Friday, September 7, 2012

On Creativity: School’s in Session

Photo by Cortney Ellis

Ok, fellow creatives types....I have a few questions for you today.

For me, fall always means increased learning, energy, and reflection. School is back in session (I teach English at various universities here in Columbus, including a fine arts school), and I constantly learn new things about writing, analysis, and creativity while teaching.

This morning, I was thinking how much I would appreciate a specific kind of course. In my creative work, I always feel comfortable doing the day-to-day work of thinking and writing (especially the generating-new-work part). But once I have the work (like the writing I’ve been creating through this blog), I find it challenging to figure out what to do with it. Organizing manuscripts/collections and developing projects with a larger scope is something I’d love to learn more about. I wish someone could teach me about this--I’d love to take a class in this specific topic.


This made me wonder: as creatives, we are heavily invested in learning and new ideas. What classes or workshops would you sign up for in a heartbeat? What specific skills and processes would be valuable to explore, for you (in your art)? What would you want to focus on and learn?

Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts....

6 comments

  1. Well I'm hoping to take a course on writing creative non-fiction next year. I like to do writing courses, focussing on different genres.

    I would love to do a course something similar to the one you outline, how to present my work as a body of work and then how to work on creating new pieces of work related to that.

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  2. Oh Hannah, you sounded like Carrie Bradshaw with a brain! I would like a course on knowing who you are as an artist and feeling confident about your artistic identity. I think you could design and teach that course, Hannah.

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  3. I'm with you and Crafty on organizing a collection, although I'd think it would only take a couple of sessions.
    But I also like Anne H's idea about "artistic identity." I think I know myself in that way, but those are probably famous last words.

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  4. Learning how to overcome writer's block. Learning to be a more talented reader and observer.

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  5. I signed up for my first art class because it was called How to draw anything (from your mind) and I was drawn (*pun alert*) to the possibilities. After the second class, I was done though (and have taken none since), because my teacher explained tat I could draw anything if I accepted what I drew. I decided to believe him and quit dragging myself to class when I could stay home to draw.
    ...
    Okay...I'm no help...

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  6. Oh, I have one - how to take scraps of ideas and prepare them for or apply them to a larger single project. I'd love that class!!!

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