Ask a contemporary college student about their average day, and they’ll probably tell you they spend it multitasking. Classes here, academic clubs there, maybe a fraternity/sorority event, and then of course community service. No surprises there. But what might be a surprise is that this sort of hectic, multi-event schedule has increasingly become a reality for children’s daily lives, too.
creativity
Posted inOpinion
Want to Be an Artist? Try a Little Narcissism
A new study has found that narcissistic people are more likely to consider themselves creative and do creative things than their non-narcissistic counterparts. Um … we needed a study to tell us that?
Posted inArt
New Research Suggests Lack of Brain Filter May Increase Creativity
Quick, think of a new use for a baseball bat. If you thought of something that doesn’t involve a swinging action (e.g., smashing things), such as using it as a rolling pin, congratulations, you’re a person with excellent creativity. However, you may also have less of a brain “filter” than most.
Posted inOpinion
The Bus Station Theory, or, Why You Should Stick to Your Own Pursuit of Creativity
There are plenty of ways to think about planning an artistic career. Are you aiming to be the enfant terrible, a young provocateur? Or are you playing the long game, sticking with your work until it gets recognized? In The Guardian, Oliver Burkeman outlines a new theory of creative growth that I hadn’t heard of before — the “Helsinki Bus Station Theory.”
Posted inOpinion
Goal Setting and Art Making — Do They Contradict Each Other?
LOS ANGELES — I meet a lot of artists these days who have big goals. Some of the most successful ones even write them out, with specific numbers like a solo show and such-and-such gallery within three years. In a competitive art environment, it’s great to have goals, and it’s great to make progress toward them.
Posted inOpinion
The Secret to Creativity Caught in the Ocean
Mickey Smith’s Dark Side of the Lens is a gorgeous meditation of creative life as told through life on the sea.
Posted inBooks
Eclectic Influences: The Artists Space Bookstore
It’s actually been going on for about two years, but like many visitors to the Artists Space gallery prior to May 2012, you may not have noticed the bookshop project. Now that it’s been placed right inside the entrance of the organization’s new event space at 55 Walker Street in Tribeca, it’s impossible to miss the lengths of shelving that line the walls around you.
Posted inOpinion
Nap For Change: It’s Good for Creativity
LOS ANGELES — In kindergarten, we learned that sharing is caring, 1+1 is 2, and napping after lunch is a good thing. Most of those lessons from our youthful years still apply, except for that latter one.
Posted inOpinion
Want to be More Creative? Science Suggests Stop Fretting Over Mistakes
LOS ANGELES — What’s going on in artists’ brains when they create? I’ve done a few posts recently that suggest answers. But one of the most intriguing issues is the actual act of creation in the moment, i.e., how artists come up with incredible creativity in the moment.
Posted inNews
Advice: How to Lift Yourself Out of a Creative Rut
We all experience creative ruts but how do we get out of them?
Posted inOpinion
New Book to Explore the Science and Benefits of Creative Ruts
LOS ANGELES — As a creative person, I’ve been looking forward to taking some time to read Jonah Lehrer’s new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works. Lehrer, a prolific and popular writer bridging science, the arts and the rest of us, has set out with this book to explore “the new science of creativity.”
Posted inOpinion
Breaking: Getting Drunk and Losing Sleep are Good for Creativity
LOS ANGELES — I know a lot of artists who get drunk a lot. I know a lot of artists who are sleepy half the time. It just so happens that these artists are also very creative.