Inspiration’s Wake Up Call

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In the middle of the night an idea begins crawling from the subconscious and sings its silent song in your ears. It is so quiet it stands out over the noise of the night. It makes you wonder the reality between a dream or being awake. No matter the hour it is almost irresistible to ignore. Maybe it was the food you had last night. Maybe is inspiration’s wake up call. You want to turn and keep sleeping but the tender touch makes you open your eyes. You could keep sleeping but that is not an option when a muse turns the switch on. The muse decides to do it the day you could sleep in. Surprisingly you feel woke awake and not tired at all. At least until that idea is out of your head. I bet you are already thinking about when during the day you are taking a nap.

A good idea should not be wasted or left alone until later in the morning. You might forget it. It might not be as exciting as it looked when it came to you. If you don’t want to leave your bed write it down. Having a notebook or sketchbook next to the bed could help. Do you have one? If you don’t, you should. Maybe that idea is the one that could change your life. Keep a nightlight too. Smartphones have applications for notes and sketching, and you don’t need the nightlight. You can also record make a voice memo. Whatever necessary to articulate the idea and keep it fresh. Although sometimes all that is not enough. Sometimes you have to get out of bed and make it happen.

Art Beyond Myself

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Making art because you love art is the most important aspect to maintain a flow of satisfaction in the river of creativity. It is that personal enjoyment that allows artists to keep trying, exploring, expressing, and perfecting. We want to love what we do. We want to get better at it. We want to improve our technique and explore other ways to bring our ideas to life. We want art to be our vehicle of expression. That inner examination of our thoughts and emotions is what keeps our art alive. We want to make a living out of art as well. It is a goal to live out of what we love to do. All of the above are legitimate and totally justified reasons with value on their own. Is there anything more or anything else that our art can accomplish beyond ourselves?  Or is art all about us as artists?

Idleness

Idleness. Private Collection in NYC.

This week I was asked to write a ‘Mission Statement’ in which I had to articulate my purpose and intentions for creating art. The mission statement required a clear plan or goal I want to accomplish. I personally believe that the aforementioned purpose makes my art be all about myself and by doing that when I die my art will die with me. That made me rethink and reconsider the reason for my limited existence in the physical world. This mission statement was already in my thoughts and my heart, but it is a good idea to put it together in one declaration that shows intentionality. It also serves to prepare myself for a larger dream I have that I won’t mention at this time. While it is still taking shape I want to share it with you. This is my mission statement so far:

To present each piece of art, each exhibit, each class, party, workshop, conference, and presentation I provide to help people reconnect with themselves, with memories, feelings, and experiences that have been suppressed or forgotten as a stepping stone towards healing of the soul. 

I am not really concerned about acceptance in museums and galleries. It would be nice and I will appreciate it if it happens but it is not my purpose for making art. As I said, I have a different dream. I want to make art beyond myself. I want my art to reach people much more than just visually. I want my art to speak to people and help them heal the wounds of the past.

The Journey of the Creative Mind

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The Artist at Work

Art looks like a destination. Art looks like a journey. Art looks like both. There are many physical processes involved in the creation of art. The eyes, the hands, and body movements combine to develop what can be called ‘technique’. Technique is connected to the non-physical world of the mind. What are we thinking when we create? That is considering the premise that we need to be actively thinking in order to exist according to René Descartes’ “je pense, donc je suis” (I think, therefore I am).   What are we feeling? Considering that we are also emotional beings and feelings are our connection to a physical world. What are the antecedents that provoke those things? That is accepting that we are influenced by something or someone triggering thoughts, feelings or ideas that are now materializing in our art. Are there ‘energies’ outside the physical brain motivating creativity? That is the concept of the ancient Greeks’ muses and the conception that inspiration comes from outside of us.

Humans are always trying to explain abstract ideas in a ‘concrete’ manner even though language itself is an abstraction. Moreover, I believe writing is not a way of making the idea concrete but a visual way to make it abstract. The idea becomes a sound and the sound received visual symbols we call ‘letters’ which consequently forms an alphabet. We form words with them providing a visualization of the idea. Cognitive psychology attempts to explain this phenomena. In instructional design we pay attention to learning concepts that help us design learning activities. Concepts as making sense, consciousness, perception, reflection, intention, action, and so on. Psychoanalysis, made famous by Sigmund Freud, explores what I am going to call ‘the dark side of the moon’. In psychoanalysis the focus is on what happens in a conscious state but in the unconscious mind. Concepts like subliminal messages, dreams, suppressed memories, instincts, and other factors that connects us to the conscious world with an unconscious root. Think of Salvador Dalí and surrealism.

We can try to explain or map the journey of the creative mind and we will always fall short of explaining its full ‘reality’. We can take a piece of art as a destination and trace back the steps to the beginning of time in an attempt to explain creativity by its result. I will argue that the artwork is not the result or the destination of the creative mind more mostly a souvenir from the trip like that card, t-shirt, or the famous coffee mug we get as a memory. Creativity is much more powerful than its result. There might be more happening in the subconscious mind than what is happening in the conscious mind when art is created. The journey of the creative mind is not to be fully explained or understood but to be enjoyed and experienced. It is what we talk about to entertain ourselves with the possibilities and not to prove a point. We just enjoy the trip, the memories, and the souvenirs.

Living in the Empire

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I am not sure why I enjoy so much those boring ancient  history documentaries about the early Mesopotamian civilizations. I really enjoy watching those shows while I’m in the studio sculpting and painting. I try to understand human behavior through the history of these people and at the same time I try to picture myself during that time. How would it look like if I was living in the empire? There was a group of people making sure  that their king was obeyed, feared, honored, venerated, and pleased. The king was the target of hate and could at any time be killed by enemies or by people in the kingdom seeking power or revenge. Society itself moved accordingly risking their lives every minute. At the same time they had to fear the possibility of war with outsiders. Life was very uncertain no matter your position in that time. It was not only one generation but the things that were going on for thousands of years.

I’ve been reading the book of Daniel in the Bible lately as well. Daniel lived during the times when Babylon became the capital under the kingship of Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar is attributed with one of the long gone wonders of the world, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC. Daniel was taken to Babylon during that time. Although Daniel was a captive he served a few of the kings during his lifetime according to the Bible and did it respectfully and successfully. He was well respected by the kings and hated by his counterparts. I try to imagine being in a position like that. It reminds me of one of my favorite stories of the Bible with lots of parallels to it: the story of Joseph, the king of dreams. Joseph was also a stranger in the land of Egypt and became very respected in a high position of authority. As Daniel, Joseph was not only good at what he did but also faithful and honorable. The best part is that none of them surrendered their values and their love of God even though they were living in the empire.

I don’t think society changed that much since. Many things that made Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization are still alive today. History is a continuum and everything is somehow interconnected. I don’t think humans changed at all since besides the obvious cultural differences and technological advances. Human character and behavior doesn’t seem different to me from that time to ours. Some people want power and they do whatever they need to do to get it and keep it. There are wars. People kill, steal, fight, take sides, become victims of power struggles, and try living until it is their time. Religious hate is no different either. People in power use religion to control others, while others use religion to hold on to life and afterwards. If you ask me, I would like to live in this empire we live today like Daniel and Joseph did. I want to hold on to my values and be faithful, respectful, and honorable. Needless to say, I am also a stranger in the land.

Cognitive Psychology in Simple Terms

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ThessalonikeWhat is Cognitive Psychology? Cognitive psychology in simple terms is the science that studies how the mind works. Pretty simple, right? For example, it tries to understand how we memorize things and how to remember. It also tries to understand how we perceive and make sense of information or environmental cues. It helps understand how we develop language skills, how conceptual thinking is developed, and how we make decisions.  What we see, hear, touch, taste, feel, and imagine is information. In a sense, cognitive psychology deals with the ‘abstract’ functions of the brain and how it processes the information.

How does cognitive psychology helps you? If you understand how you memorize things then you will do the things that make you memorize more effectively. In education we rely upon this science to develop learning strategies that can be used in practice. Here is where research has an important role. Through observation and other forms of data collection and analysis we get to understand phenomena that then allow us to design ways to help people learn more efficiently. This includes delivering the information in ways that can be processed through different channels or in different ways. People learn in many different ways and some have preferred ways of learning. They are more inclined to get information in a way that is easier for them to receive, process, and understand.

There are so many aspects of cognitive psychology for learning that can be discussed and each one will branch out to more and more intricacies of this fascinating computer we call brain. We can talk about memory, problem solving and critical thinking, language development, understanding math, and how the environment affects mental functions. We can talk about the emotional aspects of mental functions like motivation. We can also talk about the physical aspects that affect cognition. The list can go on forever. We are only exploring the surface. It is important to understand that cognitive psychology is still theoretical and the mysteries of the brain may never be completely revealed. That is indeed the beauty of all of it and what keeps us searching and researching.