At a recent family dinner, Rebecca’s sister Jenny playfully “forced” everyone to make art.
Jenny Making Other People Do Art at Dinner Parties
We’ve written about Jenny before because she’s taken this habit up for years now since Rebecca used to get bored at family events and would pull out supplies to entertain herself. Others would often then join in. Jenny liked it so much that she now not only does art herself at dinner parties but she makes other people do it as well.
Art Is a Way to Relax People
Although Jenny doesn’t identify as an artist, she also enjoys both the fun of making art but also the way that people often engage in more meaningful conversations when they are doing it. Just like booze, it seemed to relax people and open them up.
Needing a Warm Up
So at this latest get together, Alvaro, the fiancé of Rebecca’s little sister Julia, said he wasn’t sure what to make (by the way, you may notice he is wearing a crown–this was to celebrate the fact that he and Julia had recently gotten engaged). It wasn’t that he minded doing art, he just didn’t feel inspired. As usual, Rebecca suggested starting with a mandala and explained that most people, even artists, need some kind of a warm-up to do art. Mandalas, in the simplicity of the circle, provide a structure for people to begin–it’s no longer the intimidating “blank canvas”. He was willing, even if slightly uncertain, and jumped in, making this first piece.
Creativity and Expression Flows
But then, as often happens, once he’d finished this warm-up drawing, he spontaneously moved on to another piece, this time without any need for structure. With broad, sweeping strokes, he made a landscape with a dark road that he intensely filled in with layers of black pastel. Then he moved on to another piece, this one even more loose and expressive.
Was It Art?
At the end, he wasn’t concerned about whether what he’d made was “art”, he was just more relaxed. And literally more “creative”. He’d made not just one piece of artwork, but three, each progressively looser and more expressive.
Being More Relaxed, Creative, and Expressive Changes the Mind
Because we were just hanging out with family, there was no need to take this concepts any further (e.g. with applying his warmed-up creativity to a particular issue or problem). But what we know is that becoming more creative, relaxed, expressive, and “looser” actually involves changes in the mind that can then be applied to the way we perceive things in our immediate environment and in our lives. Hopefully the impact this can have is self-evident.
Is Alvaro an Artist Then?
So is Alvaro an artist? Who cares?! At the end of the experience neither did he.
Here are four take aways that this example illustrates.
- Creativity often requires a warm-up
- Warm up often requires structure (like a mandala, a specific directive, or just putting some art supplies in front of you and playing with them, or being in the company of others who are being creative, etc.)
- Creativity helps be more expressive and loosen up
- When we loosen up we become more receptive, curious, and open-minded.
Handouts on the Topic
We suggest you click on the following links to explore some of the our handouts on the topic, e.g. Demystifying Creativity, one on the Magic of Mandalas and one on Creative Journaling (that can also be useful warm-up to creativity.s