Creativity- What? Why? How?
Halloween Monsters made out of recyclables for exhibiting at ‘Thrash Flash’ exhibit in Makerspace event- 2016
“‘Creativity develops finer mind, Art itself being a faculty of advanced mind’”
These lines will be found on our webpage ‘Creativity Sustainably’ from where other content is being eliminated to make space for new. Some of this content seemed fun to be shared and talked about. So made it into a post.
What is Creativity? Why is it important for our mental health? What develops creative faculties of brain?
While many studies on this topic can b found on internet, this post is aimed for interactive talks rather than just info based. We have few starter points below while sharing our past events and their creative nature. Feel free to question, elaborate, play with for ideas. Welcoming all :)
‘Creativity’ broadly means, ones unique way of doing anything, not just creating Art. It can be applied everywhere. May it be home decorating, problem solving at work, fixing things with inadequate tools, or cooking, or pretty much anything. ‘Creative’ is an ‘Outlook’ and its possible for all.
Many factors promote Creative thinking.
Left: Casually made cave with fallen grass cuttings and rocks around.
Nature play or just being surrounded by it, has profound effect on quality of brain development. Where arts are concerned, Nature has influenced the many artistic expressions, even if there was no trace or direct reference to it in the art works.
As an advanced animal species, we do not need to try hard to connect with Nature, we just need to disconnect with unhealthy mental and physical practices that stop our creative organic flow as a part of Nature.
Right: Friends playing as princesses with long colorful hair.
Girls made Paper flowers with colorful streamers and used the rest to make their hair streaks. The dances and gestures that followed were a visual treat with novel play!
Unstructured play time is a great platform for promoting child’s own creativity. Being Mindful of the materials that surround them during that time of their exploration, can help give it a meaningful direction.
Left: Environmental Day 2020 virtual celebration with puppets.
Puppets made during Earth Day-week Zoom meets, came to life in Puppet Show on World Environmental Day 2020. Puppets spoke about the effects CoVid19 has on their Habitat and discussed possible ways of co-existence with humans.
“But like every human thing, Art and creating
need not be contaminating anything.
True Art is Sanctifying.”
There is immense raw material around us for making casual short-term Art and playful creative projects. There is no need to buy foam stickers, sparklers, or any materials that will be used for 15 minutes of crafts that end up in landfill within 5 days and stay there for 50 years. The less we buy ready-made, the more is scope for creativity, and added advantage— Fun close to Zero waste!
Making available Natural world can amaze and inspire, bringing in the wonder of creation while touching ones own naturally creative channels. Why not use dry materials found in Nature that can be decomposed into nourishing earth for life! For example our creating activity at Maker Fest 2017.
Unlimited supply of market products
can hinder ones creative stimulus
also increasing our
carbon footprint Extensively,
Can we Re-think
Creativity Sustainably?
Check our latest Earth-n-Arts projects here.
Our Past exhibits like ‘Paper exhibit’ for Boneyard fest 2019 Environmental Arts at Maker Fest- 2017, 2019 , Inspired by Nature and many others were successful Zero-waste events.
While we face some daunting Global issues, compassion and creativity can play a positive role in finding the right solutions.
They all point towards our relation with Nature, and towards exploring our own Nature as humans, towards our relations with each other and with our co-creatures existing on this unique planet.