Spirits Dancing » creativity

Till it looked O.K.

Hil — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:19:44 +0000

Actually, my favourite Sendak picture book is In the Night Kitchen. I love the illustration, the cityscape made from kitchen packets and utensils, the dreamlike whimsy of it, and Mickey’s confidence. Above all, I like the part where he models the dough into a plane:

What better way to describe how you go about the creative process? I was delighted to find this lovely video animation of the book, adapted and directed by Gene Dietch, complete with jaunty music:

The Magic of Marionettes by Anne Masson

Hil — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 13:49:03 +0000

I remembered yesterday that the tip about storing marionettes by twirling them so the strings twist up together (in the comments under my last post) came from a lovely book called The Magic of Marionettes by Anne Masson. It was given to one of my kids, but I got a great deal out of it too, not so much because it was about puppets, but because it is written with a real understanding of the delight and empowerment that creating and making something can give you.

The book covers how to make the puppets, how to put on a performance, write a simple play, and it discusses props, scenery, sound effects and scripts that might be used, while keeping lots of room for individual creativity, and emphasizing that the process is as important as the result.

A Meander towards a Fourth Dimension

Hil — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 07:53:00 +0000

I like the old stonework and bluest of blues in Oxford Blue, a photo by Robert Silverwood. And it reminds me of my Cyber Hall drawing which was to be a virtual Union building site map for the Indiana Uninversity Alumnii Association. It was my friend Amy‘s initiative, and we worked closely together on it, as we did at Pemberley .

A while ago, Amy was musing about Kosso’s question, are you a createc?

‘I’m not as programmery but can find my way around under the hood. I
have less graphics savvy, and lean a little more to the verbal side.
Maybe there should be a scale with those three dimensions or aspects to
measure one’s createc quotient (C.Q.).’

I think there is maybe a fourth dimension as well, which Amy has in spades. Its an openess to the fluidity and feedback loops in the non-linear creative process: the ability to share and trigger creativity in others, and be open to and build on ideas coming back.