Creativity - the forbided idea

I feel creativity is not just about creating things or ideas or solutions, its more than that; these are mere manifestations of one's creativity.

Creativity is a small word of this big liberating philosophy on living life. It cultivates one's ability to swim when given a pool, fly when given the skies, climb when given a tree, in short creativity is the art of developing one's evolving 'gene'. The gene that will transform, and create new things and live a life richer in perspective.

Sadly, we urban dwellers have gone through a homogenising education system that has developed the inertia to change in us. This risk-adverse attitude to life or anything new, acts like a barrier between us and the infinite horizon.

Furthermore, our society has labeled creativity as something reserved solely for those with time to spare and have developed a narrow perspective of life, measured only by money. Thus ranking creativity as low as the standards allow.

However humanity still has a chance of not turning into an army of unthinking learners. The tides are changing as more and more people are now acknowledging the importance of creativity. Let's hope this that change of tide will bring about a tsunami that will engulf humanity with a surge of creativity.

Finding my voice

'Finding my voice' is my journey inwards, a deep soul searching journey towards the core of my being.

What makes me happy? What am I good at? Who am I going to be? These are the questions worth answering.

Money will only make one happy till he realizes that he has sold his voice to satisfy his greed, unless if it was his voice that brought him that wealth.

I am now a little confused. I know I don't want a life that is measured solely on how much I earn and where I work. I know I want to run something on my own. However, I've yet to discover what I will run. I know that I will have to allow myself to be at places and do a variety of things that my heart desires.

The clearer the vision, the lesser the options, easier the decision. A phrase that upon hearing, resonated with me. I am not only confused on the careers I should take but also on the majors I should declare. I felt that I was not on par with my peers who have had figured that they want to be investment bankers and so on. But, I now realise that, I was at least honest with myself unlike many who have just named a lucrative career path based on what they have seen or heard or simply followed the herd.

However, now I need to clear my vision and that will makes things easier. This is one thing I shall work on as I pursue more activities in hope that I will groom myself holistically and eventually find my voice.

Cheers!

Amazon Dream Catcher

My noisy Red fronted Amazon, not only speaks, he sheds his feathers too.

Overtime, I've collected a handful of these beautiful feathers without knowing what I can do with them.

However, I managed to somehow come out with it after sleeping over it.



















1. Washed the feathers with diluted shampoo. (Don't want to wash the oil completely from the feathers, for shinny look)

2. Blew dry them and stored them in a clean place.







3. Get rings to form the structure(s) of the dream catcher. (Important to keep an open mind, I was totally lost on what material to use till I let my discrimination go)
- Smallest ring - part of an old parrot toy.
- Plain red bangle &
Red + gold bangle = Mum's old plastic bangles






4. Tube cloth
- Initially I wanted to use a old shoelace but I spotted this old paper bag and decided to use its cloths "shoe-string" type handles instead.








5. Warp the tube through the bangle.

This be the exterior ring (largest).










6. Place the smaller ring in the position you want.

7. Sew the ring in the position indicated on the left (steps 1 - 15, were the steps I took in stringing my dream catcher).

- I chose not to follow the traditional Native American pattern.








Reflections:
- Everyday objects can come together to form new and fun things.
- I was so consumed by this project that I forgot to take pictures to document the full steps. I guess, I enjoyed myself and forgot this was for school.
- I think I should develop my sewing skills as I think my dream catcher would have looked nicer if I had better sewing skills (though my younger brother thought it was something I bought as he thought the quality is good).

- I've also come to realize that I take pleasure in giving old items a new lease of life by recycling them into new, innovative products.

Moss Graffiti Epic Failure?

Expected result Result obtained


I wanted this to be one of my showcase but the planned idea did not take the shape I envisioned.

Moss graffiti, is painting using moss.
It adds life (literally) to one's creation, brings nature into the indoors and allows you to paint anything you like. I love the fact, that it grows.

Unfortunately, attempts did not yield much success.





My Moss dear done on drawing paper.

My Moss dear day 1 Moss dear day 4




















Moss dear day 8
(No/little growth)




Day 10:
Moss dear - dead



Moss graffiti recipe
1 can of beer
half a tea-spoon of sugar (food for the bacteria)
clumps of moss (bought it from my neighbourhood pet store $6)

Blended the mixture for an even mix, and its ready for the wall.

















Fantastic art pieces found on the net


Lesson learnt:
Use less beer.
Try yogurt instead of beer.
Avoid weeks close to Deepavali (Mum won't be as cooperative)

Red-bull waves back ★Showcase★

This recycled-materials made garden windmill not only adds some dimension to my otherwise boring balcony garden.
It also serves as a scare-"sparrow" protecting my Aloevera and ladyfinger plants.



Redbull cans, saved from being thrown.
1. Use a knife to puncture a hole and next cut the sheet with a sharp scissors.
































Finally some use for my dictionary (last time I opened it was during my secondary school days)

2. Placed the cut sheets in the pages of the dictionary (any thick book for that matter) and place additional weights to speed the process of flattening.


3. Make a template of the blades.
(I did not wait long enough for the sheets to flatten completely, but it was not curling back excessively)

4. Trace the blade pattern on the flatten sheet.

5. Cut out the blades (and if your blades have sharp edges fold them to make a blunt edge) Thankfully, these blades are blunt.




6. Cut a rectangular piece. (longer that the middle width of all the blades combined and give some allowance between the blades)
7. Make a slit to allow the blades to slide in.
8. Fold the rectangle piece and tape any loose parts
9. Bend the rectangle piece into a circle loop.











10. Tape the front and back of the center joint (axle).
11. Puncture a 2cm-3cm long strong into the taped joint.












12. Take a curved straw and "string" it through.

13. Place small sticks (plant branches) at the front and back of the axle.





























Errors:










The making of the axle without any planning proved to be dangerous.

Trial and error is not the most effective method.


My Aloevera plant is now safe from the pesky sparrows. Its just nice to see the windmill spin and the shinny (non-sharp) blades reflect light around the balcony. The display of running reflected light is a unexpected fridge benefit.

Reflections:

More research on the net could have helped.
I relied on my observations on a garden windmill I saw long ago.
Solely relying on memory to build something may not be the best way to go, but it certainly pushes your mental ability.

I felt that I applied SCAMPER unconsciously when I put the red bull can, straws, and even plant branches to other use. This proves that SCAMPER can become part of one's flow of creativity after some practice.

I am also surprised that I could build something like this without drawing plans or looking online for a step by step guide. I've learnt that, creativity forces one to "deviate" from one's comfort zone and in doing so, one expands his ability. It also provided me with a lot of joy in seeing a fully functional garden windmill.

Drunken shrimps ★Showcase★

My drunken shrimps provides me with the much needed company on my lonely white study desk. Besides being mostly made of recycled materials, this eco-bottle-system, is relatively maintenance free. The algae just needs some light and it will keep the system going.







The fantastic algae, the moss ball.

This primitive plant will not only provide my shrimps with the algae food they need but also provide them with the much needed oxygen.






Thai red shrimps, my new pets.
They will eat the moss and provide the moss with the carbon dioxide the moss need. Their waste will provide food for the bacteria and the bacteria will break down the waste into nutrients for the moss.

Wala', a close system!













But I will need some chemical to treat the chlorinated tap water first.


The clear Absolut bottle is most perfect to house this bio-bottle system.










I have many magnets on my fridge.
I simply removed 2 pieces of magnet from 2 old magnet souvenirs.


The magnet will help me clean any unwanted algae growth on the glass surface. Hence, ensuring me a perfect peek into my shrimp world.













Extra - Shrimp eating the moss. :)

Moss $6

Shrimps $9
Bottle - free
Chemical - $6
Labour - Memorable experience
Maintenance free pets - Fascinating
Friends on desk - Priceless

Realize that I now can't help but to see the usefulness in "trash" and bring these "trash" back to life.

- Now I have friends on my desk to keep me company as I work on my assignments.
- Inspires me to continue to find green projects and solutions.

Almost everything is blended

I was wearing this shirt for CT when blending was introduced.

I did not take notice/ignorant of the creative aspect, until I return home and realise that the buttons are a blend of the slip button and the snap button.










The Tamagotchi was my primary school gadget. It is also a blended creation.

I heard that the creator noticed that his fellow Japanese were crazy over technology and pet, and simply put the two together to form the Tamagotchi.

Again, its another blended space.

Blended spaces exist everywhere around us. Its kinda hard to find something that is not a blended space.

Even the white board is a blended space (black board + white paper flip-chart), our Singapore flag (Islamic influences + Chinese influences), smartphones (cell phone + pda + radio + laptop), the list can go on.

However, it is not certain if the innovators of these innovation applied blending to create their creations. That said, it is very mush evident that there's some degree of blending in all of the above stated examples and in almost everything around us.

YRCAE and MORE @ SAM

Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern. - Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947) [English mathematician turned philosopher]

This is the quote that my secondary school art teacher Madam Sri shared with my class, and it resonated with me today.

Like what the quote suggests, I feel that our ability to appreciate and enjoy the art done by anyone for this matter, reflects our ability to recognize pattern imposed from human experiences. This reflects our shared human ability to empathise. Hence, an art gallery like YRCAE will presents society at large, an opportunity view the world from these ex-offenders' glasses, and empathise their plague.

I was touched and amazed by many art pieces showcased today. And as such, I've chosen one art-piece for each specific question, so that I could at least talk about more of these art pieces.

It’s really difficult to rank them based on a scale of meaningfulness – and creativity.
But one art piece that took me by surprise and made the “wow” impact was the acrylic on canvas piece titled Transmogrity.

I could not help not to interpret the meaning of the strokes and colours on the canvas. My head was bursting with “stories” as my jaw drop in awe.

This is my interpretation:

The mere dust on the bottom right is morphing into a phoenix, and it is reaching to the sun.
The dust symbolises the old life of the X-offender, and the phoenix represents the current phase of his life, as he morphs into a new person and reaches above to the divine.

This was the written explanation [RIGHT]: (It varies a little from mine though)

My Superhero, is a piece dedicated to the X-offender’s mother. The art piece is very direct with its meaning. The mother is seen equivalent to a marvel-Hero. It shows, that the artist feels that the mother’s unconditional love, is sometime beyond human, something of a hero.

The Way I see It.

Is a piece that obey no “gravity” it has scenes from the artist’s past everywhere. It is mostly pop-culture inspired and it shows that we human beings are byproducts of both nature and nurture.

In that sense, we owe our very own mental make-up to what nature and situations have provided for us. Those who are fortunate enough to be born in a family that has the affluence and ability to provide one with a proper education path and shelter, should acknowledge the unearned privileges that one has received and be humbled that one is lucky.

Liu Kang’s pieces

Life by the river

Body gestures speaks what the facial expressions can’t is what I learnt from this piece.

As an O’level art student (I did silk painting for my GCE ART), I had the opinion that facial expressions are the key to illustrating one’s emotions and feelings. I am so wrong! Body gestures speak volumes more, and the empty faces allow us the audiences to imagine suitable facial expressions. AMAZING!

If I were to paint again, I will definitely go "faceless"

Siesta VS Siesta In Bali

1952 1957

2 pieces, one done in 1952 and the other in 1957, shows the same model but in very different setting.

I wonder why the artist had decided to re-work on a piece he had done before and why did he make it sensual.

The explanation provided by SAM, only focused on the changes made to the chair and how it has allowed the viewer a full view of the model’s body. But, not on the factors that has inspired Liu to go bold on the second try. Its a mystery!

Ar+ is L!/\/\!+LE55

The Reactive wall proves that art is limitless in terms of medium and ideas.

A projection of icons and characters fills the wall. The more noise one makes, the more art the wall gets filled with.

Truly inspirational!

We painted the wall with our echoes.

The visit to SAM, has revived my passion for the visual arts, and I looking forward to the "winter" vacations for some silk-painting freedom! (or maybe this time I may try mix medium) :)