creativity – better

Make … a list

26 March, 202024 September, 2022Posted in Artists, Better, Crafters, Freelancers, Small business, WritersTagged create, creative, creativity, Make, Making, planning

I use lists on most days. I have lists of work tasks and lists of home admin tasks and shopping lists. Last Saturday I decided to dispense with lists, and have a relaxed day.

My “listless” days in the past have been delightful meanders. I could wander into the kitchen and think of crumpets and spend some time making them. I’d notice that the cushions were dirty and put them in the washing machine. I would lie outside in the garden and read. I’d make tea. I’d remember that half-knitted blanket and do a few more rows. I might feel like some exercise and go for a walk, perhaps towards a spot where I could eat lunch. Listless, meandering days made a lot of sense once, as a break from my busy life.

But last Saturday turned out differently. My lack of a list left me lost. This small apartment did not present me with things to attend to. There are no bookshelves to tempt me with reading matter. No craft materials to keep me busy. Not being able to leave the apartment meant no walking, no distracting delights and certainly no lunch options at the other end of a walk.

I found myself feeling bored and listless, in an unpleasant way, somewhat dissatisfied with my circumstances, and with myself for not being able to think of something to do. I was not relaxed, but agitated, with my mind veering towards unpleasant thoughts.

For now, I’ve decided that every day needs a list. Listlessness is not helpful in abnormal times. Lists help to focus the mind and control anxiety.

So, I made a list for Sunday. It wasn’t like my usual lists. This one included drawing, meditating, practicing voice exercises, writing a letter. I listed what I wanted to read and things I wanted to learn about. I also listed ways to keep active – in this case, a pile of ironing. Making this list called for creativity, to identify nourishing and relaxing tasks that could be completed within the current constraints of life. It felt good to be creative.

Sunday was a better day. I had a list of things to do. When I felt lost, I could check my list and start the next thing. This list wasn’t so much about getting things done as it was about creating structure in my suddenly de-structured life. So, for now, with my maker urges curtailed, I will make lists and these lists will make life better.

Are all the Better people out there doing well, adjusting, and finding ways to create? Share how you are avoiding listlessness and staying creative in the comments below.

Soaring to new creative heights

23 June, 201824 September, 2022Posted in Artists, Crafters, JudyTagged art, Artists, birds, creativity, flying, Norwood

Yesterday I got to fly around the Spark Gallery in Orchards with a flock of the most beautiful birds.

The evening began in the gallery where we browsed some wonderful bird creations.

There was a short speech.

But then things took an interesting turn as a flock of birds appeared and flew among us, eventually leading us out into the garden on what turned out to be a wild adventure. The birds were fabulous with crazy costumes dreamed up from scraps. Blinds, plastic bags and blankets became wings. Beaks were fashioned out of bottles. Just as birds in their profusion of colour and shape, are a great indicator of the wild creative imagination of the universe, so these birds showed off the imaginations of the artists who dreamed them up.

Like all good adventures there was some confusion. The narrative was somewhat hard to follow. There were two men, one in search of “his” crow. They tried to get to the kingdom of the birds, but were blocked by a very scary wall.

Our protagonists got through the wall, apparently with the help of graffiti artists. It turns out that painted walls are less effective as barriers! But they found themselves captives of the king of the birds. After some debate, they (and all of us) were admitted to the kingdom of the birds.

Walking in to the kingdom of the birds, just as the sun set, really was magical!

It’s a land of well-feathered nests.

Here the king grants the two men the right to live as birds. We attend a meeting of the Ministry of Bird Affairs where a plot is hatched by the vultures, and the two men, to build more walls. But the king steps in to save the day and explain that love is all we need.

Well, love and the kind of creativity that this project has surfaced. I love that this is about everyday creativity, that it is not polished and refined, that it makes the point that creativity is for everyone with whatever materials you have to hand. What a refreshing way to spend a Friday evening. More of these kind of events will make a Better Joburg!

Birds of the Grove is a production by #ArtMyJozi and artists from Orange Grove as part of the Johannesburg Development Agency’s initiative to involve local artists in the development of the city. This particular initiative focuses on the development of Paterson Park which adjoins the gallery. A few weeks back I took a walk around the newly-refurbished Paterson Park. Some way to go still, but it’s looking good. If you haven’t visited yet, you should.

Coral reefs and tangled banks

29 October, 201624 September, 2022Posted in Artists, Better, Judy, Uncategorized, WritersTagged book, creativity, error, innovation, liquid networks, mistakes, platform, slow hunch

Steven Johnson argues that coral reefs and the tangled banks of rivers are the environments that best support innovation. These complex, messy environments that support a variety of intertwined life forms, have unique properties that lead to a rich, fertile and flourishing state. Rich, fertile and flourishing is what we are aiming for at Better. In his book Where Good Ideas Come From: The Seven Patterns of Innovation, (also subtitled The Natural History of Innovation in other editions) Steven Johnson delves into the history of innovation to identify seven themes which reflect on the conditions that support creativity. Some of these themes inform our vision for Better as a creative space.

Part of the vision for Better is that it is a place where people can share ideas, projects, knowledge and skills. We want it to be a place where you will be able to bump into people who share your interests and challenges. Andrew talks about it being like a bar for creative pursuits. You go there when you want to meet people and you can usually be sure that there will be someone there.

Johnson talks about a liquid network, one that is dense and viscous enough that ideas can move and collide. Solids prevent movement, while in gasses the particles are so far apart as to make collisions unlikely. We want to be sure that a range of people come to Better – not the same people all the time (which would be like a solid). We envisage having a member base large enough so that you meet different people on different days. We also envisage events that bring non-members into Better to provide fresh ideas. We want to make sure that there are enough people there on any one day for you to find someone interesting to share a coffee with, and we plan on using themed afternoons and evenings to make sure that you bump into the people who share your specific creative domain.

Another of Johnson’s themes is that of the slow hunch: ideas emerge slowly, they take time to mature and grow in response to information and impressions that are gradually added to. This idea reflects the growing concern to rediscover slow scholarship, allowing for deep ideas in academia to emerge. Slow scholarship, the movement’s slog (slow blog) explains, “is carefully prepared, with fresh ideas, local when possible, and is best enjoyed leisurely, on one’s own or as part of a dialogue around a table with friends, family and colleagues”. By being a physical space for actual warm humans, Better provides those local ingredients as well as the tables and the company. In particular Johnson notes that “pressures, distractions, accountability and supervision all work against ideas”. Better is a place where those pressures can be left behind, where you can contemplate quietly, and let your best ideas emerge, slowly.

Another theme in the history of innovation is that error plays an important role. “Innovative environments thrive on useful mistakes” says Johnson. So one of our concerns for Better is that it needs to be a messy space for trial and error, for experiment. One of the challenges of creative work is the ever-present fear that what you have made is not good enough. Particularly when it comes to the visual arts, so many people are paralysed by the fear of their stumbling efforts being seen and criticised. Better is a playful, permissive space, not only for the accomplished. We want people to try, to do things they have never done before, to produce misshapen mistakes in the process of learning and having fun. We welcome and celebrate things that go wrong or don’t work. We hope to see fabulous flops.

And finally, Johnson makes the point that innovation requires platforms, places where innovation can take place, where the habitat needed for innovation is built by what he calls ecosystem engineers. Better invites you to be an ecosystem engineer, and help to build a coral reef or a tangled river bank, to shape Better and make it into the kind of space that supports your creative process.