Creativity

Five words that I feel capture the essence of creativity most are: spontaneity, catalyst, commitment, expression, and relief. You can contribute your own words here.

The explanation for my choices is….

Spontaneity
Creative ideas can occur to us unexpectedly.

Catalyst
Like a photograph our initial creative thoughts develop quickly.

Commitment
No matter how long it takes, we should pursue our creative idea to completion.

Expression
Creativity has to reflect our individuality.

Relief
Like the painter who draws their best portrait, you can feel fulfilled with your creative output.

With respect to my creativity, my chosen words become most relevant under certain ‘conditions’.  I am at my most creative when I’m; getting positive feedback, in the company of friends and family, when seeing the creative work of others, and when refreshed after a walk.

Motivated by these ‘conditions’, my creativity is channelled in the following ways…

Writing
My creative ‘vice’ is writing. My ideas come from anywhere. I see my body of writing as a continuous record of my emotions. I feel that writing frees me from the ‘responsibility’ for my ideas, for then I can think about new things. I try to use language creatively when writing.

Media
I creatively express myself, by choosing to absorb media products (like DVDs and books) that are distinctly ‘me’. Some media products profoundly, and positively, alter me. I am amazed when I find other people have given them to charity, because these products (like the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime) gave me different perspectives.

 

Clothes
Being able to choose my own style of clothing at college, meant I could express myself through fashion. I often chose to wear layers, a poncho, and odd socks. I like buying clothes. When I wear clothes from charity shops, where items are not donated in bulk, I like feeling “unique”.

Tidiness
“A place for everything…”. As a lecturer of mine once said: humans tend to scatter things behind them. Where something ‘lives’ might therefore, kangaroo-like, ‘hop’ about. In my living space, all of my belongings have their ‘place’. I like being organised because I get a cathartic sense of achievement, and I like the space that materialises when I’ve uncluttered.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Social Media
I customise the look of my social media pages, for instance WordPress. My Facebook activity log, and wall, have links to internet articles of personal interest. I get a creative high from compressing a small section, of the internet’s large field of digital content.

Making others laugh
I enjoy using my verbal skills to make others laugh. I try to emulate the comedians that I admire, such as Jim Carrey and Tommy Cooper. I frequently experiment with word play, and create jokes, as I have done for years. Making people laugh this way is uplifting.

 

In view of the fact that this article is for a website that discusses well-being, I will now explore the link between my creativity and well-being.

My creative impulses spontaneously compel me to do creative things, like cutting my own hair or colouring in. When I do have an urge to be creative, which is similar to an innate ‘drive’, I just have to follow the impulse before I can do anything else. Doing creative activities makes me feel that I am being positive and constructive.

People seem to like the feeling of being spiritually ‘freed’, as well as feeling productive, when they do something that expresses who they are. I think these are the traits of creativity, that most benefit well-being.

Thank you for reading – I hope you enjoyed it.

By A

Sources:

social media image – social media icons: Ibrahim.ID (author): 03/01/06 – found on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Socialmedia-pm.png (accessed 22/06/2018)(Attribution) By Ibrahim.ID [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

comedy stage image – Empty stage for a stand-up comedy show: Carlos Delgado (author) – found on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stand-up_comedy_-_Stage.jpg (accessed 22/06/2018) …  (Attribution) Carlos Delgado [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons

comedy mask image – A Comedy icon, based on the Drama Icon: Abu badli~commonswiki (user author) – found on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Comedyicon.svg (accessed 22/06/2018)

Oppression

Lake dry

Thirst momentary.

Throat dry

Yet still

I laugh.

Body weak

Yet still

I walk.

Smile

On dry lips.

 

Icebreaker – Kraftwerk Uncovered

The group Icebreaker have previously done a tour where they re-interpreted songs by Brian Eno. Brian Eno shot to fame in the early 70s with the band Roxy Music, where he played synthesizer, an instrument which was in its early stage of development.  Eno had previously been an art student, inspired by ‘minimalism’, an art form which is about only using the basics.  Eno then went on to work with a wide variety of other bands, such as David Bowie, Talking Heads and German ambient pioneers, Cluster.  After this tour, they wanted to do something similar.  They chose Kraftwerk because like Eno, (in fact much more so) they were highly influential in developing electronic music, from the early 70’s and up until the present day.

On the 23rd of January Icebreaker performed at Howard Assembly Rooms in Leeds. Before the main performance, Icebreaker did their version of Terry Riley’s ‘In C’. Terry Riley was, an American minimalist composer. ‘In c’ is considered by many to be a masterpiece. The composition went through many different shades, from mellow to noisy, from joyous to dark, from hypnotic to intense. It gradually built up from a luxuriant clarinet to a climax of sound. There was a part that for some reason made me think of a giant worm coming out of the earth!

Each Kraftwerk song was performed as an avant-garde instrumental, apart from a little snippet of processed German vocals, which I believe was sampled from Kraftwerk. Each song segued into the next. The performance was for about an hour. The songs combined many eclectic sounds and influences. After a while a booming bass appeared. The drums were more for percussive effect, such as crashing symbols, rather than rhythm. They were combined with electronic drums for extra volume and bass.

Above the musicians were three large screens.  The screens began showing abstract shapes and rotating wire mesh which flashed to the pulsating bass and crashing symbols. There were shots of what would normally be mundane – doors, windows, pieces of metal. Grainy black and white images of Kraftwerk’s home city of Dusseldorf, desolate streets and factories with no people.  Weeds blowing in the wind, industrial chimneys blowing out thick smoke.  These images could have been filmed anywhere in the Western world. Scenes that would usually have been empty and inhuman evoked emotion.  The film, created by Sophie Clements and Toby Cornish, is intended to create insight into Kraftwerk’s ideas of technology and how technology affects urban and natural space.  For the song ‘Autobahn’, first we were shown a car driving down a motorway, from the viewpoint of a passenger.  Then, the screen showed the white lines of the road, which you would expect to be dull but was in fact rather intriguing!  The bleak images contrasted with the powerful music.  It would be interesting to know what Kraftwerk would think about this! I thoroughly enjoyed this performance.  Much thanks goes to Howard Assembly Rooms

Members of Icebreaker: James Poke – flute, pan-pipes, WX11 wind synthesizer, bass drum, Rowland Sutherland – flute, pan-pipes, Bradley Grant – saxophone, clarinet, Dominic Saunders – keyboards, Ian Watson – accordion, Audrey Riley – electric cello, Dan Gresson – percussion, James Woodrow – guitar, bass guitar, Pete Wilson – bass guitar with J.Peter Schwalm on electronics and processing.

By Daniel Tavet

Five: A Black History Month Event at Leeds Art Gallery

Jude Woods is Assistant Community Curator at Leeds Art Gallery and I heard her speak at a recent meeting of the local arts group Scattered Leaves, where she talked about her work encouraging people who don’t usually go to art galleries to come in and see what there is on display. I didn’t need persuading since I’ve always thought free access to art is a brilliant thing to have in any city. Jude promised to write us a piece about her work for this blog in the near future, but in the meantime sent details of what looks to be a very interesting event coming up, combining art and social history, on December 1st.

One of the speakers, Carol Sorhaindo, worked for Leeds Mind’s community art project, and has run stalls selling her fabulous art work at Inkwell Summer events, so her perspective on ‘art from a post colonial perspective’ will be particularly interesting.

Highlights

If you haven’t already seen Highlights, the “dazzling annual showcase of artwork by members of Arts & Minds”, you now only have until Sunday, and you’ll really miss something if you don’t see it. The quote in the previous sentence is from the blurb in the Love Arts programme, but it’s really not an exaggeration. This is an extraordinary collection – very varied, in terms of the type of image on display, with photography, straight and manipulated; pencil drawings; paintings abstract and realistic, ranging from the fantastical to simple images of domestic pets and other animals; scenes of gritty urban life and idyllic scenes of nature – but all generally of a really high standard, at least as far as I could tell, as a lay person who likes to look at such things.

One of the artists, local poet Liz Helliwell, has already blogged about the opening last Wednesday – see  http://www.lizhelliwell.co.uk/2014/10/light-fantastic/ for her take.

I’ve put a few examples below to whet your appetitie, but they are really rather random – I liked so much of this collection that I’d have had to photograph most of it to give a true reflection. The Light is open from 6 a.m. to 12.30 a,m, daily, and the exhibition is staffed during the day. It’s free and the brochure says:. “Just turn up”. I would.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The images above are Royal Park School, by Jill Setterington; A Daydream by the Water’s Edge, by Ian Gill; Villification by Liz Helliwell; Veiled Garden by Amanda Burton; and Divine Mystery by Patrick Hanratty.

Love Arts – The Big Conversation

Love Arts Conversation

The Love Arts Festival is nearly upon us again.  The festival launches on 15th October, so be prepared for exhibitions, poetry, plays and more special events, all with a mental health, creativity and arts theme.

There’s something new this year: the Love Arts Conversation is a festival-flavoured conference which will take place on 21st & 22nd October 2014 in Leeds City Centre.

Survivor Poets on Songs of Praise

For the next three days you can see members of Leeds Survivors Poetry featuring in last Sunday’s Songs of Praise.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04g4q44/songs-of-praise-carnival-and-culture

In its 20 year history Leeds Survivor Poets haven’t made TV very often. There was the Poetry World Cup in 1998 which merited a mention on Calendar. (We were runners up and got the Poetry Saucer, after I couldn’t find a rhyme for ‘orange’ in a poetry shoot out). But last Sunday we got a whole 3 minutes on Beeb 1 as they had a special programme from Leeds. They featured various Leeds religious folk and the things they get up, including Leeds Carnival, hip-hop, photography, and they followed the lovely Sue Matthews, one of LSP’s regular members, as she came to one of our workshops at the Civic Hall.

Here’s Sue at a previous workshop, and (below) at one of the group’s readings in Kirkgate Market a couple of years ago.

LSP continues to meet every first and third Friday evening at the Civic Hall, 5.45 to 7.45, next meeting on Friday 5th September.

Our bit of the Songs of Praise programme comes after 24 mins 30 seconds.

 

Lasting Essence – an exhibition at the Arch Cafe

I have a print of one of Peter Shillito’s paintings in my front room. It’s a bright, complex, abstract design that people often comment on, and the colours in particular (strong blues, greens, purple) are very beautiful. Peter is a genuine mystic, whose poems and artwork form a whole – two different ways of pointing toward the same truth.

His exhibition ‘Lasting Essence’ is currently showing at the Arch Café, (just off Dortmund Square, round the corner from the St. John’s Centre). As well as about 20 of his paintings, there is a book of poetry with the same title, which has images of some of the paintings in it. It’s a lovely little collection. The title poem ‘written soon after a mental illness had torn my world apart’, sets the tone:

Little Tree

A small tree may grow

Its branches reaching out

like the arms of a child

Touching a golden sun

Its leaves whisper

and flutter free

Like a dove on a wing,

out into Eternity.

The theme of finding light out of mental darkness, and discovering that ‘breakdown’ can lead to ‘breaking through’, is a theme that runs through Peter’s writing. It made me think of another English poet/painter mystic, William Blake:

“What is the price of Experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price

Of all that a man hath, his house, his wife, his children Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy”

Peter is a member of the Living Artists Movement, the group Ushawant Kaur began, which printed his book. He’s also a regular member of the Scattered Leaves group, where practising artists and writers share their work every first Tuesday evening at the Civic Hall. The Lasting Essence exhibition will run until the 18th of August.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What keeps me well: Creativity – Being Environ-mental, Charity – mental, friends-mental budget mental in the Recession of our Times

Milan Buddha Ghosh, nicknamed as ‘the Bodhisattva of holbyeckeeestan’ (Holbeck) by my good friend of 33 years, Terence Simpson, What keeps me well, what inspires me … is many things but in particular Salvaging ‘Waste’ stuff from bin-yards the street, bins, fly-tipping by my allotment cul-de-sac. I salvage many t’ings (‘scuse me my Jah-maican stepdaddie’s tongue coming out in me, there, my father is from Calcutta, and my mum is English – from Preston, by the way) recyclables go in the green bin ALU and steel cans, plastic bottles, paper cardboard, and in the next blog there’ll be: Litter Picking and the Dharma, and rescuing the Intestines of the Earth What I want to focus on now is one item that keeps being lost, dumped, dropped deliberately or not, on the pavement. Gloves. There’s so many gloves, motorbike thick leather or fake leather glove , black as for men macho-ness? These motorbike gloves are shaped like a knight of olds gauntlet, (medieval and modern continue into each other, interesting). Yes, it’s very male, and sporting and strong. There’s kids gloves, pink and blue, and oh so tiny. These are mostly woollen, or fake wool, acrylic, nylon etc., synthetics. Kids mitts are so cute and very colourful, multicoloured, and they remind me of a different world. I wash them 1 twice or thrice, so they are completely clean, and then I put them in Holbeck’s Old Eland Road’s Clothing bank which is for single parents motherstrust.org.uk Please donate to clothing banks – mothers trust give old clothes to single parents, mostly mothers, who are one of the poorest groups in society. I peruse, as I pick up gloves, sometimes this lost world of my childhood, but people say I’m so playful funny, humorous, delightful, so I do know there’s 2nd childhood here, in middle age – I’m 49- not only old age. Maybe I’ll have a 3rd childhood then? There’s furry gloves with thick padding for winter, black smooth material, some with black grey fake fur on the worst part of the glove only, some totally in fur in fingers, and others without any fingers, all 4 digits merged into one. There’s less gloves in the spring and even less dropped in summer. When I pick them up they can be completely clean, even smelling nice of soap or perfume, or a bit wet, completely drenched, or drenched and muddy; whatever they all are thoroughly laundered. Did you know that soap powder has about 1 percent bleach in it, and together with the other cleaning ingredients I reckon there’s no problem in my wearing such gloves, because of hygiene. I never buy gloves, and in this Recession, every penny counts does it not? There are workmen’s gloves, in thick leather, very rigid stiff, with seams everywhere where fingers adjoin the palm of the glove, in pink, purple and grey with some patches in blue white stripes. There are cotton gloves coated with primrose yellow rubber solution, or rusty brown rubber; these have a elastic, cosy wrist to keep the road grit out for these workmen. I find these gloves by road-holes where utility men, or Yorkshire Water men work. Or near the building site of new social housing in Holbeck’s Brown Lane East. Gloves, gloves, gloves .These are the bits of reality, another set of bits of Huge Reality; and all the elements or phenomena are streaming, coming into being, being worn, then lost, dropped swept up by road sweepers deposited into landfill, or salvaged by a few caring green environ-mental souls like me. Gloves like all phenomena are being continually created and destroyed Gloves, or any phenomena, are meditay-shun non-objects; ‘itation for liberation, Rastas say. So if you need any spare gloves of any type you know what to do, salvage them from the street forget embarrassment-pride or self-consciousness just pick em up, launder them and wear them. I even give them to my friends like Robert, who mentioned he was short of gloves, and ”munni” he’s oft skint like me, so I told him where I get them from ( by the way an ear-worm or brain-graze: just call me mad, with such free, and daft associations, but they make life worth living humour does whenever I think money, I think munni, I think Buddha Shakyamunni, I think of the oil minister of Saudi Arabia when I were a lad 30 odd years ago, called Sheik Yemani?!). He didn’t mind. Every little helps, that we don’t spend in this 5 year Recession, and I don’t quite believe this Con Dem – more like Con Us Govt. a cabinet of millionaires ruling over the poor, disgraceful. I give them to the clothing bank, or charity shops, some after darning. I never buy gardeners or other gloves. Give the gloves a helping hand and the environ – ment too-ooo-oo!# Save a little money, by investing in a little soap and water, give kids gloves to your daughter, men’s gloves to men friends, women’s gloves to women friends, or your girlfriend., Make, salvage wash ’em and mend, or deposit them in the clothing bank, for http://www.motherstrust.org, or any of charity, whilst doing all this have a sense of being like me, totally free.

 

Make do and mend, gladly, so you don’t have to spend more than you have to, be an charity, and, Enviro -Friend; don’t drive yourself round the bend; what the mind dwells on it becomes. Dwell on love joy the best in humans, I do every day. I have learnt to be in love with life

M. b. Gosh.

An interview with Mark Cruse, a very nice man and Inkwell’s Manager

 Milan: How was Inkwell set up?

 Mark: Well it was a Pub …

Milan: I know I used to come here The Shoulder of Mutton I am a Chapel-Town boy and Chapel-town’s not far away …

 Mark: It was set up 4 years ago…It’s great for us all really. Inkwell was an idea to set up a safe place space for people with mental health needs to change neurosis to artistic creativity by seeing creativity in their difficulties. It is shaped by users suggestions, opinions, and involvement

Inkwell is a project of Leeds Mind. Art is therapeutic, creativity is therapeutic, you don’t need to be an Art Therapist to see that. Inkwell is very busy with various projects art, painting, drumming, Secret Cinema monthly, on which Sue Renagur wrote a post for leedswellbeingweb.

 There’s also Meditation Classes run there by Leeds Mind Peer Support. Call Leeds MIND on 0113 3055 802.

Some subjects taught are:

1. Mindfulness of Breathing – Steve HART

2. Loving Kindness – Steve Hart

3. ZaZen Practice

4. Body Scan [for relaxation and bliss]

5. Mahamudra – you’ll have to ask Steve, or better come along!?

 In Conclusion: There’s plenty of good things going on in the world, in which YOU can participate, for your improved physical, mental and spiritual well-being, and that of others too.

There is always possibility, despite the dark side of life and the world, so don’t lose out, get the power of positive arting, creating, thinking, meditating out. Don’t stay inside your head, or de bed.

Life is for living, and life is short.

 by Milan Buddha ‘mad’ (i.e. True Individual) GHosh.

 Another post is coming very soon…

on…

 artsandminds Leeds and York NHS Trust

 Milan blogging on and on this time for Arts and Minds…