Photo courtesy SXC.

Happy Independence Day! I hope if you live in America, you are celebrating the founding of our nation with foods you love, activities that bring you closer to your friends and family and “the pursuit of happiness.”

Last year, I posted what I called “A Creative Person’s Bill of Rights” on the blog. I am pleased with this post—it’s one of my personal favorites. Too often, we think of “creative freedom” in very foggy terms, and I enjoyed trying to quantify what rights I thought were inalienable to all artists, living anywhere in the world.

You can read the post and let me know what you think of it. Has it aged well?

This is part of the preamble I wrote to the list of rights. I hope you enjoy it, as well as the entire post.

“I believe creativity is an inherent part of being human, but it also fits closely with the American spirit. A lot of the positive “can-do” actions that our fellow citizens have taken throughout our nation’s history have been innovative or paradigm-setting in some way–in short, they were creative acts. Exercising our creativity is vital to building healthy hobbies, careers, relationships, communities.”

Read “A Creative Person’s Bill of Rights”

Illustration courtesy SXC.

Why Is It Taking So Long?
A wonderful post on why ideas don’t immediately pan out, by Barbara Winters on her Buon Viaggio Blog. Winters blogs about making a living without a job, and her remarks are directed at entrepreneurs, but almost all of them apply to artists and other creative people struggling to bring a work of art or an original idea/product/etc. into the world.

One of her best points from this post is that sometimes, we need to grow into the larger vision we hold to see results. She says,

“When things aren’t working out, many people think there’s something they must do, but often it’s something they must be that solves the problem.

“The best reason for dreaming bold and following through on that dream is what we become as a result. If we’re not willing to acquire the skills and mindset of our best self, and invest time in getting there, our ultimate goal will be stalled. Eventually, it will disappear.”

I’ve been reading Winters for a long time (I bought a copy of her book “Making a Living Without a Job” when I got out of college nearly 20 years ago!), although I just recently discovered her delightful blog. Her understanding of the ups and downs of a non-corporate life is spot-on, and she has always been good at offering practical support to those who want to create a life of their own design.

Internet ©rapshoot: How Internet Gatekeepers Stifle Progress
This is an intriguing post on the Internet Evolution blog about how Google, Amazon and other Web giants may be impeding creative progress.

Post author Cory Doctorow, who is an Internet activist, a blogger, and co-editor of Boing Boing, tells us,

“Now, it’s not that I hate Amazon or Google, but I do understand that they are fast becoming the intermediary between creators and audiences (and vice-versa), and that this poses a danger to everyone involved in the creative industries. That danger is that a couple of corporate giants will end up with a buyer’s market for creative works, control over the dominant distribution channel, and the ability to dictate the terms on which creative works are made, distributed, appreciated, bought, and sold.

“And the danger of that is that these corporate giants might, through malice or negligence, end up screwing up the means by which the world talks to itself, carrying on its cultural discourse — a discourse that ultimately sets the agendas for law, politics, health, climate, justice, crime, education, child-rearing, and every other important human subject.”

His post is an in depth, well-argued essay on the current state of copyright, content distribution and what limited market competition tends to do to creativity. It’s worth reading all the way through and thinking about.

Improve Your Artwork With a Double Dog Dare
A guest post by Keith Bond, a regular contributor to Clint Watson’s Fine Art Views blog. Bond gives readers an audacious invitation to step outside one’s comfort zone and improve one’s art-making.

He talks about the relationship between safety, risk and failure in the creative process:

“There are certain ideas that I have that I am excited about. I can visualize them in my mind. I know how I want them to turn out. Yet, for some reason I avoid beginning the painting. I put it off because I am not sure how to paint the subject. I feel that I may not yet have acquired the technical ability to do the painting how I want. Yes, I am afraid of failing….

“I have learned, though, that when I step out of my comfort zone and attempt to paint something beyond myself, I learn the most. While it is true that some of the paintings do fail, they were very valuable learning experiences.”

Bond concludes his pep talk with a double-dog dare to readers—go attempt a creative project that you’ve been putting off because you’re afraid you cannot complete it successfully. He promises to do the same, and readers are invited to report on their dares in the comments section of the post.

Bonus Links!

Why I’m Not Realistic
A meditation on what “realistic” means in context of education, culture and creativity, as well as making a living, by Zoe at Essential Prose Blog.

Are Your Art Supplies Keeping You From Being Creative?
Great post on the Creative Juices Arts blog. It’s possible to be intimidated by fancy tools!

Photo courtesy SXC.

As the temperature goes up after the arrival of the summer solstice, it’s a good time to think about worthy projects to focus one’s attention on, and which allow one to engage in “deliberate practice” to build skill and proficiency in a chosen discipline. Retreats or workshops are one way to fulfill both of these goals at once.

Here are a few intriguing-sounding retreats or classes coming up in the next few months. Feel free to use them as a springboard to find an educational experience that suits your fancy, as well as your budget!

Art & Soul: Two Heads Are Better Than One
This intriguing mixed media arts retreat, whose full title is “Two Heads are Better Than One: Collaboration as Creative Fuel,” will be taught July 21 and 22 at the Portland Airport Embassy Suites by Misty Mawn and Stephanie Lee. Participants will build and decorate plaster and painted human forms as they learn to, in the words of Mawn and Lee, “honor all the facets of creativity and the gifts of inspiration we receive from creative souls around us.”

In part one of the retreat, Lee will guide the students through the techniques and process to create a sculpture of expressive human form with plaster and plaster-like products. In part two, Mawn will gently guide students through her non-intimidating process of adding emotion, light and shadow to the sculpted forms using various mediums including the addition of embellishments (i.e. lace, fabric, beads, buttons). Students will explore the many ways to paint portrait-like expression using acrylic paint, pencil, artist crayons, inks and image transfers.

The retreat sounds like a wonderful example of the collaborative process in action!

Creative Expression & Contemplative Practice
This retreat, slated for Sunday, July 12 through Tuesday, July 14, will be led by Christine Valters Paintner, a registered expressive arts consultant and educator. It will be held at The Palisades Archdiocesan Retreat & Faith Formation Center in Federal Way, Washington. Paintner, who runs the deliciously spiritual Abbey of the Arts blog describes the retreat this way:

“Lectio divina (sacred reading) is an ancient Christian practice that allows us to enter into silence and let the depths of scripture speak to our hearts. Moving from silent prayer into various forms of creative expression can offer remarkable insights into the images stirring within. Participants will be guided in the practice of lectio divina and then in accessible art-making focused on the process and the journey of discovery.”

No previous experience with lectio divina or the arts is necessary, according to Paintner. For those who wish to explore this form of contemplative practice or revisit the relationship between their faith and their creativity, this retreat may be just what the doctor (or the Doctor Within) ordered.

Vistanuova Art Retreats
This retreat center, located in Italy, is perhaps one of the iconic “dream destinations” that can inspire from afar until one is able to find a way to incorporate an international getaway into their artistic development plans. Vistanuova’s process combines self-inquiry and transformation with immersion in an authentic Italian lifestyle.

All of the retreats include a dinner and a cooking class with Cinzia Gilbert, an internationally recognized chef and restaurateur who shares her love of local cuisine. Retreat packages include lodging, breakfasts and dinners with free wine, transportation to and from painting sites, basic art supplies.

Vistanuova, which means “new vision” in Italian, is offering classes this summer with lively titles such as “Van Gogh’s Shoes,” “Painting Circus,” “Creative Labyrinth,” and “Family Affair.”

Arts for the Soul
Is it too hot to think where you live? Maybe you just need to get away to a cool mountain retreat to recover your creative mojo.

Arts for the Soul, a part of the Steamboat Springs, Colorado, All Arts Festival, begins this year on Thursday, August 20 and runs through Sunday, August 23. Workshops offered will include oil painting, drawing and watercolor classes; chamber music ensemble sessions and private lessons for strings, piano and woodwinds; a creative writing workshop that includes sections on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children, and nature journaling; classes in color and black-and-white photography; and for the singers in the mix, private voice lessons and choral ensembles.

Retreat organizers explain that collaboration is at the heart of the Arts for the Soul process:

“We firmly believe that the uniqueness of (our workshops comes from) the blending — the collaborative energy — that emerges from a community of artists and art lovers supporting one another on all levels of expertise and experience in all aspects of artistic endeavor. (We believe) that masters benefit as much from the open-eyed, trying-their-wings pilgrims as pilgrims do associating with writers who’ve penned novels, musicians who’ve played symphonies, or painters who’ve shown in galleries….

“For those with less experience, Arts for the Soul will provide you with opportunities and occasions to connect with your creativity. These will come through the guidance of patient, understanding and confidence-enhancing instructors as well as from companions who will be on the same artistic journey as you.”

In addition to blending experience levels, attendees can also blend creative work with plenty of playtime. The workshops allow afternoon time to soak in the town’s world famous hot springs, go on bird watching tours, ride horses on the beautiful trails surrounding Steamboat, hike, biking, play golf or tennis, or swim.

Squam Art Workshops
OK, a workshop/retreat scheduled for Sept. 16-20 just barely qualifies as a “summer” event, but you’ll want to check this one out, even if just to file it away as something to plan to attend in 2010.

The setting for Squam is the Rockywold-Deephaven Camps in Holderness, New Hampshire, a compound spread over 115 acres and two peninsulas that was built at the dawn of the 20th Century. It has been a family camp for generations and has remained essentially unchanged (except for some modern amenities) for over a hundred years.

The staff at the workshops are first rate and classes for the September rendition of the camp cover topics such as flash fiction, temporary earthworks, conscious intention’s role in the creative process, mixed media techniques, “painting without paint” (really), etc.

The questions to you…

Are you going to an arts retreat/workshop this summer? Where? What has motivated you to go? Answer in the comments field below.

Photo courtesy SXC.

NEA: Art Creation Up, Attendance Down
This link is to an audio file for an NPR story by Elizabeth Blair on the National Endowment for the Arts’ recent release of a brochure containing highlights of their 2008 national arts participation survey.  Blair’s story asserts that more people are interested in creating, and participate in activities such as playing an instrument, taking photographs or participating in a local theater troupe, but fewer people are interested in paying to watch a arts professional (or group) perform.

The NEA’s press release on the highlights document goes into a little more detail and is actually a little less optimistic about even the personal participation part—the release notes only the share of adults doing photography has increased – from 12 percent in 1992 to 15 percent in 2008.

While these findings are dreary for those who are professional artists, there are some good take-aways from the report for artists and innovators:

Get thee on the Internet. About 70 percent of U.S. adults went online for any purpose in 2008 survey, and of those adults, nearly 40 percent used the Internet to view, listen to, download, or post artworks or performances. If you don’t have significant online outreach to those people most likely to appreciate the art you make, you need to start planning how you’re going to do it, now.

Find ways to share your artwork virtually. This goes with take-away number one. According to the NEA survey, 30 percent of adults who use the Internet download, watch, or listen to music, theater, or dance performances online at least once a week. More than 20 percent of Internet-using adults view paintings, sculpture, or photography at least once a week. Obviously, to safely sell your work or share it without people pirating it, you have to do your homework. But more and more people are consuming and producing art and sharing it online, and this needs to be part of your plan, even if your art seems resistant to digital and virtual reproduction.

Consider teaching or acting as a guide to your art or craft. The upside of the continuing interest in producing art and participating in art-making activities is that it creates opportunities for more-experienced artisans to serve as teachers or “gatekeepers.” The NEA survey found 33.7 million adults reported listening to, or viewing programs or recordings about books/writers and the same number enjoyed broadcasts or recordings about the visual arts. That’s a lot folks hungry to know more about an art form—and potentially many opportunities to provide a service to them in the form of education or commentary.

You can download the NEA’s Arts Participation 2008: Highlights from a National Survey brochure for more information on this topic. More detailed study results will be available later this year.

Twitter’s Ten Rules For Radical Innovators
Marketing strategist Umair Haque, writing over at HarvardBusiness.org, asserts in this recent post that Twitter isn’t just changing how we communicate, it’s changing how we innovate.

Haque lists 10 ways in which the way Twitter operates is shifting the innovation landscape. One of his items that I find most dead-on is his assertion that Twitter has caused two-way circuits to triumph over one-way channels:

“Circuits beat channels. Twitter isn’t building a new media channel. It’s turning yesterday’s channel into a circuit. Oprah doesn’t broadcast to you: rather, the innovation is that you can talk to her, you can talk to your friends about her, she can talk to all of you, and anyone can talk to everyone.

“Twitter has dropped a neutron bomb of real-time feedback into the heart of media: yesterday’s inert, rigid channel becomes a flexible, ever-shifting, reconfigurable set of circuits instead. Efficiency is gained — and monopoly is vaporized — as demand coalesces around supply, and vice versa.”

I also loved (and agree with) his assessment that being “lazy” can lead to truly innovative products and services:

“Laziness beats business. Twitter hasn’t rushed to cram a ‘business model’ down peoples’ throats. Instead of back-slapping each other after cutting deals, the Twitter guys are lazy. Why? They’re waiting to play, experiment, see what offers utility, creates value, and makes people truly better off. Business is too busy, most of the time, to care about any of that. Laziness says: ‘business models happen.’”

If you’ve wondered how anyone could ever find Twitter useful, much less groundbreaking in its approach, this article explains it beautifully. After reading it, you will “get” both the zeitgeist of Twitter and the style of business innovation that it is fueling.

Snail Mail And Twitter
While the deadline has passed for participation,  I couldn’t help but admire a post by Janice Cartier on her blog about a snail-mail-powered art project she is organizing that was originally suggested to her on Twitter by @Art_News.

Janice has gathered about a dozen artists in her mail circle, all of whom have committed to making visual or other sorts of art on a postcard and mailing one postcard to each person in the group by July 1.

She waxes on about what the project offers to her as an artist:

“Now why this is so cool. I now will have the opportunity to do a limited series in this Across the Tracks Series that will also have an event attached to it. And it will be scattered almost to the wind….

“And the second cool thing is I get to show you how Jacob Lawrence did his Migration series. 60 paintings done to look like a cohesive print series, but stand on their own too.  I am so psyched. Yep. Labradoodle wiggling psyched. AND whoever gets these gets a part of history. And a collectible that no one else will have. No one. Free. Or at least in exchange for something of theirs.”

What I love about this project is that it uses all these new-fangled social media tools (blogs, Twitter) to do something very old fashioned: inspire and gift fellow artists with a small bit of your creative self they can hold in their hands. (Many thanks to Joanna at the Confident Writer for tipping me off to this project.)

Bonus Links!

Announcing the launch of TEDx
The TED conference, whose tagline is “ideas worth spreading,” announces a network of local, self-organizing groups that plan to help people have an in-person TED-like experience.

Articles About Creativity — HBS Working Knowledge
A wonderful treasure trove of research-based articles about creativity from the Harvard Business School. Most are available in PDF or HTML format for free!

Travels, Real & Imagined, by Helen R.

Today’s post is an exciting discussion with writer, editor, creativity coach and blogger extraordinaire Quinn McDonald about her involvement with the 1001 Journals Project. I’ve mentioned this journaling project before in Creative Liberty’s sister blog on nonfiction writing, Write Livelihood; the project involves a wonderful set of circulating journals that are making their way around the world as people fill them up and respond to the entries of those who have worked in the journals before them.

Quinn is calling her set of journals The Traveling Journals Project. We had a wonderful electronic conversation about the importance of journaling, how she got involved in the project and what she hopes to do with the results when the journals come home all filled up.

Quinn McDonald

Q. How did you first hear of the 1000 Journals Project?

A. My friend and former art teacher, Helen Rowles, invited me to a screening of “The 1000 Journals Project” at the Phoenix Art Museum. It’s the story of “Someguy”—an artist in San Francisco—who took 1000 blank journals and stamped them with an invitation to fill them up in any way at all. He left his return information in the back of the book. He then left them in bus stations, post offices, churches, men’s rooms—all over San Francisco. Then he waited. About 8 came back. Andrea Kreuzhage, a film producer and director, made a movie about the project, now available on DVD.

I keep a journal and teach journaling, so of course I was thrilled to go.

Q. What led you to want to participate in the 1001 Journals Project?

A. I’ve been a writer all my life, and have kept journals off and on for many years. For me, journals create a human view of our culture and history. When I went to the movie screening, I met Andrea Kreuzhage in the bookstore beforehand. I didn’t know who she was and struck up a conversation. She was very excited about the project, and I asked her way too many questions to be polite. She invited me to take part in the 1000 Journals Extension project, and I jumped at the chance. I then learned about the 1001 Journal Project and got involved in that, too.

Q. What does it mean to “teach” journaling? What are your students most hungry to learn?

A. Many people think there is “a right way” to keep a journal. Some people know one way and think it is the only way.

There are people who keep art journals, and people who long to keep art journals, but can’t draw. I show different ideas, talk about choices. I also teach specific classes–Journal Writing for Perfectionists, One-Sentence Journaling, Wabi-Sabi Journaling.  People want to make meaning in life. I believe that we don’t FIND meaning in life, we MAKE meaning in life. But people sometimes need permission to work deeply. I can’t give them permission, but I can show them how to give themselves permission.

Summer in the Sonoran, by Quinn M.

Q. How does this project fit in with your journaling classes?

A. It’s a great fit. I see the importance of journal-keeping, and I’d like other people to join this great project of self-expression, imagination and communication.

Q. How did you choose the theme topics for the journals—did you choose them or did you seek input? Why did you go the route you did for selecting the theme?

A. Andrea told me that some people are more eager to write it they have a focus. Then Lynn Trochelman, the president of the Avondale Friends of the Library, wrote me. She also mentioned theme topics. We tossed around some ideas, and I chose Travel (real and imagined), Dreams (daydreams, nightdreams and wishes), Summer in the Sonoran, and an unthemed book. Erin Blomstrand, on the faculty of Estrella Mountain Community College in Avondale, had some excellent ideas about using journals in self-expression.

Q. How is the project going so far? Which journals are getting the most “action”?

A. The project is going well, but I’m always open to more ideas, more suggestions. The books are all out for their second trip. I have waiting lists for all the books. I may start another Travel journal, because it has the longest waiting list, and I don’t want people to become impatient. I also want to give each person room to make meaning—to contribute in a meaningful way.

Q. Are the journals circulating primarily in your local vicinity (Phoenix, AZ) or journeying around the country?

A. The Dream Journal went to Cabin John, Maryland, first. It’s now in Kennesaw, Georgia. When it comes back, it will make a local stop and then go to Thousand Oaks, California. The unthemed journal is scheduled to make stops in Australia and the Philippines, then go to Bosnia. This is really a world-wide project. The Sonoran Desert journal was originally called “Summer in Phoenix,” but now will go to Tucson, too. It may well wind up in the Australian desert, and then I’ll have to rethink the purpose of this journal.

Q. What do the journal-writers fill their pages with? Are they primarily visual artists? Writers?

A. They are primarily journal keepers. They can write, collage, stitch, draw, paint—whatever makes meaning for them. So far even the pages with art on them have writing on them as well.

Q. Have you had any trouble getting journals back? Do you think having designated journal-circulators enhances the final results? How?

A. I did send out a journal to someone who told me not to send it till she got back from Italy. I have a spreadsheet with the information on it, but the date notification slipped underneath the row above, and I didn’t see it. So it will be delayed for a bit.

I’m far more controlling than “Someguy,” because I’m intensely interested in the content. So when people sign up, I ask for their address, their e-mail, their phone number. Before I send the journal out, I send an e-mail. In the case of the woman in Italy, I sent her an e-mail, and left a voice-mail that the journal was coming, but did not wait for a return e-mail or call. I will from now on. As these books travel, they become more and more precious.

Someguy always knew he wouldn’t get all the journals back. And for him, it was an art project. That automatically meant that he could not be attached to the outcome—he couldn’t control what people put in, if they destroyed someone else’s work, if they burned or ripped pages.  That was his art project, for him to design. My project is a bit different. I’m far more interested in the content—watching people make meaning, express themselves, working in conjunction with strangers they don’t know—so by circulating it, and getting it back each time, the outcome will be different. People will read what others wrote and that will influence them in some way.

I scan the pages and post them, both on my website and on the 1001 Journals Project space, so people can see the progress of the journals. I think that affects the outcome. I’m also using libraries to circulate the books. I have several libraries that are interested in having me run a journal-writing evening, and then leave the journal for the library to check out.

Q. What would you say to encourage a blog reader to sign up to participate in the project?

A. Blogs are often visual, virtual journals. Most people who blog are making meaning. These books will probably exist long after the intangible blogs vanish. Anyone who is interested can sign up. I try not to tell people what they “should” do. I can’t want it for them.

Q. What do you think the ultimate impact of the project will be?

A. I hope to gather a large number of journals, and take them on tour to libraries, schools, museums. It’s a powerful project from a literacy perspective, from an identity perspective, from a cultural identity perspective. People who write in a book will read what other people said. Think about it. React to it. People who keep journals stand in a long line of writers and artists who have recorded moments of real life, defined a culture, recorded history. These journals capture a certain moment in time.

Someone called me the “Amanuensis to the Zeitgeist.” I had to look up ‘amanuensis.’ It means secretary in the sense of administrative assistant.  That’s pretty accurate. I’m making something much bigger happen, but it’s not about me at all. It’s about people who volunteer to express their creativity among stranger, and be confident that it makes sense. That’s how I see the project—a slice of different realities in one time period. Many voices in one book.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to add about the project?

A. This project is helping me make my meaning in life. I separated meaning-making from money-making. The project is not tied to any sort of income, so I won’t make creative decisions through my wallet. I did put a “donate” button on my website, as a way for people to participate in way other than writing—a contribution of a different sort, if they choose. The project takes up time, but there are also padded envelopes, outer envelopes and postage, not to mention the free and low-cost classes I teach.

I didn’t realize how much time I would so happily give to this project. My biggest surprise was how many people not in the U.S. want to participate. My second biggest surprise was that people are donating on the website, and doing it with kind, generous notes. It’s a humbling and powerful experience.

Fishing, from the Unthemed Journal

To learn more about the Traveling Journals Project, make a donation or sign up for one of the journals, visit the web page Quinn has set up for the project.

Photo courtesy of SXC.

Symphony in the Flint Hills
Later today, near the little Midwestern farm community of Florence, Kansas, something wonderful is going to happen. On a privately owned ranch nestled in the beautiful Flint Hills, members of the Kansas City Symphony will play an outdoor concert. This is the fourth such concert that’s been held in the area since 1994.

The day will combine outdoor education (nature hikes, presentations on geology, prairie plants, etc.), a “petting zoo” that allows concert-goers to play with symphonic musical instruments, and post-concert activities that include barbecue, stargazing and dancing. The goal of the event is, in the words of Jane Kroger, who organized the first symphony concert in conjunction with her 40^th birthday, “To provide an experience of great music in the Flint Hills, and bring together art and environment to nourish the soul. No politics and no hidden agendas; just a simple pairing of music and prairie for an unforgettable and soul-enriching evening.”

I love the idea of this concert on so many levels—the combining of music with education and fun, the community-building aspect of the day (the gates open at noon and food and beverage is going to be served on site until 11 p.m.), and the setting in the Flint Hills. I grew up in the Kansas City area and our family traversed the Flint Hills area at least twice a year to visit my grandparents, who lived in Wichita.

Even better, I may be able to give blog readers a live report from next year’s event! Many thanks to my high school teacher, mentor and long-time friend Sue Kidd for tipping me off to the existence of the Symphony on the Prairie. She has promised to get me a prime volunteer assignment if I show up! Stay tuned!

Firebox Inventor Contest
This may just be the world’s most basic invention contest. Come up with a good idea, send in a sketch/photo/tweet/etc. describing it to Firebox, a London “gadget” company, and you could partner with the company to see your idea produced and sold.

The contest website says it is looking for “all creative geniuses, visionaries, mad scientists, tinkerers, ponderers and garden shed inventors.” A team of judges will evaluate the ideas and the winning idea will be developed, manufactured and sold by Firebox. The inventor whose idea wins will receive 50 percent of the profits for the lifetime of the product!

The competition is open between now and Nov. 20, so you have plenty of time to stir your creative juices and produce something wonderful!

9 Ways People Respond to Your Content Online
Great post on the Lateral Action blog by Rajesh Setty that sketches out how people respond to material online, and how to truly engage them with your stuff. It includes a simple, yet useful diagram that illustrates the levels of engagement with online content, all the way from spam and “skippable” e-mails to content that gets sent, spread and subscribed to.

In the middle of the content-response spectrum (more or less) is “shift,” and I like the way Setty describes it:

“Shift: The article is transformational. The reader is so deeply affected (in a positive way) by the article that it shifts some of their values and beliefs. In other words, this piece of writing will transform the reader and make him or her grow.”

Although I think many artists are very mindful of the way their content is digested, I have encountered plenty of online content producers who are too busy “pushing out” their message to pause and consider whether what they are producing matters to their reader. This article is a wonderful reminder of what our aim should be if we’re using the Web and social media to introduce more people to our work.

Bonus Links!

Adderall vs. Creativity
Keith Sawyer, a scientist who studies creativity, explores the creative dark side to today’s favorite so-called “neuroenhancer.”

10 Blogs to Stimulate Your Creativity
A guest post by Roger von Oech on Blogs.com. Mr. “A Whack on the Side of the Head” rates 10 top blogs for creative inspiration.

The very first edition of my e-newsletter, Creative Liberation is out! It has been a “learning curve” to get it out, but I appreciate everyone who signed up to receive the first one!

Here’s a link to this month’s edition. If you’d like to sign up to receive the newsletter next month, you can click the “Newsletter” tab at the top of this blog’s home page and follow the directions.

Photo courtesy of SXC.

Move Your Body, Solve Your Problem!

Writer, academic and all-around interesting creative entrepreneur Gretchen Wegner recently posted her thoughts on a study by University of Illinois psychology professor Alejandro Lleras backing up the thesis that movement and cognition are related.

Lleras’s thesis on “embodied cognition” involved test subjects trying to solve a math problem. Subjects were given a total of eight two-minute sessions to solve the problem, which involved figuring out how to tie two lengths of rope together that were suspended from the ceiling and too far apart from each other to tie together normally. Subjects were asked to spend 100 seconds to finding a solution, interrupted by 20 seconds of exercise, per “round.” Some subjects were told to swing their arms forward and backward during the exercise sessions, while others were directed to alternately stretch one arm, and then the other, to the side.

The subjects in the arm-swinging group were more likely than those in the stretch group to solve the problem, which required attaching an object to one of the strings and swinging it so that it could be grasped while also holding the other string. By the end of the 16-minute deadline, participants in the arm-swinging group were 40 percent more likely than those in the stretch group to solve the problem.

Lleras concludes, based on his study, that embodied cognition may be a whole new way to approach creative problem-solving:

“I guess (the) take-home message is this: If you are stuck trying to solve a problem, take a break. Go do something else. This will ensure that the next time you think about that problem you will literally approach it with a different mind.”

Gretchen is doing her part to help shake creative folks into new mindstates with her MuseCubes, which are hand-crafted dice designed to help owners break out of mind-only thought jams. One die has suggestions for a body action (crouch, bend, etc.); the other suggests some sound to make.

Here’s a video showing the MuseCubes in action:

100 Most Creative People in Business

Fast Company has assembled a list of cool movers and shakers, as they often do as America’s unappointed trend-watchers.

In announcing the list, the magazine said:

“There are no rules about creativity. Which made constructing our list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business a tricky task. We looked for dazzling new thinkers, rising stars, and boldface names who couldn’t be ignored.”

The list is truly diverse, including well-known celebrities such as writer Nora Ephron and talk-show host/media empress Tyra Banks, but also including thumbnail sketches of lesser known people shaping the creativity and innovation landscape, such as Genevieve Bell, director of user experience for the Intel Digital Home Group, as well as Dan Barber, executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill restaurants and a champion of regional farm networks. Overall, it’s an exciting mix and one worth perusing for creative cross-pollination—or perhaps to search for supporters for that next great idea of yours.

Ironically, I read about the Fast Company list via an e-newsletter produced by the magazine and viewed most of the profiles online. I may be more of an outlier in my social media consumption (which I would peg as “moderate”) than I previously thought. Fast Company produced another article in conjunction with its 100 Most Creative People in Business showcase, “Why Are the Most Creative People in Business Skipping Out on Web 2.0?”

Writer Dan Macsai notes in the piece that as the FC team assembled the mini-profiles they noticed something interesting:

“We started—where else?—by looking for online profiles … when it comes to sharing themselves–not just their businesses, but their business–our creative class clams up. Only 33 have Twitter accounts. Just 19 maintain personal blogs. And four have Flickr pages. In fact, when we emailed bicycle designer Larry Chen (#89) for a link to his blog or photo account, he started cracking jokes. ‘I don’t have anything like that,’ he replied. ‘I use my computer for two things: Drawing and flight simulation games.’”

Macsai offers several possible explanations for the trend, including lack of time, lack of familiarity (especially for older creatives on the list) or a fear of seeming arrogant or narcissistic by leaving a cyber-trail of Flickr photos, Last.fm playlists, or Twitter tweets. The comments that follow the article are even more interesting; the opinions truly run the gamut of opinions about the advantages and downsides to social media.

Tips for the Traveling Artist

Celine Roque, posting on the Vagablogging site a few weeks ago, gave a few pointers on how to bring your painting supplies on the road.

She notes that as much as she likes to paint when she’s on the road, bringing lots of arts supplies usually ends up violating her one-bag rule. She notes that watercolors seem to work particularly well for her when she’s traveling.

“For trips where I’d prefer to paint, I’ll take a very small sketchbook and watercolors. … When watercolors get too dry, all you have to do is add a bit of water and you can use them again. Also, since watercolors require a lot of water, small quantities can last very long on the road.”

She also has a very inventive alternative to watercolors…

“If you want to take a more exciting and challenging approach, you can use readily-available materials. Some artists I know use coffee, tea, and natural dyes from plants. While these materials might not last as long as synthesized paints or inks, you can always coat them with a layer of transparent acrylic latex, fixative, or a preserving spray when you return home.”

One of the commenters on this post also recommended Dick Blick, an art supply company offering several types of watercolor travel kits.

Bonus Links!

Literary Tweets: 100+ of the Best Authors on Twitter

From Mashable.com. Literary and genre fiction writers who are on Twitter.

A Summer Project List (part 1)

Beginning of a nice series on organizing children’s art projects throughout the season, from Daisy Yellow blog.

Photo courtesy of SXC.

In the last installment of this series, we took a look at several large-scale social networks run by artists, for artists. We ended with Quinn McDonald’s smaller (but growing!) Raw Art Yahoo Group and that is a good starting point for today’s post, which looks at baby steps you can take to begin connecting with artists and innovators.

These steps will be a little different from those given in the first two posts for this series—instead of plugging into a pre-made solution, these options are a lot more hands-on/DIY. On the other hand, the result is a customized community-attracting site or tool that can help you befriend just the sort of persons you want and need in your creative life.

Ways to build a personalized creative community online

Create a Yahoo Group

One of the oldest cyber-connecting options and still one of the best, in terms of ease of set up. As a writer and editor, I think word-oriented people flocked to Yahoo Groups (in the same way they flocked to other types of e-mail discussion groups)—I’m not as clear on how coherent groups based on visual or other art forms are.

One of the keys to gathering your ideal tribe through a Yahoo Group is to let the world know it exists. Quinn did a great job of explaining what her group was about on her blog; she will be able to link to it in other situations and give interested readers a quick snapshot of what her community is about.

My experience as a Yahoo Group member is that the best creativity-oriented groups have a “critical mass” of members who enjoy interacting and sharing links, work, and thoughts with each other. Members understand a few simple ground rules (one group I belong to simply says, “treat each other with respect,” and that seems to work) and moderators are able to sense when to throw out fresh fodder for discussion, or when to contact an aggressive or inappropriate commenter off-list.

Start a blog

Another solid choice for community building that’s stood the test of Internet time. A lot of my friends who don’t blog wonder why anyone would want to know what they had for lunch (which is their little stereotype of what blog content is all about); I typically respond that if that’s all they have to blog about, they need to get some better hobbies.

This blog and my other one on writing and editing have given me a chance to meet dozens of other bloggers and hundreds of readers who enjoy thinking about the creative process. Beyond reading and responding to the folks who stop by and comment, my research for the blogs has led me to network with and befriend a number of exciting, fun, and productive artists, scientists and innovators.

I haven’t taken as much time as I probably should to visit the blogs of others and comment on their posts, a time-tested way of building blog traffic and meeting others. However, I have had great success in helping people learn more about my blog by linking to theirs in my weekly “Surf’s Up” post. Other ways to meet new blogging artists include contributing posts to blog carnivals and participating in a group blog.

A nice example of a group blog that builds connections between the group members, as well as those to drop in to comment or just soak up the atmosphere is the Creative Construction: Life & Art blog. A number of creative women, many of them mothers of small children, post thoughts on their new projects, challenges to daily art-making, and their responses to a weekly creativity prompt (here’s one related to Mother’s Day). The comments (from co-bloggers to each other as well as from, and to, visitors) are encouraging and warm, and it’s a wonderful place to drop by and sample slices of these remarkable women’s creative output.

Start your own social network

You don’t need a cubicle-farm worth of programmers or a marketing army—all you need is a good idea and Web 2.0! Ning is one of several do-it-yourself social network providers. I’ve heard really good things about the drag-and-drop ease with which you can set up a Ning community on just about any topic. I first learned about Ning when I joined a web content professionals group that was Ning-based; one of the most interesting creativity related sites I’ve found, one owned by someone I originally connected with on Facebook, is Sherry Gaynor’s Creative Awakenings network.  Her Ning community is a place for readers of her book, “Creative Awakenings: Envisioning the Life of your Dreams Through Art” can come to participate in forums, read and comment on her blog and meet each other and discuss the book.

The nice part about Ning-like networks is that you can create a group around a creativity sub-topic that you’d like to discuss with others, craft an environment that encourages collaboration and interaction, and do it all in a safe (password protection for most of the content) environment. It’s likely that Ning or similar set-ups would work for formal collaborations on creative projects, as well. Here’s a high level example of that at work: Global Sensemaking is a Ning-powered community that says it is “helping humanity address complex, interrelated global problems—such as climate change, energy policy, poverty, and food security—by developing and applying new web-based technology to assist collaborative decision making and cooperative problem solving.”

Start your own e-newsletter

As you might have noticed, this is one of my newest projects here at Creative Liberty! I hope to have the very first edition of Creative Liberation out in a few days—many thanks to those who have already signed up.

One of the best explanations (in a very arts-business context) explanations of why e-newsletters are vital for creating a “community” around you and your art comes from Clint Watson of FineArtViews blog. In his post “I’m Not Surprised Your Art Isn’t Selling…” Clint walks visual artists step-by-step through starting an e-newsletter to send to their e-mail list, one that is a harbinger of timely, relevant, focused information from someone that readers enjoy hearing from.

In another great post of Clint’s, he explains why cultivating connections this way is so important. Again, his focus is helping working artists sell their art, but his comments hold true for anyone wanting to become part of a community of artists.

“How do you START or GROW or NUTURE a clan? By being personal, timely and relevant. You must ‘be there’ at the right time, and in the right place to personally connect with someone, to start a ‘conversation’ (online or offline) with that person, and your goal, at that point, IS NOT to sell them your artwork directly (although it’s great if you do).  Your goal, at that point of first contact, is to get permission to continue the conversation.  In the real world, this normally manifests itself as permission to add that person to your email list, to add them your show mailing list, or perhaps even simply to schedule a follow up phone call.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s not about “sales” or about surface-level connections—e-newsletters, blogs, small-scale social networks and e-groups are all ways to connect with likeminded folks on the Internet, and share your passion for art and creativity in appropriate and fun ways.

The question to you:

How do you build creative community online? List your favorite connection tools in the comments below!

Photo courtesy of SXC.

Creative Elegance: The Power of Incomplete Ideas
Each month, the site ChangeThis.com publishes a series of “manifestos,” authored by innovative thinkers from a range of disciplines.

This month, Matthew E. May, author of The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation and the forthcoming In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing, has produced a 13-page classic on creative minimalism. I say classic because he is able to find the common thread of artistic excellence between things as diverse as the Tao Te Ching, the series finale of HBO’s “The Sopranos,” Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings and the “secret menu” available at In-N-Out Burger.

He begins his manifesto with a clear assertion that less is more:

“It is nearly impossible to make it through a typical day without exchanging ideas. Whether deciding on something as simple as a restaurant for a long overdue night out, or as complicated as the design of an entirely new product, we are forever involved in sculpting and selling our creative thought. Conventional wisdom says that to be successful, an idea must be concrete, complete, and certain. But what if that’s wrong? What if the most elegant, most imaginative, most engaging ideas are none of those things?”

Along the way, May also points to focus as a strong promoter of creative productivity. His mention of business expert Jim Collins use of a “stop doing” list is an especially important point—I made much the same argument in a guest post I made on the Positivity blog about the importance of a “to-don’t” list.

Photo Books & The Kindle: Is The Writing On The Wall?
This link from the Jim M. Goldstein Photography blog features an intelligent post and reader commentary about the technological progression of e-books and what this means for professional photographers who produce books of their work.

Goldstein, a nature, landscape and travel photographer, notes that the current iterations of Kindle and its big brother, Kindle DX, are not ready for photo-book prime time, but that won’t remain the status quo for very long:

“Kindle still strikes me as having a lot of room to grow particularly when it comes to real world use beyond text heavy books … Don’t get me wrong; I know the Kindle DX and Kindle use innovative parts, but compared to what is to come it will look quite primitive. Much can be said about any product I suppose, but in this case the best is yet to come, particularly with flexible OLED displays poised to become mainstream.”

He posits the two main questions for professional photographers interested in the future of e-books to be how quickly will photographers be ready to provide their photos in a purely electronic reading media and to what degree will the audience for fine art photography adapt to purchasing e-books. One reader also points out the potential for secondary sales (download this photo to your desktop, print a postcard, etc.) through hyperlinks in e-books.

All in all, the post is a robust discussion about how the rise of e-books will change how artists work to produce their content.

Are You an Idea Addict?
Mitch Ditkoff of the training and consulting firm Idea Champions recently broached an important point about the downside to becoming too attached to one’s own ideas, no matter how creative, on his company’s Heart of Innovation blog.

He relates the buzz we can experience when we develop a particularly tantalizing idea, but warns that we’ve crossed the line into addiction when we refuse to modify our idea because it’s become too deeply associated with our personality, it’s become so familiar that it would be uncomfortable to alter it, or because we’ve already invested mass quantities of time in its development and don’t want to feel that time was wasted.

He points to the example of Apple’s iPhone, which reached a late stage of development before CEO Steven Jobs realized parts of the design didn’t work for him, and wouldn’t work for customers, either. Although Jobs is quoted as saying he realized asking for change in the basic concept behind the phone at the last moment was a risk, everyone on the Apple team signed up to make the changes.

Jobs said:

“Sometimes when you’re in the middle of one of these crises, you’re not sure you’re going to make it to the other end. But we’ve always made it, and so we have a certain degree of confidence, although sometimes you wonder.”

I would agree. Sometimes it’s important to keep a few playful devil’s advocates associated with your business or on your personal “board of directors” to help you see the downside to your ideas, no matter how visionary or useful they may seem to you and your supporters. The point isn’t to have them shoot down your best ideas, it’s to help you see how your best ideas could be better.

Bonus Links!

Brain Freeze? How to Thaw Your Mind With Mind Maps
From SitePoint.com’s blog. Good intro to mindmapping and lists different software packages that help you do it.

15 Unusual and Creative Bus Stops
A public works design feast for the eyes from the Toxel.com blog.