For years, like many others, I have felt I have had a book inside me. I have enjoyed writing since I was about ten years old when I wrote plays for my maternal grandmother, Nan and all her little Italian lady friends. I can still see them gathered in the living room sipping coffee and chattering on in Italian. I never understood a word but I can still feel their fascination and loving attention as they hushed each other when I stood at the archway to announce the play would begin.
Read More...John Magnet Bell: Photographer
Posted by Terre Britton
on February 14, 2012
37 comments
John Magnet Bell is a writer, translator and blogger, and many of you frequent his blog, “Start Your Novel.” This is the first writer-prompt site I ever discovered and I find his philosophy refreshing: “an adventure in open-source storytelling.” John freely gives away his ideas and encourages writers to run with them.
“Go wild,” he says. “I have tons of ideas. Why keep them all to myself?”
Read More...What Artists Have to Say About Intuition
Posted by Terre Britton
on February 7, 2012
8 comments
My favorite statement about how artists use intuition comes from Pablo Picasso. I have looked everywhere to try and find the precise quote, and can’t, but it went something like this…
Picasso told a friend that intuition was like having a carrier pigeon with a message land on your balcony. “The important thing is knowing that the pigeon has arrived,” he said, “you don’t have to unroll the message and read it.”
Read More...Training Creativity
Posted by Allan Douglas
on January 24, 2012
17 comments
Creativity erupts from some people like magma from a volcano; it requires no encouragement and you couldn’t stop it if you tried. Loathsome aren’t they? For most of us creativity is more like a puppy. It will frolic and play around the room, it may chew up our favorite slippers if left unattended, or it may wander off, curl up in its bed and nap. We have little control over what our cute little Muse will choose to do, and it rarely chooses to help pull the dogsled we call a Work In Progress.
Read More...Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking
Posted by Michael Michalko
on January 17, 2012
2 comments
You are creative. The artist is not a special person, each one of us is a special kind of artist. Every one of us is born a creative, spontaneous thinker. The only difference between people who are creative and people who are not is a simple belief.
Read More...Get Down with a Mashup
Posted by Terre Britton
on January 5, 2012
No comments
Gregg Fraley, author of Jack’s Notebook, gives a short interactive talk to the Institute of Cultural Research in London, July 2012.
Read More...PSI and Forced Association
Posted by Terre Britton
on January 3, 2012
2 comments
PSI is a simple approach that can be used in several ways.
As a simple thinking tool, it can trigger an effective thinking process.
As a framework for a whole approach, it can accommodate a number of methods of stimulating ideas.
Read More...Happy New Year and Thank You!
Posted by Terre Britton
on January 2, 2012
2 comments
I would like to express my gratitude to all the Creative Flux contributors for their high caliber work and stimulating insights, with my greatest appreciation to Terri Long who launched the site with her brilliant piece, “How Gender Roles Crush Creativity.” These thanks are also extended to all of you avid readers and savvy commenters.
Read More...Merry Christmas!
Posted by Terre Britton
on December 25, 2011
No comments
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Festive Kwanzaa & Season’s Greetings to you all!
Read More...A Sweet & Sour Christmas
Posted by Terre Britton
on December 24, 2011
4 comments
Can You Be Too Passionate About Music?
Posted by Jeanette Bicknell
on December 20, 2011
4 comments
“Why some performers’ attitudes may hurt them.”
Becoming a professional musician requires an incredible amount of work, and having a passion for music can help motivate the many required hours of practice. But can a passion for music also be destructive?
Music Appreciation: TEDxAmsterdam 2011 – Henkjan Honing
Posted by Terre Britton
on December 15, 2011
2 comments
Henkjan Honing cites studies and engages his audience in auditory participation to shed light on how absolute pitch is very common and relative pitch is very special and fundamental in music appreciation.
Read More...When Desperate, Flip
Posted by Gregg Fraley
on December 6, 2011
3 comments
Shifting perspective on a challenge, the framing of it, can lead to some great insights and ideas.
When truly desperate to get out of the box, one creative tool is to turn the challenge upside down, inside out, or “flip it.”
Read More...Being Prepared to Be Wrong
Posted by Gary Murning
on November 29, 2011
11 comments
Whilst thinking about how to approach writing this piece on creativity, I happened to mention the subject on Twitter. When I introduce particular themes to my followers, it’s quite often a deliberate attempt to get ideas bouncing back and forth, in order that I might discover a new angle. On this occasion, however, it was just a passing mention. I mean, I’ve been writing for over twenty years—what could anyone out there really tell me about creativity?
Read More...Oxygen
Posted by Patrick Ross
on November 22, 2011
12 comments
“Apply the oxygen mask to yourself before assisting your child.” The flight attendant’s instructions never fail to unnerve me. I understand the logic, but the words smack of selfishness.
Read More...You Hate to Love Them, But You Can’t Help Yourself
Posted by John Magnet Bell
on November 15, 2011
22 comments
Did you know that ‘monster’ and ‘demonstrate’ come from the same root word?
A monster is nothing if not an example, a reverse role model. Outlaws and monsters move in dangerous circles and they can see just fine in the dark, thank you very much.
Read More...Dimensions of Creativity
Posted by Trish Nicholson
on November 8, 2011
5 comments
You may have to be a little crazy but you don’t have to be unsystematic and unstructured to be creative: it’s more accessible than that.
Scientists and engineers are creative – the successful ones – the ones who take risks and have their Eureka moments. Tiny specks of matter, immersed in life-supporting fluids in a Petri dish flourish into cultures, new forms: how is this different to generating a story?…
Read More...Calling on the Muse
Posted by By Julian Gallo
on November 1, 2011
7 comments
“Even when you think nothing is happening, the creative process is always working.”
I’m going to state the obvious: The creative process is not the same for everyone. Each of us come to the page, the canvas, the instrument, the marble, the clay, with something we feel we need to express.
Imagine You’re On A Ship
Posted by Sean Giorgianni
on October 25, 2011
1 comment
Twitter: @ReadHeavily Imagine you’re on a ship. Without warning, unknown sailors—or pirates, or your family, or your friends, it doesn’t really matter—tie you up. You can’t move your hands and feet. They toss you overboard. You sink. Air abandons you. …
Read More...How Gender Roles Crush Creativity
Posted by Terri Giuliano Long
on October 18, 2011
4 comments
Twitter: @tglong The recent firestorm surrounding the J Crew ad (also included below) that showed a mom painting her son’s toenails hot pink appalled me. Set aside the repulsive homophobia—Ms. Lyons, one naysayer complained, is “exploiting [her son] Beckett behind …
Read More...Welcome
Posted by Terre Britton
on September 26, 2011
1 comment
Welcome to Creative Flux, where artists and free-thinkers share their thoughts on the arts and the process of creation: be it the moment of inspiration or the follow-through to something concrete.
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