Personal Creativity Workshop

Day 1

Personal Creativity Workshop at O'Hanlon
Center for the Arts just gets better and better.
This week-end, we're getting together for 3 days
to stretch our creative bounds. After tea, Cayan
spread black and white photos, Joan Sadler's "rejects",
across the table and asked us to pick 4
or 5 that spoke to us. Ooh, it was so difficult to choose
from a stack of what felt like hundreds. Nevertheless,
it is possible because each person is attracted to
something different. Different seemed to be the key
phrase and inspiration for the day. Cayan asked us
to look for various visual elements such as close/far,
still or passive/active, light/dark in the photos. We picked
photos that represented these various features, then
got to work creating art on a black square of paper
with humble tools including black and white oil pastels,
wax blocks, bits of yarn, printer's rub-on letterset, and
newspaper, all to be incorporated into our artwork.
When I picked up the front page, I discovered a neatly
cut out picture of Emperor penguins. I chuckled to myself
as I picked up the picture, thinking about how Cayan said that
the best art is unplanned, and yet feeling particularly blessed since one of my all time favorite creatures are penguins. The large Emperor penguins are black and white birds, with bright yellow and orange markings across their head and throat. They are currently being located by satellite through their guano stains on the ice! In this particular photo, the close and far elements were there for my pure enjoyment.

As serendipity goes, the Nature channel ran a program last
night featuring the very same Emperor penguins! Art and perfect timing seem to go hand in hand.