Lessons From a Creative Genius

    Image Source: the-colossus

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hear a real creative genius speak. Ann Hamilton has been one of my art heroes, since I attended graduate school and studied public art in the same city Ann had moved back to only years before.

Her large scale installations, with an amazing attention to detail, have fascinated me, so when I saw she would be speaking at the Cleveland Museum of Art, I cleared my schedule and made an intention to be there.

The trip and the experience were definitely worth the wait. Ann delighted the audience with a historical trajectory of her work and infused it with inspiring tidbits that I was able to capture in my small notebook. Here are a few of them, along with my interpretations:

"Work is created through acts of (our) attention."
This pretty much sums up not only her work, but any work that we do as creators. It is truly the focus that we put into art that makes it come to life.

"Making (work) is falling open to possibilities."
Another accurate assessment of the creative process. If it were not for the possibilities we would not be able to create anything. A nice reminder for all creatives.

"(You) need to be uncomfortable to make work."
How many times have you waited for the right time to create or the perfect idea to fall from the sky? Probably always. And how often has it happened? Probably never. Work is hard and you need to be uncomfortable to find the friction to create.

"Follow your questions and trust the things you don't know."
None of us has all the answers and that is why questions are so important to the creative process. Start with your questions and see where they lead. You may be surprised by the result.

• What lessons have you learned from a creative genius?

My Guest Post for Indie Biz Chicks

I was excited when Crissy Herron asked me to write a post on creative inspiration for her amazing site Indie Biz Chicks. The site provides useful information and tips on business, marketing and publicity for small women-owned businesses. It was a natural fit for me, so I jumped at the chance.

I also loved that the tag line for Crissy's site is:

"For Women Who'd Rather Work For Themselves, Than Work for the Man"

My post focuses on helping those of you who've been feeling that you need a way to re-invent yourself or your business, keeping in mind that Spring is the best time to make a fresh start!

5 Creative Tips For The Uninspired 
by Melanie Sklarz

We’ve all been there at one time or another. We found ourselves just stuck. It may have seemed like everyone else had already come up with all of the good ideas, and we had nothing. Or we had been working so hard on our passion that once we finished it, we didn’t know where to go next.

The best thing to do in a situation, like this when you feel stagnate, is to create movement, no matter how small, day every day. Movement increases the flow of energy around you and your ideas and before you know it, you’ll be inspired!

I’ve created 5 simple tips to try when you’re feeling oh-so uninspired.

• Read the entire article here.