norman's website
  • Home
  • Blogs
    • Scraps of life blog
    • Creative Academic >
      • BYOD4L BLOG
    • Garden Notes
  • Books
  • Change
  • Creativity
  • Professional services
  • Contact me
  • luminate
  • OU employability
  • Qinghai
  • CISC
  • NTU
  • creativejam
  • CRC
  • GMIT
  • BNU STUDY VISIT
  • AIT
  • portsmouth
  • DIT
  • TLC
  • BERA
  • ICOLACE4
  • PDP
  • OUC
  • MMUni
  • Derby
  • dmucreatives
  • Chester
  • Brighton
  • Buckinghamshire
  • Hallam
  • St Marys
  • LIMERICK
  • kingston
  • UWL
  • SEDA
  • MACAO
  • Beijing
  • IFIUT
  • CRA seminar
  • FBSEworkshop
  • birmingham
  • Creativity in Higher Education
  • graduatestandardsprogramme
  • MAKING MEANING
  • Untitled
  • Blogs
  • SURVEY
  • bits and bobs
  • roger

Mediums for Creative Self-Expression

22/1/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
In a design brief for some training and development I'm doing I was asked to address the idea of 'mediums for creative self-expression'. In spite of having invested a lot of time thinking about creativity over the last 15 years I have never really sat down and thought much about the mediums I use. They are taken for granted.

The context in which people work, study, play and socialise includes the medium through which people are able to express themselves through what they do and how they do it. The medium is an agency or means of doing and accomplishing something. In the context of personal creativity it is the means or mode of creative expression. 

According to Ken Robinson the medium rather than the context is the vehicle for creative self-expression. 'If you’re doing something creative, you have to be working in a medium. My experience is that the most creative people love the medium that they work in. Musicians love the sounds they make. Writers love words. Mathematicians love the abstractions that numbers make possible. Engineers and architects love building things' (Robinson  2007).

Picture
For an artist the medium is his art - his drawing, painting or other form of creative expression and it includes the media he uses to create his representations, his sketchbook and tools for sketching and colouring. Or, if he is a digital artist - a computer or digitising pad, scanner and camera or smartphone and software to process and manipulate the images. For a writer his medium for self-expression is the words he writes be they in a notebook or on a word processor. For a performer like a footballer, his medium is the game of football he plays and his tools are the ball and the boots he wares.

Finding the medium or media for creative self-expression is an important and continuous search across and through all the spaces and opportunities in our life if we want to find joy and live a fulfilled and meaningful life. Looking back through my life as a teenager I loved drawing and painting so I was used to the medium of the artist. Later I swapped my sketchpad for a field notebook as I became a geologist. My context became the 'field' and my medium my field sketches and the maps I produced as I observed and interpreted the world around me. Geological mapping is a craft that combines observation and critical thinking with imagination. In the classroom as a teacher, the lecture or practical became my medium and the resources I produced and used were my tools to engage and encourage students to share my love of my subject. These techniques were later adapted for educational professionals as I morphed into a higher education researcher, policy maker and developer. In this way, although the contexts have changed the medium through which I have expressed myself have generally remained constant.  Outside my work I have enjoyed expressing myself through my garden and being in a band where I play drums. All these contexts, and more, provided me with challenges and opportunities, in which I could create a sense of purpose. Within them I found a 'medium', the means of doing and accomplishing something that I valued and within which I could create something - mostly by myself, but sometimes with others.

The medium I prefer to express my ideas, imagination, beliefs and values in is writing. This has always been the way since I wrote my dissertation as an undergraduate, through the papers and thesis I wrote as a postgraduate, through the articles and books I have published in my fields of geology and education and now to the articles and blogs I write and most recently a book about my family's history.


In recent years I have come to see myself as first and foremost a writer, then a developer, broker and lots of other things. Some would say I'm sad spending so much time sitting at a computer writing. My wife sees my writing as work, and there is a discipline that makes it work-like, but it often feels more like a hobby because of the pleasure and satisfaction I gain from it. Through  writing I explore my ideas and imagination and bring some sort or order and meaning to their randomness as they are connected and contextualised.

There are many definitions of creativity but as a writer I have always had a soft spot for Dellas and Gaier (1970) who suggest that creativity is the desire and ability to use imagination, insight, intellect, feeling and emotion to move an idea from one state to an alternative, previously unexplored state. That sums up very nicely what often happens when I sit down to write about a subject I know little about - like this blog. The process of crystallising thoughts in words is the way I discover and consolidate what I understand and believe. 'How do I know what I know until I say it?' is very real to me. Through writing I appropriate the ideas of others and make them my own connecting them to what I understand and adding to my understanding in the process. It's mostly a solo experience - so in answer to the question do you prefer to be creative on your own or with others, I would have to say that on balance, and in the context of my preferred medium, my preference is to work by myself. Although, there are certainly times when it is a joy to write something collaboratively.

The desire to write is often what gets me up early in the morning (including this blog today). I have a thought in my head and that provides the stimulation and motivation and I get annoyed if something gets in the way. It's the medium that provides me with the means of doing something useful (to me) with the idea. When I sit down to write I usually have a bit of an idea about what I want to write about but not much. The words have to be invented as I write. When I get stuck I might google and do thanks to serendipity I will usually find something that someone has written that triggers new thoughts and ideas. I sometimes also bounce an idea off friends who will offer their perspectives. For example yesterday I wanted to start writing something on the creative affordances of social media but didn't know where to start. So I wrote down some simple propositions and emailed them to a couple of knowledgeable friends and within an hour or so I had their perspectives, as well as confirmation that what I had written was okay. This enabled me to progress my understanding in a way that was useful to me.

The medium enables immersion. By that I mean I can lose myself in the process for hours, sometimes 10 or 12 hours in a day. It's not all fun though and there are often negative emotions and feelings of dissatisfaction as I struggle with something or lose something that wasn't saved, as well as more positive feelings as stuff emerges. Writing is a process that results in a product but the product emerges through the process and that is where the magic lies. So at the end of writing this piece the collection of connected thoughts and feelings that have been crystallised into words did not exist before.

I enjoy writing for different audiences and in different styles - essays, academic articles and books, magazine articles and blogs to name a few. The space I write in is not so important - I can write anywhere and anytime but I prefer writing in my own space,which is my office - a converted garage where I'm surrounded by own things and connected to the world via internet. This perhaps is because leaving the house and walking to the garage is like going to work where I know I am going to be disciplined. My office space is my equivalent to an artist's studio. It's full of stuff that has meaning in my life. Like many an artist's studio my office is quite messy but I can generally find things I need. I remember reading that when they broke into artist Francis Bacon's studio after he died it was knee deep in discarded drawings and paintings. In life he reasoned that in this environment he created order out of chaos and I have used that as an excuse for my messyness ever since.


My preferred writing tool is a laptop/word processor - I use an old version of word. I cannot touch type but I'm quite fast with 2 or 3 fingers and I type as fast as I can think and compose. I sometimes write with pencil and paper but I notice that when I sit down at my laptop I ignore what I have written and just write. But coming to it freshly, after having thought about it, generally makes it easier. Writing is an emotional rather than clinical affair: I often listen to music when I write and I choose music that fits my mood.

The second medium I am at home with is visual representation. I like to turn ideas that are written in words into pictures - illustrations and diagrams, in particular. I enjoy the process of creating a picture in my mind but technically, I am not very good at drawing the pictures so I work with an illustrator to help me turn my imagination into reality. Sometimes I just tell him that I want to illustrate an idea and describe it to him in words and then let him interpret but this generally does not work. I have discovered that if I can create a design for him - usually based on cut and paste of figures he has already produced we get a much better result. To achieve this I've got proficient in using paint and photoshop to edit and amend existing illustrations or parts of illustrations.  - Here is a recent example formed around the idea of learning and developing in lots of different contexts. On the left is my collage formed from previous drawings with notes to the illustrator and on the right the new design created by the illustrator. The process is collaborative and we both feel that we have contributed to the process of creation.

Picture
Picture
Most recently, I have, thanks to Web 2.0 website building tools enjoyed creating websites in order to support my work as a developer and organiser of social enterprises and communities around the educational ideas I believe in. Weebly, and to a lesser extent other social media tools, like twitter have opened up a whole new medium within which I can express myself. The world has suddenly become richer for people to express themselves and share their creations.

Robinson, K. (2007) Fresh Perspective: Creativity and Leadership: Sir Ken Robinson in Conversation with Russ Volckmann Available on line: http://integralleadershipreview.com/ 5377-fresh-perspective-creativity-and-leadership-sir-ken-robinson-in-conversation-with-russ-volckmann/  

ADDENDUM
As I finished this post I found on Twitter this wonderful example of creative self-expression by the School of Life 
2 Comments
Julia Zakrewsky
9/5/2016 02:23:48 pm

Thank you for the beautifully written peice above on self-expression. I really enjoyed reading it this morning AND it was uplifting and helpful beyond words.

My best regards,
Julia

Reply
MckinneyVia link
17/5/2022 07:48:49 am

Thank you for sharing informative content. It means a lot to me hope you do more articles to post.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Purpose

    To develop my understandings of how I learn and develop through all parts of my life by recording and reflecting on my own life as it happens.
    @lifewider1
    @lifewider
    @academiccreator

    I have a rough plan but most of what I do emerges from the circumstances of my life 
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archive

    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories
    these are the tags I've used 

    All
    5C's Of Social Media
    Achieving
    Applying Learning
    Appreciation
    Attention To Detail
    Awareness
    Band
    Beautiful Day
    Being Influenced
    Being Influenced
    Beliefs
    Bonding
    Book
    Bucket List
    Caring
    Climate For Change
    Cocreation
    Co Creativity
    Co-creativity
    Collaboration
    Collective
    Commitment
    Communication
    Compassion
    Conceptualising
    Conference
    Conflict
    Connected
    Connected Learning
    Connections
    Constructionism
    Creativity
    Creativity In Development
    Creativity Nurturing
    Crowdsourcing
    Cultural Exchange
    Culture
    Curriculum
    Dealing With Emotion
    Dealing With Emotions
    Dealing With Setbacks
    Dealing With Situations
    Designing
    Development
    Disruption
    Disruption In Life
    Ecology
    Emergence
    Emergent Need
    Emergent Opportunity
    Emotion
    Emotion (negative)
    Emotion (positive)
    Empathy
    Engagement
    Enthusing Others
    Environment
    Experience
    Experimenting
    Facilitation
    Failure
    Families
    Family
    Feedback
    Fulfilling Our Purposes
    Goals
    Good Ideas
    Great Idea
    Growing Up
    Guilt
    Health And Fitness
    Histrory
    Ideas
    Identity
    Illness
    Inflections In Life
    Influences
    Influencing
    Information Flow
    Insights
    Inspiration
    Interest
    Intergenerational Learning
    Joy
    Juggling
    Knoweldge And Understanding
    Knowledge
    Knowledge And Understanding
    Knowledge Development
    Knowledge Working
    Leadership
    Learning
    Learning Ecologies
    Learning Ecologies
    Learning Ecology
    Learning For Teaching
    Learning Through Experience
    Learning To Cope
    Learningtoday
    Liberation
    Lifedeep
    Lifewide
    Lifewide Learning
    Lifwide Education
    Liminal Space
    Looking Back
    Love
    Making A Difference
    Making Progress
    Making Progress
    Making Something
    Managing Self
    Men's Sheds
    Models
    Motivating Others
    Motivating Self
    Motivation
    Motivational Strategies
    Motivation By The Spirit
    Motivations
    My Fitness
    My Purposes
    Narrative
    Narrative Inquiry
    Narrative Inquiry
    Natural Beauty
    Nature
    Neurological Process
    Opportunities
    Partnership
    Paying Attention
    Performance
    Personal Creativity
    Personal Development
    Personal Development Planning
    Perspective Change
    Planning
    Play
    Procrastination
    Purposes
    Reflection
    Relationships
    Remembering
    Retirement
    Role Model
    Sadness
    Sarendipity
    Seeing Potential
    Seeing Potential
    SEEK SENSE SHARE
    Self Motivation
    Self-Motivation
    Self Regulation
    Self-regulation
    Significant Personal Events
    Slogging
    Social Age
    Social Leadership
    Social Media
    Sorrow
    Spiritual
    Stories
    Survey Monkey
    Symbolism
    Teaching
    Teamwork
    Technology
    Tools
    Tradition
    Trajectories
    Twitter
    Using Technology
    Values
    Vision
    Visualisation
    Wellbeing
    Why?
    Willpower
    Work
    Working Out What You Have To Do
    Workshop
    Writing

    RSS Feed