Calling All Creatives: TEDxCLE

For the latest installment of Calling All Creatives, I had to overcome some obstacles before I could write this post: a possible closed event and a snowstorm. TEDxCLE is an independently sponsored TED event which promised to bring together some of the most creative thinkers in the Cleveland-area on a late February day during a notoriously snowy winter here in Ohio.

When I first heard about the event, from where exactly I can’t remember, I knew wanted to write about it for Calling All Creatives. Well, that was the easy part. I then had the difficult task of getting a ticket to an event that was taking applications for attendees. Yes, you read that right. There was an online application form that needed to be filled out to see if you qualified for a ticket first. This puzzled me for months, because it did not include the time and/or price. Would I want to be accepted to something I could not attend nor afford?

Luckily, about a month before the event, I started following TEDxCLE on Twitter, where it was revealed that tickets would be going on sale to the general public. And guess what? The price was extremely reasonable and the time fit into my schedule.

Immediately after the announced ticket sale date and time, I bought my ticket. Lucky for me that I did, because the next day or so the event sold out. So with ticket in hand, I was ready for my TED experience.

Five {5} Creative Questions with Karen Gielen

I am happy to introduce Karen Gielen this month, as she answers Five {5} Creative Questions.

Karen is a mother, artist, writer, and graphic designer. At 69% right and 31% left, she is considered an extremely right brain dominant thinker. Her interests include portrait illustration, advertising and marketing, graphic design, painting, singing, writing poetry and children’s stories, knitwear designing, photography, and numerous arts and crafts. Her repertoire of creative interests is constantly changing and she is learning that she needs to allow her creativity to flow where it wants to flow. Some days it wants to come out in her writing and some days only a pencil or paint brush will do.

Find Karen online blogging or tweeting under the handle cre8tivkj.

1. What does creativity mean to you?

I believe creativity is something everyone is born with. It is taking our thoughts, emotions, and experiences and turning them into something others can touch, see, or hear. As human beings we are all meant to be creative. It pains me when I hear people say they do not have or they are not very creative.

Everyday Creative: The First Month

Last month I wrote about why I was starting this challenge and this month I want to give you a status update on how I am doing. Going into this, I realized I wouldn’t be perfect, because humans like creativity can be messy and inspiration can often follow a non-linear route. Nonetheless, I am proud to say that I stuck with it (ok, most of it anyway) this first month.

The first week began by making creativity my religion. It doesn’t matter if you already have a religion because this is an addition to your current religion. Like religion, creativity is a way of life that also has rituals and ceremonies. Actually, one of the first exercises is to craft your own rituals for creating. I settled on starting my creative work with a positive invocation and affirmation statement and also working on small sketchbook collages to rev up my creative energy before tackling a big project.

The next few weeks were a little bit more challenging for me. They focused on not only finding a time and place to create but also embracing the mystery of creating. Time is such a complicated issue for me. I’ve yet to a find a balance between work, family and creating. This one is going to require some extra work on my part. So is the space issue. Right now I am working from my home office aka the dining room table and my art supplies are in various bins in a spare bedroom. Not an ideal situation and again something that I need to work on for the rest of the year.

The concept of creativity being a mystery I get. I’ve always felt that creating is a spiritual exercise and have been surprised by the mysterious nature that ideas pop into my brain. I’d like to control that better and understand more fully where those ideas are coming from and how I can increase them. The exercise for the mystery section really didn’t sit well with me because you had to create poetry for 3 days straight. Ok, confession time here, I hate poetry. I have no idea why, but I just do. So I skipped that exercise.