Creativity

Creativity. So what is it? The dictionary says:

• Creativity - creative ability; artistic or intellectual inventiveness

So what is creative? Back to the dictionary and:

1. Creating or able to create
2. Having or showing imagination and artistic or intellectual inventiveness
3. Stimulating the imagination and inventive powers
   

Why the sudden interest in creativity? The July/August 2008 issue of UTNE READER had a series of articles on The Future of Creativity in our schools, our businesses, and our lives. Frankly, it was a little frightening. It seems to be one of those use it or lose it things. One of the articles suggested that we are robbing our kids of their birthright: the access to free, unstructured play of their own making. Remember playing with an old cardboard box and in your imagination making it into anything we wanted: castle, fort, car, plane, cave? Some kids, when you tell them to go play look at you and say "what should I play."

It got me to thinking about being crafty and if that counts as creative. Then I thought about just having fun! Why stop playing when you become an adult? Why not continue to play? Learn to play a new instrument. Learn a new craft. Finger paint!

I spend time looking at blogs featuring mixed-media artists/crafts people. I decided I wanted to try and here's my first collage. This is what I collected all laid out on watercolor paper. The little girl in the picture is me. Lots of clip art butterflies. An information sheet on butterflies printed out on ledger paper.


Here's the finished project. I call it Too Cute I. I have more pictures of this little girl doing things she loved. I think there are several more Too Cutes to come!

Too Cute I