Creativity and Subject Matter

Yeah, I know...Dec 17th...whatever.

So, I think I'm going to start focussing this blog on the subject of creativity and originality, it would be a fun hobby to start reading and researching about.   

So, today I was watching a TED talk. 

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

He is a psychology professor at Claremont University and focuses on what makes people truly happy.  Well, during this talk I chanced upon, he discusses creativity. He said, it takes TEN years of technical immersion in a field before one can become truly creative.  He defines creative as: the ability to change something in a way that is than it was before.  

So, I guess the contingencies and variables can come pouring out from there. 

How large is the creation:  Think of revolutionary new theories in all sorts of fields.  Are we recreating an entire field of thought?  Or just one piece?  Is the level of immersion and experience the same for both?  

I remember Monty telling me in undergrad that philosophy students find themselves having what seem to be novel/original ideas only to find out with further reading someone has already thought that and written a book about it.  I had such an experience and I can tell you personally it's a frustrating and infuriating experience.  But as he said to settle my frustrations, when that happens it means the student is on the right track.  ( I would like to write about a universal logic following from this idea...as in, the entire field of philosophy is evolving together, answering questions and arguing with each other, moving forward together. but that's for a different time).  

So, one thing I've found frustrating with this painting experience is the lack of originality.  I have never been technically trained.  The last art class I took was ceramics, which I took in high school.  However, while living in Spain, and travelling Europe, I frequented just about any art museum/ gallery I could get in to.  So, I've done my own little personal art history course, but still this is just an absorbing of ideas and figures.  I didn't learn anything about DOING the art.  So...now what?  I guess what I'll have to start doing is, start at the beginning with technique, teach myself how to draw, how to manage space.  I'll have to try the styles of the classics and moderns, which will probably take about 10 years, then I'll get to begin creating.  That is where genius and greatness comes from, right? 

I am reluctant to agree with those ideas... I think of young prodigies, people who were not yet even ten years of age when they began creating.  It would be interesting to know if Mozart was considered to be a creator when he began composing at 7, or chess great Billy what's his face. My first task will be to reexamine THE CREATORS a long time favorite book by Daniel J. Boorstin.  The book is an extensively brief survey of various creators through out history.  Bach/ God/ Shakespeare/ etc... and canvasses a wide variety of topics, Stonehinge, the creation of the autobiography/ the change from the Egyptian formula of painting.  

Our "age" has some advantages as well as disadvantages.  IT would have been a little easier to create when nothing had been before.  Thing about all the culinary firsts, medical firsts, architectural firsts etc, some we know (penicillin) occurred from mistakes.  BUT...we are at an advantage because unlike the turmoil the Impressionists battled, we live in a time when creativity/ originality are embraced and encouraged.  Even Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol faced extreme criticisms, maybe when you're eliciting fervor of criticism you've got it right.  

OK.  shit, this has lost it's point.  Although I guess not, since it is simply an introduction to the new direction of my blog, a discussion of creativity/ art.  I think Picasso is my favorite artist and maybe the perfect example of Mihaly's theory, b/c he was classically trained.  He was hailed as genius at a young age and immersed in technically training.  It was from that training he was then able to create new styles, new foci, new techniques, new perspectives.  He was a master creator.  I will never acquire such a status, but i would like to atleast create something, someday.  

here it is

http://picasaweb.google.com/jessicajcampbell/Paintings02#

so, I'll be adding to these, and talking about them.

There are several in OKC that i need to get pictures of and add.  

I know they are crazy and weird, so if for some reason you look at them, don't feel bad for not liking them, b/c besides being crazy they are also not spectacularly genius or anything.  Ok.  

painting

I'm tired of painting things that look like things other people have already painted.

and I think I'm going to create a "picassa" of my paintings so I can talk about them and it can be known what i'm referring to. and...even though it is a frustrating process AND I like and don't like most of what is already finished, there are a few few few things that could be picturized.

("few few few" is to be considered in fraction exponentials)

You Tube of the Day

I Just Called to Say "I Love You"

s. wonder

No New Year's Day, to celebrate

No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away

No first of Spring, no song to sing

In fact, here's just another ordinary day

No April rain, no flowers bloom

No wedding Saturday within the month of June

But what it is, is something true

Made up of these three words that I must say to you

I just called to say, "I love you"

I just called to say how much I care

I just called to say, "I love you"

And I mean it from the bottom of my heart

No summer's high, no warm July

No harvest moon to light one tender August night

No Autumn breeze, no falling leaves

Not even time for birds to fly to Southern skies

No Libra sun, no Halloween

No giving thanks to all the Christmas joy you bring

But what it is, though old so new

To fill your heart like no three words could ever do

I just called to say, "I love you"

I just called to say how much I care

I just called to say, "I love you"

And I mean it from the bottom of my heart

Morning Person

I googled "morning person" hoping to find a definition/ article that would quickly and succinctly answer my question, but there isn't one...not even a wikipedia article!  the only articles are about whether you ARE a morning person, "take this 10 question quiz!"  or how to become a morning person "10 easy steps!"  This is not what I want to know.  What I want to know is:  does being a morning person only mean that you like to/ can wake up early in the morning?  (the common understanding) OR can it also mean, when you wake up in the morning, you are focused and energized?

This comes from something I have noticed about myself this semester.  When I wake up, which I will admit has become a disturbing 7:30/ 8:00 even on a Saturday (note specifically today...) I am energized, ambitious, focused.  The list of things I need/want to do rushes through my head, I'm undaunted, I'm excited.

One possible theory for this is that nothing has happened, there has been no interference yet, nothing to unfocus me.  My mind is clear.  I say this specifically related to studying.  For example, this morning I woke up wanting, repeat: WANTING to read Civ Pro.  I want to get on it.  Knock it out.  

So, maybe this has nothing to do with being a morning "person" and has more to do with the nature of the morning.  

(last night's painting went well-ish.  I fixed the background of a thing, worked on the face of that one...and I like all that.  I did a small thing/ portrait thingy that I have issue with.  i may change it.  One thing I have noticed...i paint younger people...i don't paint old faces...it makes sense, but I would like to paint old faces, they have so much character.  Young faces are without wrinkles and sags.  But I find that I paint the stress, guilt, pain into these young faces, which may be part of the statement/ message I want to make.)

love to all today

originality

Originality is a real son of a bitch.  

First, there's the question if there really is anything really original?  or maybe even before that, how would one define originality? And I guess even, is originality that important?  While I do question that, I also do have an answer.

Yes, originality is important.  Originality signifies the ability to think of something new.  I would say most people can "copy" but not everyone can create a new thing, (that i know creates an elitist mentality )  whether it be in visual art, auditory, whatever....most people with motor skills and a functioning brain, with enough time can recreate something.  To create something new though...that takes genius.  BUT even that...what does that really mean, what does that entail?  What if i take a bit from Picasso, a bit from Hodgkin, a bit from Van Gogh, but its a new composition...is that original?  What if I go totally from one artist...is that original?  you can tell its "inspired" by Picasso, but if it has my own twist is it original?  or is there a percentage? Lets say the work has to be 51% mine...a simple majority.  but ... how can you ever determine where that 51% in my head is coming from?

what if I'm inspired from the color of a bench, or the chrome of kitchen appliances, or the look on a friend's face?  what is that?  is that an original composition, inspired by things that already exist?  Am I being too rigid in my qualification of original?

One of my favorite books is THE CREATORS, it describes...the first Autobiography, the first skyscraper, the first portrait.... those are originalities.  OR.... are they really only extensions of ideas that already existed.  Biographies existed, journalling existed, the following of someone's life by the letters they wrote existed....is it not a logical extension to write a book about one's own self?  

I guess a big question is "how do you judge the value or worth of a piece of art?"  Things are loved for simplicity and complexity, beauty and horror.  Maybe it is so subjective it is meaningless to even pose these questions.  If I paint something I like, does it matter at all if anyone else likes it?  I guess that depends on my motivation for painting it.  

The whole way this started was out of frustration of paintings i'd done that i felt to look like other things.  So I thought...."maybe photography is the only original art", thinking that it contains images in a perspective that is so personal, it is only known and perceived in that moment to that photographer...but then immediately I thought "yeah...but...the style is not original"  

Maybe my standards for originality are too high.  Maybe everything in art is subjective and there is no use in creating standards except for yourself.  That seems like a lame cop-out answer...I would be interested in hearing/reading other perspectives.

Welcome to Life out on the Limb!

HALLO!

Welcome to the LIMB!  There are many limbs to be out on, welcome to mine.  I'll give you a brief run through of some recent limb experiences, after i fill you in on my position, status, and approach to the world.

I'm in Denver.  I am a poor, lowly, loan-sucking 1L at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law.  I live in a studio apartment on the cusp of downtown and uptown.  I have no bed, BUT I DO have two couches to sleep on...i prefer this option...if I only had one couch, I think I would be a bit upset about the lack of the bed, but...with the two....if I get tired of the one couch, I can make a simple switch to the other and its like a whole new world.  So, i guess that addresses both the position and status.  

Who a person is, is determined by action and mentality.  How can a person claim to be an honest person who values the TRUTH, but constantly lies and hides behind lies in their beliefs and processes in the world?  I want to be truthful, I have not been in the past, but I do try to seek that out as much as I can.  Motive is essential.  If I give candy to a child, that could be a good thing, if I'm doing so to get the child into my car to kidnap them....das icht nit ser gut.  If I befriend you to get to your boyfriend...also...bad.  It is hard to determine things about yourself, not less other people.  This is also why reflection of your own intent and motivation is imperative to the developing self.  I want to be a developing self.  I want that also for all people I know and interact with. 

I want the world to be a happy place.  We have, to the best of our knowledge, one life to live (is that a soap opera?).  The lots in life people have been given are unfair and unequal.  Why my life should be so easy and others' so filled with pain is unknown to me.  The following statement is indicative of my view on ethics:  It makes me feel better to try to correct this imbalance.  I guess I subscribe to the idea that to whom much is given, much is required.  I don't know that I believe there is a 'requirer' but I am uncomfortable with this disparity.  I am uncomfortable with people being taken advantage of by those with power.  I want to find ways to stop that advantage-taking.  (can you tell I have to write personal statements to apply to schools?)  

Some likes and dislikes:

LIKES:  (order derives from how they came up in my head)  European History, Art History, Art--- Impressionism and the Impressionists (esp. Van Gogh) , Picasso, Hodgkin; Music:  The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Fiona Apple, 60's, 70's, i like to listen to the same song over and over and over again.  I like food.  but not too much at the same time...yuck...ie., "all you can eat buffets"  gross!  CHOCOLATE, fresh spinach or in eggs or alfredo sauce, I like Italy, I LOVE Sintra, I heart Espana, I want to work at the Hague, I like distinctions, I like dancing...ok...i love dancing.  I live wine.  I heart peace.  "i like it, I love it, I want some more of it".  I like Left Hand Milk Stout, Newcastle and Guiness.  I like to wear black, i like to decorate in red and dark brown and cream.  I like my hair wavy and straight, but definitely blonde and short.  I like to think about architecture, fashion and music recreationally.  I like dancing to Chitty and Rad.  I like the Gap.  I like Europe.  I like the world.  ok..that's good on that... now to dislikes....OOH...Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor, and Simon and Garfunkle, dancing at electro and Vampire Weekend, and painting on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday nights!!!! (must be added to the LIKE list...OH...and "the cabin")

Dislikes:  war.  (i'm starting slowly here), discrimination, racial jokes, fanaticism (any kind)  the smell of cottonwood, hair in the shower, sink, couch, pillow...gross.  slow driving, when people don't go immediately when the light turns green...actually slow reactions almost any time...young kylie minogue, bad breath (causes a vomitous reaction) ew...throwing up.. passive aggression, passive affection, standers by, caring about being photographed with a "famous person".  pettiness, lies, fake, wasting my time.  I do not like Aztecs, corvettes, new mustangs, round headlights on Exterras, german history, the Gulag, the Bush administration, fundamentalism, when people are mean to children.  

 

yeah...i mean...that doesn't really "cover it"  but its a start....