Your Ultimate Playbook for Success: Unlock Your Creative Genius

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a huge fan of the Big Idea on CNBC. Last night just reaffirmed why I think it's such a great show. The topic was creativity - as you all know something I am quite passionate about.

The show highlighted how to tap into your own creativity plus how creativity is the currency of the future and featured some prominent creativity experts like Robert Epstein and Richard Florida.

One segment even featured the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize encouraging teams to design more fuel efficient cars for a cross country road adventure. The collaborative power of crowds and teams is a new area of creativity that is being explored and something I am extremely interested in too.

• For all the details, check out the Ultimate Playbook for Success.

Creativity Quote

"Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom while discouragement often nips it at the bud." - - - Alex Osborn

• How has positive or negative feedback affected your creativity?

Can Animals Be Creative?

(Image Courtesy of the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project)

Have you noticed recently that more dogs are wearing clothes? So, it was only a matter of time until animals became artists. Yes, Congo the chimp was famous in the 1950s for his paintings - Picasso even owned one. But recently, other types of animals from turtles to elephants are dabbling in the arts and painting.

Even horses are getting in on this latest art movement! Buddy, the painting pony was trained to grip a paintbrush in his mouth and later using non-toxic paints created abstract works on canvas. Now, he throws the brush on the ground and gravel and dirt end up on the canvas creating mixed-media works. Sadly, Buddy also suffers from a hormonal disorder so profits from his paintings are used for his treatment as well as donated to further research on the disorder.

Can animals be creative? Is art defined by intent or what is produced? All of these animal artists, as expressed through their human companions, are believed to be enjoying the process of creating and and even look forward to the next opportunity to paint.

• Thoughts?

Free (And Not So Free) Art Events

As I've mentioned before, summer, here in Cleveland, is my favorite season for the arts. There are so many festivals and art walks that there is no excuse for not getting out and visiting a least one to see what the local scene has to offer. I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised. Here's a sampling:

June

Murray Hill Art Walk
June 6 -8
FREE

Parade the Circle
June 14: 11 am - 4 pm
FREE

Clifton Arts & Music Festival
June 21: 10 am - 6 pm
FREE

Boston Mills Artfest I
June 27 -28: 10 am - 6pm
$


July

St. John West Shore Hospital Festival of the Arts
July 11 - 13
FREE

Cain Park Art Festival
July 11 -13
$

Chagrin Falls Annual Art Walk
July 17 - 18
FREE

Ingenuity Festival of Art & Technology
July 25 - 27
$

Waterloo Arts Festival
July 28: 11 am - 7 pm
FREE


August

Lakewood Arts Festival
August 2: 10 am - 6 pm
FREE

City Xpressionz Aerosol & Urban Art Festival
August 16
FREE

• See you there!

Do Flower Essences Improve Creativity?

In Greek mythology, Iris connected Heaven and Earth by creating the rainbow thus bridging the real world with inspiration.

Similarly, Iris essence is believed to increase your intuition and enhance creativity, especially if you are feeling blocked. Dr. Edward Bach made flower essences popular through the remedies he developed in the 1930s to help patients with emotional issues.

Today, spritzing iris essence under your tongue or applying it to pulse points daily may provide you with inspiration for your next project.

• Find it here.

Creative Materials for Art

Have you ever thought about what you could use around the house for your art? I'm not talking about traditional materials, but something, well creative. Creativity involves taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary.

(Photo Courtesy of Jennifer Maestre)

Artist Jennifer Maestre uses pencils, which she cuts into small sections and threads like beads to create beautiful sculptures based on sea urchins. She started her work using nails but couldn't get them to create the effect she was looking for. She started looking at other pointy objects to use and found pencils worked best.

(Photo Courtesy Avon Heritage Duct Festival)

Another interesting use for a household object inspired an entire festival. The Fifth Annual Heritage Duct Tape Festival runs June 13-15 in Avon, Ohio. Besides the practical uses of this versatile tape, you can see sculptures and parade floats created using duct tape.

• Can you come up with a new use for a common household product?

Creativity Loses Value

The appeal of creativity has exploded during the last several years, with everyone from schools to CEOs proclaiming its importance. So does this eliminate the value of true creativity if everyone is seen as a creative thinker?

Possibly. Thinking creatively is a skill that should be taught and learned by everyone, but are we also learning how to apply that thinking for every day solutions? Probably not. Most creativity books and classes preach expressing our creativity but few help us to use it constructively.

The Arts Column in the Telegraph (via the Applied Imagination blog) recently explored this topic emphasizing the need to learn more skilled crafts or at least a practical use for creativity as this, not solely ideas has sustained humankind.

• Agree or disagree?