Work In Progress: Conjunctions

Part two of my collaborative process with the talented poet, Maura High.

Conjunctions by Lyric Kinard

[Conjunctions]

Maybe it was just the back and forth of the wipers,
or that they were the only people I saw
on that stretch of the road, and the rain

was pouring over the windshield,
rivulets and deltas of rain flooding
a space swept clean and then filled again, the sky

drear and seething, the dripping, somnolent trees;
or that I knew nothing about them except
what I could see in passing and then

in the rearview mirror: that they were a couple,
middle-aged, in parkas, with their hoods up,
walking out of the woods, holding hands,

and that they found daylight there,
at the seam between this and other:
a gate and a path leading beyond it, an opening.

© 2012 Maura High

The imprinted silk from this piece and "Verbesina Ocidentalis" was eco-dyed by Arlee Barr. You should check out her shop - it's got some stunning cloth in it right now that I'm having a hard time resisting.

The Kindness Chronicles

Ideas to help us make the world a better place!

Little things:

Hold the door open - especially if they are pushing a stroller or have their hands full.

Leave a post-it note on the bathroom stall saying "smile - you ARE beautiful, smart, and creative!"

(www.operationbeautiful.com)

Give a compliment - a looking in the eyes, specific, compliment.

Put a grocery cart away for a mother with little ones in the car. (did this!)

(I always really hated to leave mine alone even for a second in the car.)

Bigger things:

Babysit for the mother of young children... even if it's just so she can go take a nap.

Bring your favorite book and read stories to kids at your local elementary school.

Wash someone's car windows.

Keep a zip-loc bag in your purse with a toothbrush, toothpaste, a few dollars, and a granola bar for the next time you pass a homeless person. (going to do this!)

Stop by the fire department with a plate of cookies and say thank you.

It's not that hard to make the world a better place!

This month check out

Jane LaFazio

Deborah Stanley
Hannah Koch

and Linda Teddlie Minton

to see what they've done to make the world a better place.

If you'd care to join us please do. Grab the button above for your blog.

Send me your info and I'll link to your blog next month.

Creative Wisdom: How Believing Makes It So

I sing with my church choir. I love music. I love Patti, our choir director. None of us get paid and neither does she. There are a few adequate voices that can read music and hold a pitch - nobody spectacular. There are a lot of us that can only sing it if someone else is singing the right pitch in our ear.

Patti welcomes anyone who wants to sing in the choir, and I do mean anyone. We have some young children who come sing with us. Sometimes we have eight bases and no altos. I sing tenor most of the time (I'm really an alto) because we get desperate for tenors on a regular basis. There are probably only one or two people who would ever feel remotely comfortable singing a solo.

And yet, every time we sing in church - it's beautiful. I'm not just saying that. I mean it. I have a good ear, I have musical training (not in voice) and I know when something sounds less than good.

I think that we sound beautiful because Patti believes it's going to sound beautiful and we live up to her expectations. We work pretty hard on the songs but not anywhere close to how hard we'd work back in college where we'd get all stressed out. Patti never frowns and never has anything but encouraging words for us.

It's not because she's choosing easy music either. She often will pull out things that are WAAAY beyond our ability level and somehow we pull it off. Because she believes we will. She'll tell us how much the song means to her, we'll work on parts a bit or a lot, and she just smiles and says "I know the angels will fill in the part we aren't getting" and somehow, it always happens.

We all can learn so much from the "Patti Effect."

She believes it will be so - completely, unabashedly.

And it is.

I want to teach like Patti conducts... knowing that each of my students is capable and that they ARE creative, they CAN do it, they WILL find that spark that they are looking for. Believing so much in each one of them, without any hint of doubting, that they can't help but succeed.

Faces on Friday redux

I don't think I'll ever be quite done learning to draw faces.

I can see that I've come a long way from a year ago.

I don't draw a face every day on an index card any more but I do keep them in my sketchbook. Once a week or so I'll be sitting in a crowd and pull them out and draw several all at once. Every once in a while now I can look at the sketch and recognize the person I was trying to draw. That's progress.

 I also keep working in my sketchbook.

 Some are very quick and rough.

 It's still difficult for me to get the proportions on the upper and lower face to work together.

One step at a time.

So the adventure continues. 

Here is one of the original "Faces on Friday" posts.

Every once in a while it's fun to pull out the stack of cards and compare.

Creative Wisdom from Pixar's John Lasseter 7 of 7

John Lasseter’s 7 Points (by way of Scribble Junkies)

7. Surround yourself with creative people whom you trust.

“Bring only those new members into your creative team, whom you consider to be at least as talented as you. If they also have a pleasant and nice character – even better. Most managers don’t follow this approach, as they are insecure. Insecurity and creativity do not get along with each other well. Most managers surround themselves with yes-men, and in result, the audiences get bad films to see.”

…and lastly, as Lasseter once told a group of graduating students at Pepperdine University

“never let anyone kill your dreams.”

As an aspiring artist, don't be afraid to associate with people who are more advanced than you are. There is so much to learn. Be humble and grateful and realize that you will have the chance to pay it forward at some point. Don't be intimidated. Simply realize that they have walked much further down the path than you have. I have been greatly blessed with kind and generous mentors whom I aspire to emulate.

Find a generous mentor. There is no need to copy their art because you are completely capable of creating your own unique work, but go ahead and aquire as much wisdom as you can. Learn the best of what they have to offer. Go ahead and copy their work ethic. Soak up their business savvy. See if they have organizational skills that you can adopt. Pick and choose and learn as much as you can from the best of the best.

Then go do your own work.

Walk your own path.

Here is the rest of the series:

1. Never come up with just one idea

2. Remember the first laugh

3. Quality is a great business plan. Period

4. It's the team, stupid

5. Fun invokes creativity, not competition

6. Creative output always reflects the person on top

7. Surround yourself with creative people whom you trust

Creative Wisdom from Pixar's John Lasseter 6 of 7

John Lasseter’s 7 Points (by way of Scribble Junkies)

6. Creative output always reflects the person on top.

“Poor managers harm the creative process.”

John Lasseter knows from personal experience. After landing his dream job as animator at the Disney Animation Studios in the late seventies, his outspoken individuality and creative extravaganzas quickly made him enemies among mediocre middle managers at Disney. Within a few years, Mr Lasseter became a victim of internal politics and got fired. Committed to go his own way, Mr Lasseter became one of the founders of Pixar in 1986. Twenty years later, following Pixar’s acquisition by The Walt Disney Company, Mr Lasseter returned in triumph as chief creative officer of both animation studios.

“Laughter, being crazy, freaking out, behaving in ridiculous manner are hard work. A manager who spreads his bad mood and who forbids his employees to have fun impairs their creativity, and thus harms the enterprise. I would fire him. Animated movies are not least a bang-hard business. I cannot risk so much money, only because a manager indulging in his bad mood harms my business."

Again - because I teach I automatically think of how this applies to the classroom. I've heard of some frightful behavior by teachers and try my very best to avoid those behaviors. I was in one classroom and someone's phone went off and the whole class whipped their heads around looking at me with those "deer in the headlights" eyes. Apparently their last instructor had charged each student whose phone went off $10.00 for taking her time.

Ahem. While in most settings a cell phone going off can be very rude, most of the classes I teach are for fun. They aren't graduate level courses in hallowed halls. Sometimes there are more important things going on in life than what we are doing in class. 

So this is what we do when phones ring in my class.

We do a dance.

 It's called the cell phone fling.

I was in my son's kindergarden class once and the kids were heads down working hard on math, or something. Suddenly the teacher's phone goes off with some wild dance tune. I was a little shocked. Then a huge grin lit up my face as all the kids got up and did the cell phone fling for about three rings then sat right back down and got back to work. It was the teacher's method of letting the kids get a few wiggles out at random times during the day. We all need to get wiggles out once in a while. 

So - what is the worst "diva behavior" you've experienced in class?

What has been the best kind of surprise you've had with a teacher in class?

(NO NAMES please!)

Here is the rest of the series:

1. Never come up with just one idea.

2. Remember the first laugh.

3. Quality is a great business plan. Period.

4. It's the team, stupid. 

5. Fun Invokes Creativity, Not Competition

6. Creative Output Always Reflects the Person on Top

7. Surround Yourself With Creative People Whom You Trust

Inspired to Quilt: On-Line Quilt Show & Conference

A little snippet of some of the fun we'll be having at the on-line quilt show sponsored by 

Willow Bend Creations.

Click on the link to the right to register!