Creative Process - Visual

2 pieces poster board cut 12"x18" each, pencil, Sharpie

Olivia Gude's article talks about creative processes in regards to external (teacher generated) stimuli. The student is asked to accept the task and make it his/her own. I have completed the self-portrait assignment in response to this view of creative process.

For me, external stimuli can be teacher generated assignments and work projects for school committees. This process I use to get these works done is more linear and predictable. To complete this project,  I engaged in my usual hem-hawing and feet dragging. I reflected informally for about a week to slowly build the project up in my mind. I beat myself up for not sitting down and starting a week early. I cleaned the house. I set my nest to make it comfortable for working. I remained indecisive about what media to choose. I finally started work on a day my husband was out of town and my daughter was busy with homework.

I chose to mimic Rube Goldberg and his simple machines for this assignment - since I tend to take a simple problem and go the long way about solving it. The comic reads right to left, but the conclusion is on the left, where the viewer may start.  I often  feel that I have to knock myself on my head to get work done. The creative product comes as a result of kicking myself into gear.

The story for the illustration is as follows. I have distracted myself by cleaning until every surface shines. The rising sun glares of the surfaces into my husbands eyes and causes him to slip on notes I have organized on the kitchen floor. The papers go air born, and my (favorite) cat reaches for one, knocking over my stacked (mental) blocks. A toppling mental block lands in a basket attached to a pulley that closes the door to my work space. The door slamming causes my dog to bark - he doesn't like closed doors. My daughter's rather heavy cat is startled and jumps. The scale she was resting on lowers and the prop hand turns on my coffee pot. The vapor that escapes from the top of the coffee pot causes a toy hot air balloon to rise. The balloon is attached to a boot by a belt on a wheel and axle. As the balloon rises, the boot kicks my head. The kick would cause the pail of paint to spill onto the large pad of drawing paper, creating a spontaneous artwork.

The coffee pot, the robe I am wearing, the first cat, and the solitude are my comforts when I am working. 

My aha moment came when I was journaling in my notebook last week. I was thinking about the differences between projects that I am intrinsically motivated to do, verses ones that get completed due to external motivation. I realized I have two distinct creative processes. The idea isn't entirely novel. When I do creativity training with my students, we brain dump and do forced connections to get the creative juices flowing. Sometimes it is hard to be creative on the spot - I can't expect my students to walk into my room and spontaneously be creative in a forced setting with 27 other students present. But I never considered how environments and motivations can affect the creative process behaviors in one person.

The process above is not the one I engage in to do my classroom teaching. I still have the freedom to teach what I personally find of value. And I know very well that if I don't appear intrinsically motivated that my students will not get motivated or see value in the project. I do in depth lessons most of the time, and I ask a commitment of my students. The creative process I use for my teaching craft more closely mimics the own for my personal creative problem solving.