What Did You Craft When You Were a Kid?

I come from a long line of crafter's and artisans. I have an ancestor that has one of his sculptures in the collection at the Louvre, another that was an artisan basket weaver in Germany, my great-great Grandfather and great Grandfather were both artists at Shea's Buffalo Theater. I come from artists, photographers, milliners, seamstresses, stain glass makers, wood workers and quilters. Even my mother worked at a craft shop in the 1980's when they started getting big, so it is no surprise that I fell into the same line of work.

In looking back, my first independent crafting venture came one Christmas long, long ago...I was maybe 8. I wanted so badly to give my family presents, so I made pillows for everyone. Who cares if they were made of paper and stuffed with crumpled paper so they were completely non-functional...it was my love I was giving them! After that, I toyed with sewing, crocheting and beading; of course, all was supported by Mother. I think I mentioned it a long time ago, but I even designed and sewed by hand a ball gown out of my mother's ugly green fiberglass curtains. Of course, I had no clue what fiberglass was and couldn't understand why I itched so bad when I wore it! Oh, and I had to wear it in the privacy of my room...Mom would have kicked my butt if she found out I used her curtains. Well, she eventually did!

I honestly can't remember a time in my life I wasn't sewing, painting, beading or whatever. It has always been a part of my life and I hope it always will.

What crafts did you do as a child?

Crafting Education?

Okay, so now we have seen that some of us are talented with our hands, some with our writing, some with our minds.  Some have tried and, in their opinion, epically failed.  Although some don't think they have a creative bone in their body....ahem...Grace....you actually do if you consider how entertaining your writing is!  It pains me that my daughter won't so much as put a sticker on a paper let alone try some of the creative ventures I try to entice her to, but she sure is a hell of a writer.  In fact, she wants to be a novelist.  I guess she will be living with me forever, huh?

Which brings me to my topic...crafting education.  You can find these at colleges, high schools and local craft shops and bead stores.  I actually graduated from high school wanting to either be a journalist or an artist.  The artist in me won out as I entered college majoring in Fine Arts.  I relished in this and was swaying towards art therapy then totally shifted into psychology.  Then neuropsychology.  I ended up with a Bachelor's degree in Biological Psychology with a minor in Biology from a state university.  Problem was I couldn't afford grad school.  Bummer.  So, I took my degree and entered the work force.  I landed a job with Child Protective Services as an Intensive Family Therapist.  I met with families 5 days a week for three months counseling them in parenting, daily living, drug and alcohol abuse, etc. in an effort to keep the kids at home as well as attending family court cases to report on the families progress.  I was so talented in connecting with the clients that I ended up with the severe cases...way too many severe cases.  I ended up disgusted with the bureaucratic red tape and the snidely CPS workers that were just too quick to tear apart families without understanding the dynamics of the family and the lack of parenting education while I watched everyone else care for my kids, so I quit to get back into my creative life.  Wow...major digression!

To sum it up, the only traditional instruction I received for the arts was those two years of college and most of that was core design and photography courses.  I didn't stay in the Fine Arts program long enough to actually get involved in what I really wanted to.  I never pursued any other instruction and basically taught myself through trial and error.  Today, I teach jewelry and design classes in the adult education program at my local high school, but still fail to take classes when I want to learn new techniques.  I am one of those learners where I want to make the mistakes and want to figure things out for myself.  I am currently swaying towards soldering and metal forging....and as you can expect, are making all the mistakes I need to make.  At this point, I have very few pieces in my shop that I feel are worthy to sell.  The rest go in the scrap bin!

So, for those of you who started venturing in the creative arts early on, did you ever seek training for your crafts or are you a self-learner?

On Creativity and Flow

Indoor rock climbing. Photo by www.cliffhanger.com.au

by Patty Lakinsmith

I've been reading lately on the topic of creativity and Flow. You may have heard of the term "flow". Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the author of "Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life" describes flow as, "the sense of effortless action they feel in moments that stand out as the best in their lives". To an athlete this is often described as being in "the zone", and others describe it as ecstasy, joy, aesthetic rapture, being in the moment, and such. Simply, it is completely focused motivation.

Activities or situations that can induce a flow experience have a number of things in common:

1. There is a set of clear goals.
2. Immediate feedback is received.
3. A person's skills are required to overcome a challenge (e.g. a technical problem in your medium or design) that is just shy of his or her ability to meet.

Presumably, flow occurs when someone has a clear set of goals that require appropriate responses. So, in a game these would be the "rules" of the game, and in art they may be more self-imposed, such as those faced in some kind of challenge. Feedback is available to tell you whether you are succeeding or not in the activity, and lastly, the activity provides a challenge that is difficult enough to sustain motivation and interest but just within reach of your skill level.

I have personally experienced flow in a wide variety of settings: in graduate school projects, in work projects, some athletic activities, and in lampworking, but most notably and memorably in the latter. It's classic - I'm completely focused and don't hear the phone ring, I lose track of time and fail to hear messages my body is sending me ("your shoulder hurts!", "you really should go to the bathroom, don't you think?", and "when was the last time you ate?"). This is flow, and I must say, it is highly addictive and divine.

I usually can't achieve flow when I'm doing something from someone else's playbook. That is, a highly prescribed custom order (which I rarely do), or things that I know I have to do. But give me a challenge, e.g. a bead that can double as a mechanical element in a piece of jewelry , and a stretch of time where I know I have no other obligations and won't be interrupted, and I'll lose myself in blissful concentration.

Have you experienced flow in your creative adventures? What does it feel like to you? Have you noticed any trends about when it may or may not occur? Do you have a time tested method that is sure to get you in a flow state?