#creative research

[rthwrms]

highlights and screenshots of mine from the first four chapters of Brenda Ueland's "If You Want to Write"

about creativity, and writing, and life, too.

everybody is talented. and everybody is original.

[studiojournalbydavis]

Wizard Survey Results

Out of the total concepts and items mentioned the most common were:

Magic mentioned 3106 times (16.5%) Wands, Sticks, or Staffs mentioned 2831 times (15.1%) Hats mentioned 2967 times (15.8%)  Robes or Cloaks mentioned 1624 times (8.6%)  Wisdom and Age mentioned 1060 times (5.6%) Pointy (In reference to hats) mentioned 965 times (5.1%)  Beards mentioned 511 times (2.7) Stars mentioned 323 times (1.7%)

All other concepts or answers  listed less than 300 times make up 22.4 % of the responses.

For thoughts, ideas and writings further about the results i've gotten on the wizard survey outside of the scope of my thesis will be over on my art blog @frogwhomp most likely under the tag #thesis work

[spencersk]

Moon and Stars: Creative Reflection

A mural I walk by every day when I’m at work. I’ve been obsessed with the moon and star motif, it is so intrinsic in human nature that some of the first visual art we have in the western cannon are stars being depicted in an Egyptian tomb. Somehow it’s comforting to see this same idea transmuted by someone else at some point. For me it demonstrates that we are more connected than we would often think; tethered to our ancestors, those who occupy our same space-time, our progeny present and yet to come.

Here’s a quick acrylic paint sketch/painting I was working on a little while back. I’ve since finished it and made other manifestations of art that are inline with the same imagery.

[annazimmercapstone]

Research, Week 1

Topics of Interest: Archive, Books, Worldbuilding

ARCHIVE

My main foray into the archive was through a book I obtained at the Printed Matter Festival last spring semester: Archives on Show — Revoicing, Shapeshifting, Displacing; A Curatorial Glossary.

Oh boy. There's a lot. First, some basic points on archives. It's essentially a collection of artifacts, documents, informations, that are d/recontexulized. New meanings are created through new proximities. This collection of essays focuses on archives vs exhibitions and the role of curation. The editor asserts that the exhibition might seem a natural extension of the archive into the public sphere. And as Hal Foster says, the museum (archive and exhibition) serves as the site of memory.

In archives and exhibitions we must think about parallels, sympathies, time. What is the difference between the object in the world and the object in the museum. While in the world, the museum is not the world, but rather a simulacrum, a facsimile if you're optimistic. Which really, you shouldn't be.

The digital medium was the best and worst thing to happen to the archive. It radically altered the so-called "regulatory function" of the archive beyond simply collection. In one of the essays, Stefan Nowotny calls for a suspension of the archive in order to "know [it] differently."

Cooke and Harezlak coin a term I'm immensely intrigued by: transfictioning, defined as "hyper-fiction that relates to simulacra." Cooke immediately relates this to circumventing death.

Some later essays focus on the importance of space, the commons, the public, the digital, the memorial, the shapeshifting of these spaces, distance, proximity, all necessary symbols of the archive. The space-time continuum earns a new meaning in the archival space.

BOOKS

For this, I decided to take a look at my collection of various art books, literary collections, what have you. I was looking less to read and more to consume (yum!) the physical structures of these volumes, the craftmanship and how that influences your experience of perusal. How does form dictate content?

Two of these volumes, A Bestiary of the Anthropocene and Hunters Follow Harpy Shadows, use a deep black matte paper as the basis for most pages. It's striking, it feels subterranean, and I'm drawn in. One book, a replica of a Book of Hours, is considerably smaller, pocket size, intimate even. It makes sense for a spiritual text. Two books, the aforementioned one and Devil's Promenade, use gilding. These texts are made to appear materially precious, perhaps antiquated. CyberFeminism Index is a thick text full of hyperlinks and 72 ppi images mimicking the density and ergodic nature of the internet. Genderfail is a work on typography and activism that pays homage to the design of protest posters with every title-- rough, passionate, uncompromising. I love books... their content, their construction; its a beautiful negotiation between material and language.

WORLDBUILDING

I began the exploration and research for worldbuilding by playing (and thinking about) games. A little bit of grand strategy games like Hearts of Iron IV and Europa Universalis IV offered some insights on the more tedious aspects of building nation-states, empires, etc...but then I arrived at Civilization 6. It was comprehensive, a little limiting, but it covered the basics of forming a civilization (whodathunkit). The big questions were asked. What kind of leader do I want to venerate? What land is best suited to our people's interests (or rather, vice versa)? What makes them successful? Diplomacy? Culture? Violence (all governments are negotiations on violence, after all)? Innovation? Religion?

Religion begs the question of who we are, where we came from, a question that all civilizations must answer-- it forms their identity!

And so we take a detour to look into creation myths...

Watched: Son of the White Mare (1981)

A Hungarian animation about three sons of gods that go on to defeat three evil dragons in an epic of whimsy. Strong visual style that connects threads of folklore and modern technological concerns. Strong visuals that dictate the physics, the laws of this animated world, driven by action, emotion, and the suspension of disbelief. Fairytale logic is a beautiful thing. Through this film I was able to think about how we define and make sense of our relationships to nature, animals, food, family, gender, sexuality, technology, the fetish-object, the supernatural, the cosmos.

My main conclusion on the worldbuilding front-- understanding everything is not necessary. The people, the world, you're describing probably don't even know! The not-knowing is the most "realistic" part of your knowledge hierarchy.

Some interests for next week:

Visit a museum. Crazy stuff.

Reading books-- what happens to us?

Worlding building in the world of interaction.

Also creation myths are still tickling me.

[luce-723]

Stitch/Weave on Canvas.

This was my stitch on canvas that I made using embroidery threads. I have approximately 20-30 different coloured embroidery threads all different shades. I opted to use more or less every colour, I was aiming for vibrancy and contrast. I feel working with colours enables me to enjoy the process more. If I was working solely with monochromatic colours, I would become bored. It wouldn’t catch my eye like the above does. I took photos every so often to show how the canvas progressed with each new hue added. The stitching looks like weaving, when the threads interlace and overlap each neighbouring thread. This adds dimension.

I worked on a canvas that had been stretched over a wooden frame and in turn, made it not possible for me to reach the ends of the canvas because I was unable to stitch through each side. I stitched around the wooden base instead looping the thread around to create almost a haphazard border.

[adhdpie]

reblog this post if you’re cool w/non-adhd creators asking u about the adhd experience

1) I wanna see more adhd characters in fanfiction or mass media

2) as somebody who’s adhd it’s hard for me to finish anything

3) so if somebody who’s not adhd wants to write or create something with an adhd character

4) i sure af want them to ask me about my life!!

come at me fam

[tubikstudio]

6 Creative Stages of Branding Design: Step-by-Step Guide.

Today competition between businesses is rather sharp. To stand out among the crowd, a company needs to be unique and recognizable by…

[mathiastheisen]

“I Want To Make Dance” by Mathias Theisen

Inspired by Jenny Holzer