Creativity Interviews
By Chris Dunmire
Diana Rivera teaches the art of Drama to children, arts integration to teachers and creative empowerment / success to individuals in the creative industry as a Creative Empowerment Coach. Diana develops original content for children's TV, children's books and professionally for the theatre. Her last show, "Boop," written in conjunction with Elisabeth Millican of Feather Lead, is about the creative birth of the character Betty Boop. She is toward the tail end to being a certified Core Energy Life Coach through iPEC and is developing a course entitled "The Creative Frequency" for emerging to mid-level creatives in Los Angeles.
Habits to Spark Creative Genius
By Jeannine McGlade
Human minds, bodies, and souls are equipped with a highly creative ability to sense things and also act on them in ingenious and industrious ways. While we constantly interact with our environment, our creative genius lingers in the background, waiting to be activated to produce creative expressions (style) and impressions (impact).
DaVinci's Genius Habits
By Linda Dessau
Davinci's Dimostrazione is about learning from our mistakes. It's about being willing to be right in the moment of an experience, and to challenge long-standing beliefs and opinions in favour of what you're actually experiencing. You know you're truly living in the present moment when you're lost in what you're doing, when time passes without you noticing, when you're in a trance-like state of concentration or when you're completely immersed in concentration on your task.
Fostering Creativity
By Abby Connors
I'm consistently reminded that my first impressions of a child's idea are often way off the mark. What looked to me like a dinosaur turned out to be a robot; what I thought was a puppy scampering was meant to be a unicorn. When I'm patient enough to really listen, and double-check when I'm not sure I get it, my students trust that their ideas will be heard and understood. This leads to more ideas, more raised hands, more confident sharing of imaginative suggestions.
Guided Imagery
By Molly Childers & Chris Dunmire
Is your creative work a source of comfort to you? This guided meditation allows you to visualize yourself in a cabin in the woods, where everything you need has been provided for.
The Nine Modern Day Muses
By Jill Badonsky, MEd
I would like to acquaint you with a creative concept in the persona of a Muse. The concept is paying attention and the Muse is Aha-phrodite. What does paying attention mean to you in the creative process? If you are so inclined to engage your brain actively in this moment (always a good exercise for strengthening creative muscles), make a list of all the ways your creative process could benefit from paying attention. Go.
Creativity & Inspiration
By Tom Evans
There are several states of being that stop light bulb moments in their tracks. I say 'states of being' as they are not limited to our state of mind. Light bulb moments are whole body phenomena. The very act of talking can suppress creativity, for the time we are actually speaking at least. This is especially if the thing we are talking about is of little consequence. Our aspirations flow on the out breath and inspirations come on the in breath or the still point between the in and the out. This flow is so subtle that is difficult to detect and tune into. Once you do though, the difference between external inspirational guidance and internal thought becomes clear.
Writing Inspiration & Encouragement
By Barbara Abercrobmie
Writing your own history is a way to make sense of your journey through this world. And finding a way to be heard, expressing what you think and feel, and at the same time bringing order and meaning to your life — isn't this why we all yearn to be creative? There are lots of ways to write your own history. You can buy a notebook and simply start writing down memories. Or you could exchange regular e-mails with a friend who also wants to write.
Inner Voices of Creativity
By Anne Marie Bennett
Have you ever been brought home to yourself when journal writing? Do you have an Inner Journaler? What does he/she look like? How long have you known about this part of your inner world — is he/she an old friend, or a relatively new companion? Is your Inner Journaler satisfied with the amount of journaling you've been doing lately? Why or why not? Ask him/her to tell you what he/she needs from you this week.
Art Perspectives
By Chris Dunmire
In my art appreciation class I was given the task to compare and contrast two pieces of famous art. Critera included viewing one piece in person at an art gallery and another online and report my subjective findings on the visual elements, principles of design, and differences of my experience viewing the art in each way. For my in-person piece, I went to Chicago's Art Institute to see Georges Seurat's iconic painting, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. Next, I found Constantin Brancusi's cherished series and piece, Bird in Space online.
Sidewalk Oracles
By Robert Moss
Part of the secret logic of our lives may be that our paths constantly interweave with those of numberless parallel selves, sometimes converging or even merging, sometimes diverging ever farther. The gifts and failings of these alternate selves — with all the baggage train of their separate lives — may influence us, when our paths converge, in ways that we generally fail to recognize.
Rock Painting Tutorial
By Ernestina Gallina
Imagine your favorite saying on a rock, a meaningful message for a friend, an expression of love or devotion written on the pages of an old book. This project will show you how to paint an old open book that you can personalize with your own text, for a very special gift that will last forever because it's "written in stone!" Choose smooth rocks that through the years have been gently smoothed and molded into the shape of a small ball.
Printable Writing Exercises
By Bonnie Neubauer
Take the Write-Brain writing challenge with one or more of these 20 challenging writing prompts, story starters, and creative writing exercises. You can also download PDF's of the formatted pages to stretch your imagination and flex your creative writing muscles!
Engaging creative writing exercises include: Ambidextrous | Muse-ings | One Sill a Bull | Onomatopoeia | Revenge of the Journal | Run-On | Scribble One | Sideways Glance | States of Mind | Tooth Fairy | It's All In Your Head | Comfort Foods | Dribbling Bananas | Emoti- Cans and Cant's | A Forkful of Spoonerisms | Hodge Podge | Invisible Ink | Take a Letter | Time Traveler | Truth is Stranger Than Fiction
