Understanding creativity

Attitude
Knowledge
Imagination
Habitat
Resources
Culture

In seeligs innovation model you can see that attitude, knowledge and imagination overlap. This is because these three parts of the engine are intermal and come from inside you - they are inside the mind and perhaps nobody else can influence them.

On the other hand, culture, habitat and resources are of the outside world. Although these do influence the process of imagination transforming knowledge into ideas, I do believe that all six of these engines are essential for creative problem solving, along with confidence.

Attitude is an important engine because turning ideas into reality is never straight forward. It definitely requires motivation and drive. It is important for the individual to be able to motivate themselves and again, comes with confidence.

Seelig believes that knowledge is seen to be fuel for the imagination, without knowledge the imagination won’t be fantastic. For me, imagination is how we connect and combine ideas, they could be seen as puzzle builders for some people. Seelig believes that to be creative you must have a depth of knowledge as a starting point. When I’m working on some art work and I come to a hurdle, I have to build upon my knowledge and provide myself with tools to overcome the problem. This could be the case with anything. You then pay attention and know for next time – the more we know, the more resources we have.

Knowledge is parallel to resources in the model because according to Seelig, a person’s knowledge depends upon their resources. If you have loads of resources your knowledge will be greater and if you don’t have much knowledge, this is because you don’t have many resources? She says that the more you know about a certain thing then the more likely you are to get funding. She says “It’s really important to look at the interrelationship of all these pieces and not look at them in isolation.”

On the other hand, Habitat is outside of imagination and not parallel to it. This is because ‘’habitat is the externalization of imagination’’, according to Seelig. We have to imagine certain environments first, before stimulating our imagination. I do believe that the environment affects the way we think. Does this mean that the types of environment we build, effects our imagination? This could be true for knowledge and resources as well.

I believe that resources should be viewed more broadly to include time, people etc. This is because I think people tend just to associate resources with money and materialistic things.

Seelig believes that creativity can be taught but I believe that we are all naturally creative. We are all creative as we respond and communicate to the world around us / to our environment. She says ''Interacting with the world requires creative problem solving every day''.

Every sentence we say is unique, our brain thinks about every single thing we say and every action we make. The environment and our culture could be a problem because these have been squashed - Seelig believes that our education system is to blame for this and I would agree with her because at school we are brought up to believe there is only one right answer and schools also favour multiple choice tests, where again, there can only be one right answer.In school I sometimes felt under pressure - especially in front of the class because we were often forced to memorize facts and figures. We were never pushed to think outside the box, and were scared of being wrong.

5 Words

My previous post was about a play dough model representation of where I want to be in 5-10 years time. So, I thought I'd pick a few words describing how I'd like to see myself in 5-10 years time. I decided on

Happy,

Inspiring,

Appreciated

Committed

Successful.

Throughout this post I will give a quick explanation of why I have chosen these particular words / what they mean to me.

Happy – when someone mentions ‘happy’ I think of ‘content’ or ‘fortunate’. I am very fortunate to be able to have a close family who support me whatever I decide to do. I am fortunate to be given so many opportunities and experiences. These experiences have shaped me to be the person I am today. I think that bad experiences and just as important as good ones because you can learn from them and they can make you a stronger person. When I have produced bad artwork or have been given bad feedback I take on board the advice and improve for next time. I like the sense of pride when iv completed a good piece of work. I feel like if I am happy, it has knock on effects and benefits.

Inspiring – I would like to have the effect of inspiring somebody. After I have finished my degree I would like to become an art teacher in a high school. I would like to think I could inspire young people to want to do well in the subject, to become more creative and be motivated to produce work and succeed. In the future I would also like to have a family, where I would defiantly like to inspire my own children to be the best that they can be by teaching them manners, helping them academically and by guiding them down the right paths.

Appreciated – I would like to feel appreciated in 5 years time. I know I am going to give everything to achieve my goals and it would nice to feel like people valued me. If I did become an art teacher, I would treat the pupils with respect and think highly of them. I would hope that they would think highly of me too as I would always push them to be the best artists they could be. I would also like to be appreciated by my friends and family.

Committed – I would like to be commited in 5 years. Some commitments are like marriage. I would like to be commited to a job, by showing up and doing the job well. Throughout the next 3 years I intend to be committed to this art course by producing the best work that I can. I will do this by turning up every day and staying in the studios or in the library when im not working at home. Every piece of work needs to be finished - I will finish one piece before moving onto the next.

Successful – I chose this word because I thought it was the hardest one to define. In my opinion ‘successful’ is hard to define because different people have different goals. Schools define success by grades eg  A*, A, B. In school I was never the most intelligent and in science, my C grade was the equivalent to another pupil’s A*. My mum used to give me so much help and confidence and I think that was so important because teachers wouldn’t praise a student for getting D grades, but if that was the best they could do then why didn’t they?  In 5 years I would see myself as successful if I was a teacher, or even if I was a step closer to being one.

My 3D representation

In one of our lectures last week we were told to create a quick 3 dimensional representation (using play dough) of where we want to be in the future, accompanied by a description which explains what the work represents and how we arrived at it.

Here is my model

At first I thought about making a see-saw to represent stability. I would like to think that in the future my responsibilities won’t be weighing me down. The initial idea was to have one side representing me, and the other side representing my responsibilities. These could include a job, providing food, clothes and shelter for any children, educating the children, paying bills, cooking and cleaning.

After thinking more into this idea, I decided to stick with the idea of ‘stability’. I then made a mind map of other words I associated with being stable and these included

balanced,

constant,

strength,

support,

solidarity,

anchored.

I thought about making a boat, to represent me and an anchor to represent responsibilities. After studying my list of words, ‘balanced’ and ‘constant’ seemed the most appropriate. I then thought of objects including a bike, which seemed appropriate because I could make stabilizers.

I have been guided throughout all my years in education. I have been given ideas, help and support by ‘adults’. These adults are seen to be more powerful, thinking about a hierarchy.

A teacher is always more powerful than a student and a parent is always more powerful than the child, as they have more experience and know more about life lessons and society.

The idea was that eventually, these stabilizers are removed and in the future, I would like to think I am able to continue without these ‘things’ holding me up. I hope I am able to guide myself and at first, a child is always slightly unstable on their bike after removing the stabilizers. It’s the same thing, there will be times where there will be bendy roads, hills and obstacles in the way. These obstacles could be the electricity bills, the job or the children but with the right energy and determination, anybody is able to make it over the finish line and achieve their goals.

Have you settled into Uni and what are you most looking forward to learning this year?

Yes, I feel like I have settled into university quicker than I thought I would. I am from Leeds but I didn’t want to stay in Leeds and Huddersfield is a perfect distance from everyone at home – not too far but close enough I can bring my washing home on a weekend!!! Huddersfield is a nice city, it’s quite small but I like how everything is close together and in walking distance - it only takes me 10 minutes to walk to Uni.

I moved into halls on the 10th September 2016. I am staying at Saw Mill, on Kings Mill Lane. It’s really nice there, I loved it after the open days. I remember being really emotional that morning, I woke up early, which was very unusual for me (usually I have 25372 alarms set)!

I went to the printing shop to print off some photographs for my notice board in my new bedroom. When I got back my Mum had already loaded the car and I followed her to Huddersfield because I had no idea how to get here, even though its just one long straight road.

After I checked in, I sorted out my car park permit and started to unload the car. It took forever - there’s no lift in my block and I’m on the top floor! But I do have a nice view from my bedroom window. Here is a picture I took the other day.  

I went food shopping with my mum and sorted out my bedroom. I love it and it feels really homely. I thought it would take me longer to get settled but I do still go home on a weekend as I work on both a Saturday and Sunday.

As well as moving out I was also quite nervous about starting university. However, after the first day I was looking forward to the next 3 years. We had a tour around the campus and watched a few videos and power points. It was really helpful as we were given lots of useful information, about ipoint and about the course.

We spoke about the 3 strands on the course – illustration / contemporary art and illustration / contemporary art. I am just studying contemporary art and I really like how we have a small class. This means that we get more studio space to work in and more contact time with the tutors. 

The tutors are really helpful, friendly and supportive. They give good constructive criticism and I like this because it motivates me to make the best work that I possibly can! I think that's why everybody seems to have settled in so well - its nice to know your teachers are approachable and are open to any questions you may have. In the studio we all support each other and bounce off each other’s ideas.

I am looking forward to developing as an artist. I learnt many skills last year on the foundation course and I'm looking forward to developing them further through my practical lessons. I feel like I learn more through 'hands on' activities however I do enjoy looking at art magazines, collecting visual resources and researching artists. Over the next few months I hope to interpret and analyse their work (and my own work) in much more detail by looking at the form, context, content, process and mood of the art work.

I’m also really looking forward to the ‘CPiC’ lectures and learning about the history of art. I find it really interesting to see the progression of art over the years. How has society influenced the art that is produced today? I enjoy researching new artists and ideas. I'm excited to learn new things, expand my knowledge and understanding about the different concepts influencing contemporary art.

Wednesday afternoons give us the opportunity to listen to guest lecturers, which I really like the idea of. It’s so interesting to hear other people’s stories and it enables me to widen my knowledge and understanding of art. I do find it quite motivational and in the past I have found myself limited with knowledge and relied quite a lot on the internet. I have been making lots of notes over the past few weeks and I do feel quite motivated. 

After the first month at University I am happy to say yes, I am settled in and I’m definitely looking forward to the next 3 years. 

Image : www.caterlyst.com

YSP Notes

Last Wednesday we went on a trip to Yorkshire Sculpture park. It was a fairly sunny day and a great opportunity to gather some visual research for our projects - Environment / Where does art belong?

Here are some photographs I took with some brief notes I made throughout the day.

Not Vital

Self portraits compress two hind beaten silver boxes. I find it really interesting how the dimensions were based on Vitals date of birth. 15-02-1948. Larger box represents the year and is 19cm x 19cm x 48cm. The smaller box is 15cm x 15cm x 2cm. Work contains a sundried goat - an animal common in everyday life in Vitals home village and the scent of his studio at home in Agadez, Niger.

Heads (inspired by Buddah)

Vital began to paint portraits 7 years ago after he was surrounded by so many faces in Bejing. He began painting portraits on others before focusing on himself. It seemed like he considered how a persons identity would change if the circumstances changed. (location and political control). He used soft brush strokes, muting the grey and white tones. I get the impression Vital focuses on the internal character and personality of people, rather than the external appearance. The shiny and darkened surface of the heads makes them stark, compelling and concentrates the viewer on their relationship to the object and themselves.

Eight Halves

Repeated form of a deer's hindquarters, surreal strand. Animal bisected, multiplied and reconstructed.

Sled

Relates to life in the Alpes. Stillness contrasts with real life - speeding down slopes. Snowball appears to be held in suspension, frozen in time and space. I like how the 'snowball' has been removed from it's typical context.

Mountains

Native Swiss terrain experience of China. Stones and geometric shapes allow their presence to be the main focus. Piz Nair is a representation of a mountain in the Engadin that Vital has known intimately since childhood. It was made from coal that was mined from deep inside the earth in Mongolia. Ideas could've come from a child's imagination but with stark, minimalist aesthetic that contrasts with the exuberant concept eg a plane, a boat, a car (means of travel, relating to a Sled)

David Shrigley

Hand giving a thumbs up. Simple gesture and could be a self fulfilling prophecy eg bad things including the weather, the economy and society may benefit from positivity. David Shrigley uses oil paints and acrylic paints on some work and his work could inspire my 'text and image' project as his distinctive combination of drawing and text to create these large scale works on paper.  

Seizure

Roger Hiorns - nominated for the turner prize in 2009. Hiorns creates sculptures and installations using materials and processes which he has little influence over eg fire and chemicals. In 2008 he transformed an empty council flat in Southwalk, London into a sparkling environment of blue copper sulfate crystals. He pumped 75,000 litres of liquid into the former bedsit and crystals formed on the walls, floor and ceiling.

Litter

''Litter had quite a long gestation, it started as an observation a number of years back. I was driving to give a talk at a college and I passed what I thought was a field of white rabbits. Rabbits do not occur naturally so on my return I parked my car to up find that they were white rubbish bags discarded after a picnic and my art is based on that.'' Leo Fitzmauris.

Nishat Awan

Traces boarders of Europe, along the black sea and documents areas of refuge crisis. Visualises the continent from the perspective of those who inhabit it's edges and those who are in transit. I feel like there is a historical connection with this piece - how the States represent themselves through maps and how citizens and non citizens are defined. This project took 2 months to be documented.

Personal Definitions

My favourite artists were Teesha Moore, Greg Sand and Nikki Farquarson but as my working style has changed over the past few years I have used artists like Sol Lewitt as inspiration, who is a conceptual artist and looks closely at minimalism. Although he works in a wide variety of media, I particularly like his 'wall structures'. I like how his first piece of work consisted of graphite, then crayon, then later in coloured pencils and finally in acrylic paint.

Here are some pictures of my final piece from the foundation course. I produced 2 large canvasses, using lots of layers of acrylic paint and frog tape - I wanted each triangle to be perfect with perfectly straight lines.

I like working randomly and my work doesn't usually have a meaning behind it. I sometimes find myself working backwards. The triangles were positioned randomly and the colour choice was random to some extent, although I tried to divide warm and cold colours, representing different feelings and emotions.

I would say there are 3 main types of visual art : representational art, abstract art and non objective art and I think the media has the biggest effect on the type of work and what category it falls into.

I wouldn't say that my work falls into the 'representational' category as I don't intend to represent actual objects. Although I have looked at realism, impressionism and idealism in the past I'm not very confident in this area. Although representational art probably represents the largest collection of art created, I don't feel like I can relate to this as much as I can with abstract and non objective art. I do like abstract art as I like to exaggerate shapes, lines and colours. I like the idea of transforming one object into something new. My view on the object would often change, giving it a new meaning. However, I personally see my work as non objective art.

For ages I didn't understand the difference between abstract art and non objective art, but then I realised my work doesn't really have a subject from reality. Instead, there is no obvious reference to reality. Jaxon Pollock is the most famous non objective artist I can think of.

He said '' It doesn't make a difference how the paint is put on, as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.''

I agree with this because for me, the most important part of a piece of artwork isn't the process, but the outcome.

A lot of the time my work is just spontaneous but occasionally I would change my ideas when I'm in the middle of a piece. (usually this is part of the development stage) I am happy if my work is aesthetically pleasing, and if my work doesn't look good, or how I intend it to look then I wouldn't consider it finished. This first image was something I did with graph paper and sharpie pens. I like how you achieve a more defined, solid line on paper. I will do a couple more of these using different colours.

Here is an image of a piece of work I did months ago. I tried to push myself out of my comfort zone by not taking projects as literal and by working on cardboard instead, after looking at Martin Creed's exhibition as inspiration.

I plan to do some work with triangles and different shapes, positioning them in the studio environment for the upcoming 'environment' project. Initially, I thought of nature and the outdoors but I've decided I'm going to look at my work in different environments I spend a lot of time in eg Uni, home and work.

Introduction

About me...

Hi! I'm Nicole! I'm 20 years old and I'm from Leeds. I'm a first year contemporary art student, studying at University of Huddersfield.

I have always loved cutting, sticking, gluing and painting ever since I was little, but it wasn't until high school when I developed such a passion for art. I attended Cardinal Heenan high school in Leeds and picked GSCE art in year 9. I found it really hard at first to keep up with the workload, but I really did enjoy being creative.

I attended life drawing classes at Leeds college of art for 6 weeks and became more confident in drawing. In year 11 I achieved my highest grade in art, which came as a big surprise to me and it was then I realised I definitely wanted to study art at sixth form, along with PE, Geography and Sociology.

After I finished my A-Levels I decided I wanted to do the art foundation course as it was a good 'stepping stone' between A2 and degree level. I put together a portfolio and attended an interview at York college, where I started in September 2015. During the first 8 weeks we completed several mini projects and then I decided to specialise in 'fine art'.

Fine art seemed more open and I loved the idea of using mixed media and working on a larger scale, which was new to me as we had been very limited with space in the past. About half way through the year we put together a portfolio of work and started applying for Universities - I applied for Huddersfield, Leeds Beckett, Manchester, Northumbria and York.