Creating Creative Processes

 

1. Tutorial Title: “Creating Creative Processes: A workshop demonstrating a methodological approach for subjects between the Sciences and the Arts”

2. Duration: Half Day Tutorial, new

3. Name of Presenter

Carola Boehm, Music Department & Centre for Art and Design Research and Enterprise (CADRE)

Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure, University of Wolverhampton,

Walsall University Campus, Gorway Road,

WALSALL,  WS1 3BD

C.Boehm@wlv.ac.uk     Tel.: +44(0)1902 – 323235

4. Summary

The workshop provides through short exercises brief experiences with a wide variety of distinct forms of creative processes, geared towards professionals that develop tools for creative contexts

5. The way the workshop will be run

The series of small exercises, of which the workshop consists, provide a brief experience with a wide variety of distinct forms of creative processes by using only the simplest of utensils (paper, pencils, erasers, coloured pens, squared paper, and pennies). Disciplines I have drawn upon are music, poetry, art and architecture.

6. The goals of the tutorial, include an explanation of the timeliness and importance of the theme

The tutorial/workshop aims to demonstrate how many neglected alternative exist within the repertoire of human experience of artistic creation and is aimed at making individuals aware of the wide diversity of artistic methodology. Consequently participants experience a greater critical awareness of

  • the methodologies and techniques chosen to create something artistic
  • the design of tools for creative productions
  • the understanding of creative processes in us humans
  • the potential diversity of interaction between software tools and humans in the process of being creative.

There are narrow, preconceived notions of what types of creative processes are common and acceptable in their own field. Most individuals, through education and training, are used to only using the smallest number of creative methodologies (e.g. improvisational modes for musicians and restrictive modes for scientists) and are often unaware of the full diversity of creative methodologies. This narrow view in the "non-digital world" can be seen to be mirrored in the software tools, as they tend to ignore the full diversity of creative methodology possible.

7. The likely backgrounds of the participants

The tutorial/workshop is geared towards professionals that develop tools for creative contexts and also from by individuals from different disciplines. They can represent both individuals who are developers and designers of creative technology applications, and others, who will use them within a creative context. For both these groups, creativity tends to be important for the working process itself.

8. Timeline

0:00 – 0:30        30 min  Introductions and Context

0:30 – 1:30        60 min  Exercises with each having a little explanation at the end

1:30 – 1:45        15 min  Break

1:45 – 2:45        60 min  Exercises with each having a little explanation at the end

2:45 – 3:00        15 min Discussion

 


Synopsis

 

There is a lack of ‘explicit education’ of different modes of creativity and different methodologies for initiating creative processes. This is important for not only art practitioners, but specifically for developers of tools that support creative processes. The tutorial/workshop, titled “Creating-Creative-Processes”, will demonstrate how a series of short exercises can provide a brief experience with a wide variety of distinct forms of creative processes, geared towards professionals that sit “inbetween” the sciences and the arts. Consequently participants experience a greater critical awareness of the methodologies and techniques chosen to create something artistic, the design of tools for creative productions, the understanding of creative processes in us humans, and the potential diversity of interaction between software tools and humans in the process of being creative.

 

Besides my own pedagogical methodologies (Music & Computing), I have collated methods from artistic professionals which have integrated a targeted pedagogical approach to their teachings, i.e. I have drawn from workshops by Linda Weintraub (Modern/Emerging Art), Liz Lochhead (Poetry), and Greg Missingham (Architecture).

This tutorial consists of a 180 min workshop, demonstrating exercises to initiate creative processes in practice, and will include the presentation of the context. The series of small exercises that provide a brief experience with a wide variety of distinct forms of creative processes use only the simplest of utensils (paper, pencils, erasers, coloured pens, squared paper, pennies).

Headings of some of the exercises are: “Breaking preformed views of our world”, “Using your destructive inclinations”, “Introducing subjectivity through verbal communication”, “Working with many ideas at once”,  “Symmetry and Repetition, “The unfulfilled self”, “Master / Slave”, “Directed Chance”, “Democracy”, “Imaginative Persona”, “Division of Labour”, “Multiple Exposure and Palimpsests”, “Governing Metaphor”, “Layering and Sequencing”, “Suggestive Ambiguity”, “Scoping an Audience”, “Choosing a mission”.