Fostering Imagination through Art
Looking at art and trying art in April
Somehow imagination and creativity are the same thing in my mind. And maybe they are and maybe that speaks to something deep and broken in me that explain why in my 50’s I am finally pursuing stretching that dormant imagination. “Not creative”, “Not artistic” were sort of the drum beats of my childhood and early adult life, the story I told myself1. Over the past decade or so I have come to embrace the idea that creativity does not equal artistic/the ability to draw realistic pictures, paint landscapes, sculpt clay, etc. I can be creative in any number of ways and areas of my life. My writing is a creative outlet even if it isn’t making up stories. Problem solving is a creative outlet. Planning trips is a creative outlet. Honestly, getting dressed every morning is a creative outlet.
But what about the hierarchy of creativity? Maybe I am a little creative but I am not creative like other people therefore my creativity doesn’t count. I dress utilitarian and they dress flamboyantly therefore they use their creativity to dress and I do not. Why? Why do we have I told myself these stories for so many years?
Well, it stops today! Today I will put on display my mediocre art and my incredible creativity all at the same time! (be nice to me)
This month I wanted to foster my imagination with art. I specifically had this idea that I would like to junk journal but broadly thought I might try other things. I also decided to pair this adventure with immersing myself in beauty once a week so John and I hit a couple museums and a conservatory on his days off.
One thing I did find surprising and not at all surprising is that while sitting down to do art can be fun my mind and body were very resistant to getting off the couch. I could imagine going and pulling out the junk journal stuff every night or practicing some lettering (another skill I imagine mastering), but my body was perfectly content to sit on the couch and just think about fostering my imagination in a new way without the risk of actually doing anything. As a result I did not do as much as I had imagined, as much as a certainly could have done. But this is a building practice of fostering creativity so I will keep trying new things and practicing different forms of art. And try to convince myself that practice is as relaxing as scrolling my phone2.
One of the things I did not do this month but is on my art plan is lettering. I have a practice book called “The Art of Lettering” and in it she says, “Practice, practice, practice is the best way to learn lettering, and the most rewarding.” True of so many things in life. But how often do I feel that if I am not good at it right away it isn’t worth doing? What if the practice is the best part? I will be taking that thought into May.
What I did do:
Junk Journaling
The first thing I did was watch some videos on different people junk journaling. I had collected some stuff from our trip to Europe for the purpose of putting them in a junk journal. There are a lot of different ways to do it and styles. Some more overwhelming than helpful. I watched one where the woman literally grabbed stickers off her groceries and cut up the packaging of food she bought on a grocery haul and creatively placed in onto a page in her journal. Literal junk journaling. While I found her “don’t over think it” approach the most helpful, I did not think I will start collecting literal junk to put in a journal.
To finally get started I ended up going over to a friend’s house who is an artist and asked her if we could parallel play doing art. I decided I needed a friend there with me. But while my actual goal is to parallel play art with John, after watching the junk journal videos with me he had more opinions than I wanted about how I should lay out my journal. I needed to start without him. I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do, had some ideas but nothing clear, so all his ideas were too much. I needed to figure out what I was doing myself. Then he could have an opinion. I’ve done a few pages now and while I would love them to be more colorful and “better” whatever that means, I am ready to let him see me work without feeling overwhelmed by his ideas.
I did have a fun idea to roll up the receipts we saved and lay them out like the Eifel Tower. It took a while to figure out what the right shape was, even when I was looking at a picture, but once I got there I am pretty happy with the result.
The only other art thing I did this month was attend a workshop at a women’s retreat on art. I will be honest, my take away was that I needed a much more remedial class as I wasn’t completely sure what she was asking us to do most of the time. But I went with the intention of just letting myself be bad at it, putting on the page whatever I wanted and not apologizing for it. She was going around complimenting people at one point and I could tell wasn’t sure what to say when she got to me so I said, “I’m just having fun” and she said, “That’s great!” ha ha.
The other practice we did this month was to go on a weekly date to a museum, conservatory or some other place that inspires creativity. The first week we went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It is a favorite, really great variety of art and it is mostly free. There is always one paid exhibit which is probably great but we wouldn’t know because we never pay for it. The free stuff already takes half a day.
The second week we went to the St Paul Conservatory. Huge indoor greenhouses basically with walking paths and benches. On a cold day it is a gift.
Week 3 we went to the Walker Art Museum and the neighboring Sculpture Garden.
The sculpture garden is free all the time. We met our daughter there to walk around, enjoy the art which includes the architecture of the Basilica across the street. Then she left, we grabbed dinner and went into the Walker which is free after 5pm on Thursdays (the day we were there). It is a modern art museum with less traditional but still fun and interesting displays.
The final week was back to MIA for Art in Bloom. Floral artists create arrangements that are inspired by various art pieces in the museum. Fun to see the different ways they are seen and interpreted.
Reading In April:
I came across a book title this month that I immediately went to my library web site and reserved. “Shitty Craft Club”. It was available right away and is exactly the art vibe I am going for in this season of my life. I actually tell people I hate crafts. Mostly I hate them because I don’t know what to do with them when I am done with them. Like the junk journal of your grocery haul scraps, you are just prolonging the moment when it all goes in the trash. But what this book helps me understand is that crafting isn’t really about the finished product, it is about the process. She uses her crafts to celebrate her life. My favorite craft chapter is on pom poms. She proposes 3 ways to make them. One is to buy a pom pom maker, one is to use a fork and the 3rd option is to just plop a bunch of ribbons and string and whatever you have already knotted up in a box down and tie a string around it. Voila, the shitty pom pom club. I have found my people.
The only other book I read was The Order of the Phoenix, the 5th Harry Potter book. I needed a comfort read and picked that one. I skimmed the parts with Umbridge because she makes me mad. I’ve read it a few times, I know what happens. I was on my phone too much this month but during a car ride to a women’s retreat I listened to all the books my friends were reading and felt inspired to put the stupid thing down and get back to reading. Also, I have started noticing I sleep better when I read instead of scroll my phone at night. Why hasn’t anyone else noticed this? Oh right, everyone has noticed this.
Substack:
Here is a really great essay about leaning into our weirdo artist era. This is like the Shitty Craft Club only for art. Or maybe they are the same thing.
New Things in April:
For new things John and I tried a new coffee shop, it was amazing. We are still laughing about the high barista trying to take our order:
Me: I’d like a hot chai with almond milk
Him: we don’t have almond milk we have oat milk and almond milk. Long pause while I looked at him, I mean oat milk and coconut milk.
Me: OK I’ll do oat milk.
Him: Great, what drink do you want?”
Me: Hot Chai.
Him: with regular milk.
Me: No Oat milk.
Him: OK so iced chai with oat milk.
Me: No hot chai…
Repeat a version of this with John’s order and then he made John an iced drink instead of hot. John drank both. Seemed like we earned it.
I also experienced a new retreat center in Wisconsin. Beautiful space on a lake. The room I stayed in was nicer than many hotel rooms I have stayed in on vacations over the years. Definitely the deluxe women’s retreat experience.
Fostering my Imagination in May:
This month I am going to attempt to foster my imagination through curiosity. On the one hand I am a generally curious person but on the other hand I tend to like having the answers and focus more on what I know than on what I don’t know. Learning to ask questions and wonder about things is certainly a skill. Will see what I come up with in May. It is 4 days in as I finally get this summary written and the answer thus far is nothing. But the month is still young and spring is springing up the eternal hope of possibilities to explore and questions to ask.
Did you do any art this month? What sort of weirdo artist era are you in?
I can’t tell you how many times I have told people, “I can’t even draw stick figures”. That level of refusing to allow for any art or creativity in my body.
Or actually convince myself that it is more relaxing. Because I am finding my phone to be less and less relaxing.
I hope that is not a hot take because that was sort of my thinking behind adding the museum adventures to my art month. I knew I would not do a lot of art but hoped that I could find inspiration in visiting it as well.
I also learn so much going to museums with my art friends. And zoos with my animal daughter. It is fun to listen to someone talk about their passion even if it isn't yours too. We all have so much to offer and can learn so much from each other!
One of my best friends out here is an artist, a painter. When we were 19 or 20 I started going to art galleries and museums with her and learned all about various forms of art, painting, technique, composition, etc. She’s “the artist,” but through her I’ve become an “art appreciator.”
This may be a hot take, but I think visiting art can be as enriching as doing art. Especially as you learn to appreciate different types of art expression. Like the basilica and sculpture park right next to each other — they’re both works of art in different forms.