the creative rabbit

Designed by Bridget Sunderlin

Set goals for yourself. Strive to meet them. Struggle. Persevere. Once you reach them. Reflect.

I find it inspiring to reflect on my children. I have felt blessed to watch my daughter's higher education process. She entered a local college (the college of her choice) and two years later she questioned her decision. She knew it was not a great fit for her and so she then took a huge leap of faith. She chose to enter a new college. A five year program no less. She re-applied and was accepted. A fabulous challenge was offered to her; the challenge to earn her foundation courses in one summer. She did so, living all by herself in a new city, a new state, far way from home.

She has never looked back. She met the challenge and every one that came her way. In fact, she seemed to crave them and planned for more at every opportunity.

Her school requires co-op internships. Through these, she gains practical experience in her field. In her first big co-op experience, she traveled across the country to San Francisco. Again she did this completely by herself. She boarded the plane, hailed a cab, and made it to her first apartment, with most of her worldly possessions in tow.

Her confidence as a woman has grown through these independent experiences; these leaps of faith. She repeated her process by taking on a similar co-op experience in New York City. She has never looked back. Not once. She has never gloated about her achievements. In fact, she has thanked her parents for allowing her the space and trust to spread her wings and fly.

As she comes to the last year of her undergraduate learning experience, I hope that she will reflect on her achievements. I hope that she will look back on them each time she meets with an obstacle that seems insurmountable. I hope that she feels empowered to strike out again; to leap forward with the knowledge that she can do anything she sets her mind to.

Everyone has a power animal...an animal that they feel connected to. Mine is obvious. Quiet, alert, agile, maternal, yet sometimes cunning. What is yours?

Most pivotal moment from a most inspirational book:

"But the moment I read Van Gogh's letter I knew what art was, and the creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it.

The difference between Van Gogh and you and me is, that while we may look at the sky and think it is beautiful, we don't go so far as to show someone else how it looks. One reason may be that we do not care enough about the sky or for other people. But most often I think it is because we have been discouraged into thinking what we feel about the sky is not important."

If You Want To Write

Brenda Ueland

Should my book focus on art, teaching art or creativity in other content areas?

Having taught middle school art for over ten years, the best advice ever given to me was to teach sequentially. I have striven to do that each and every year. It has caused me to keep units that I have grown tired of, because they build on skills from 6th to 8th grade. Every time I see the students do them reinforces their importance.

As an art educator, I have brought my experiences to the classroom, especially my work as a graphic designer. My units have always been based on visual problems that require solutions. Visual art is problem solving at its most creative. Each problem I teach has a practical use in the "real world."

I believe that art is not a vocation to be attempted only by talented people. Art is much more significant. It is the artifacts of every culture. The history or past left behind to help tell the story of long lost civilizations. In the present, it is the key to solving problems that we face every day. It is the beauty we surround ourselves with. It is the visual part of our world that surprises and inspires us. In our future, it will ultimately be the force that helps us to solve the problems of the world by connecting us to other cultures.