on twitter:  participate.

Jul. 21 2008

The circumstances of women’s lives…provide examples for new ways of thinking about the lives of both men and women. What are the possible transfers of learning when life is a collage of different tasks? How does creativity flourish on distraction? And at what point does desperate improvisation become significant achievement?

Mary Catherine Bateson, daughter of Margaret Mead, whose book of social anthropology,  Composing a Life,  is giving me far too much to think about right now. (via rach)

that last sentence/question is hitting home for me this week.

Jun. 17 2008

teaching & learning.

about a 6 months ago, someone stole almost all of my photography equipment.

since then, i’ve been taking barely palatable cell phone images.  these are captures.  they’re not images you put yourself into.  i never realized the difference until others started pointing it out to me.

ever since the robbery, i was focused on the fact that i let something like that happen.  i’m better than that.  the stolen goods are replaceable, so on and so forth.  time passed, i focused on work and trying to justify the moments we spend not working.  what i didn’t realize was that, as cliche as it sounds, i was letting something die.  in passing, my boss and my girlfriend both told me i was a different person and i thought, “shit, maybe i am.”

having a camera, having a tool, having a creative outlet always gave me something to put myself into.  i taught myself photography in my own unique way.  i was neither technical nor artistic.  i just tried to tell a story and show people the things they were missing.  it worked.  i was the “guy with the camera” always taking the “awesome pictures” of that party, show or event.  not that i want to be that person again, but i quickly realized that people were right…i wasn’t telling the story they were used to and knew i wanted to tell.

over the weekend i bought a used film camera and lens.  a few weekends before that i bought a large quantity of tri-x black & white film.  i just read a manual.  when was the last time you read a manual?  i drank a beer and put on a camera strap.  i took a picture.  just of my computer b/c it was right in front of where i’m sitting.  but more than that, this computer is a huge part of my life - professionally & personally.  i use it for work and i used it to communicate.  right now.  i’m looking forward to taking photos of the new people in my life, the old people and the people that are neither new or old.


i used to follow a band around (this is them now, many member/name/musical styles later) and document their lives.  i’d always hate the fact that everything about me would leave some club smelling of smoke.  even my camera.  when i unpacked this used camera and held it up to my face, i could smell the cigarette smoke lingering in the plastic.  ready, not willing, to be worked out.  it doesn’t really matter, i sort of feel at home.