This week’s project is simple- create a token of appreciation for someone in your life who has invested in you. You again have total freedom to do what you want… Write a song, create an image, write a poem… If you choose a written form, please just attend to the visual layout and create a final piece that contains the words, but is more than just the words.

Specs:

• Work must be inspired by someone in your life that has influenced you.
• The person must be living, and someone you can physically contact/give it to (no poems for your fave dead poet, for example)
• Work can be in any medium, poem, photo, song, etc
• The final presentation must have attention to visual display.

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Sylvia Plath

“Anxiety is part of creativity, the need to get something out, the need to be rid of something or to get in touch with something within.”

David Duchovny

Total Creative Freedom.

That’s what this quarter is for now. I’ve decided to put down the limitations. The goal is to have you SEE now. See contradictions. See paradoxes. See reality in the confusing and wonderful way it is. Then learn to communicate it back.

Look at the image for today’s post. What does it mean? Is there a “right” answer about it’s meaning? Should art force a specific meaning onto it’s viewers or allow each viewer to engage the piece as an individual, bringing their own meaning, life experiences, and assumptions to the experience of engaging the art? If we force a meaning, is it still art or does it become advertising or propaganda?

This week, I want you to think about the strongest emotion you can remember feeling. Then think about the paradoxical part of it as we discussed in class. Once you can see it, express it. In writing, in song, in images, in video, in dance… However you want to express it. Help us understand or feel the inner struggle that is there- or at least do your best to help us understand it!

Mike R was a prolific artist here in the lab and he was pretty creative with just brushes. This week, with the new Brush talk under your belt, you will be too.

Remember that your image must represent the phrase “scatter.” But you are free to think of that any way you want. Don’t be obvious about it! Think laterally. Think Creatively.

I worked on a NQLE project as well, and will post when done. So far, it’s looking more than decent. (update: Done)

Here are the specs for this project:

• Image must represent the word “scatter”
• Image MUST use a new custom brush defined by YOU.
• Image MUST include at least one image you personally captured.

Other than those specs, the shackles are off. Impress me.

I’m listening to the book “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell and also some books on psychology, and I just had an epiphany:

Success comes from accepting what is.

In “”Blink,” Gladwell is talking about stocks, war, and relationships. Of course my psychology books are obviously covering a lot of the same things- these are the things we humans worry about. But “Blink” is analyzing how people were successful under stressful, fast-paced situations- Its’ looking back at what already happened and what the people were thinking  during that experience. The psychology books discuss how to prepare yourself to be successful in situations like that… but before they happen. So both books are looking at stressful situations and decision making, but from the opposite sides of the situation.

But here’s the epiphany… Both of them say the same thing. Both say that your expectations about what should happen are premeditated disaster. Like any friends you know in a 12 step program might say: “Expectation is a premeditated disappointment.” Turns out this is true! So often in our lives, our expectations about what should and shouldn’t happen actually affect what happens, and even more so, affects our decision making process while it’s happening.

This is true in your brain. If you say you’re dumb at math, you will be. You quit too early, you find it frustrating and hard to focus, and you’ll hate having to do it. If you say you can’t be creative, same thing… Quitting too early, getting frustrated, giving up and doing poorly. Your brain listens to what you tell it.

Interesting side note… think of the music you listen to. The movies you watch. The gossip you get excited about and share. All of those experiences actually affect the way you see the world. They affect the feelings you will have. They affect the behavior you will exhibit in certain situations. Are you taking good care of your thoughts and emotions?

The bad news is that the brain listens to whatever it hears. But there’s good news, too:

The brain listens to whatever it hears.

Double edged sword, no? Check this out… You can start giving your brain different messages, and your brain will start to think and react differently. Guess what feelings are? Activity in your brain. You can change the way you feel about
situations by simply training your brain to think and feel differently. It’s up to you. There are two simple choices- Control your feelings, or be controlled by them. You get to choose your view about things by simply giving your brain more of the kinds of food for thought that you want to enjoy. More happy equals more happy. More mad equals more mad.

Of course I want you to do this with art. I want you to look at our inspiration sites like Abduzeedo and Media Militia and start training your brain to look at good art- to see colors, to enjoy good balance and get used to good design. I want you to open your mind to the possibility that you are more than you think you are and to start living the way you want to, not the way you think you “need” to or being controlled by your feelings.

But more than that I want you to do that with your view of the world. Guess what? Your view of the world is not reality. It’s reality through the filters of your emotions, your personal experiences, your brain’s training up till now. Don’t like the world? Maybe the world is more of a mirror than you think it is. Maybe what you don’t like is really inside, not “out there.” Reality is what it is… but your feelings are what YOU make them.

So my challenge to you- take a look. There are people living in straw huts with no food and they work 12 hours a day trying to grow food in a pile of rocks and they’re happy. They think the world is beautiful and they love life. And then there’s those people who eat every day, get free education in air conditioned buildings, have ipods and a closet full of clothes and they’re miserable.

Same world, different eyes.

And thanks to James for a perfect image to illustrate the point.

JOURNAL: What kind of eyes do you have? What kind of eyes do you want? What are you doing about it?

Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

- Mario Andretti

I hear lots of students saying what they want. They want to do this or that. They want to get a job. They want to make a lot of money. They want to be a designer. They want to be a photographer.

I’m calling Bullpoo.

If you really want something, you’ll get it. You may desire the thing you say you want, but you don’t really want it, because you refuse to be determined enough to get it. We’ve talked about this before, but it doesn’t seem to click with many students.

Few people lose. Most people quit. There’s a huge difference. Right now, one of my favorite students is standing next to me. Last year, she was making some decisions (or rather, not making them) and stuck in a cycle. But this year she broke out and she’s a totally different girl. You can see it in her walk, you can see it in her face. She positively glows. And it’s a result of finally DOING what she said she wanted to do. There’s a big difference between wanting to do something, and then doing it. She’s a perfect example of a winner. She overcame her obstacles with determination and drive. It wasn’t easy, but she says now it was SO worth it. She’s a kid I really respect because she quit crying about what she wanted and started walking toward it. She made the change. She threw the switch and kept burning. Last year she couldn’t accept a compliment. This year she doesn’t need one. She knows who she is and she’s proud of it.

Where are you? Are you being a winner or a quitter?

This quarter, you guys should be watching the ACA Test Prep videos. These videos prepare you for the ACA exams, and are HIGHLY effective. If you watch them and pay attention, you will pass. They take between 6 to 8 weeks to complete. And many of you are complaining that they are “too long.” There’s no project that takes longer than the self-portrait we already did. None of the projects should take you more than a week to complete.

Most schools in the nation take a whole year to prepare students for the ACA Exams. Months instead of weeks. This is an industry certification that most colleges will accept as a 3 credit course. And you’re getting it done in 2 months in high school.

If you continue to expect everything to come so easy, why would you ever expect that you should be given anything of real value? What do you do that’s different than anyone else? You want special treatment or an exclusive benefit? Then start working like someone who deserves it.

If you want to have more than everyone else, you have to work more than everyone else. If you do nothing, you’ll get nothing. Would you have it any other way? You get to determine what you receive in life- it’s determined by what you put in to this life.

JOURNAL- How do you respond to this?  Do you deserve anything above the minimum? How much do you GIVE above the minimum?? (blog in the online lab)