Creativity Group in Search of a Name

Creative Forces Gathering

Creative Union

Creativity Mavens

Lunatic Fringe

creativitymavens@gmail.com

Add to our blog! creativitymavens.tumblr.com


As some of you may know, Emily Neal and I have been cooking up schemes for the last several years to promote, reinvigorate, and ignite creativity in our own and others’ lives. We believe that creativity is the wellspring of a happy, productive life; we mourn the loss of creativity in our culture. Many of our ideas have grown from brainstorming ways to use Emily's Old Box House, which she has been renovating with care over the past several years. Because Emily is now dedicated to building a larger house on her property, I have moved our initial brainstorming in this space to "The Back Burner."

One of the ideas we have settled on to actively nurture creativity involves gathering together a group of creative types to learn more about how to turn up the volume on our muses, spur creativity in one another, and provide space for creating and collaborating together or working individually on a creative exercise or project.

Hence, this wiki has now transformed to our online meeting place. Please contribute, expand, share, discuss. We have so much to learn from one another!

Susan

PS. Let's do our best to document our gathering so that those who are not present can enjoy and be creative in response

Random Thoughts about The Old Box House:

Mrs. Margreta Mays’ name was written on a board and placed inside the wall of The Old Box House waiting for me to discover it. Her name serves as a reminder that someone was here before me. Who she was and what she did here, I don’t know right now. What else would she have said to me? What message was in her heart but not written down so that I could know what she was thinking about her experience on this land. Margreta’s name is part of the intrigue that calls me to make more time to explore and create and to leave behind something for others to discover. I invite you to join me and take time to explore our collective and individual creativity. -- Emily


Hat-Making Party
November 2013
Host: Susan
Attending: Barbara

The first hat I tried on
The first hat I tried on

When visiting the local artist market, the Lowe Mill, in Huntsville, Alabama, I came across these hats...are you ready... MADE OUT OF PAPER BAGS!

The milliner, Jackie Miller, told me all her secrets, gave me her card, and wants pictures of our hat-making session! You just need a paper bag, acrylic paint in a color you like (I'll have some spares), and old froufrou from around the house (plastic flowers, ribbons, other found items for embellishing your hat). I'll have extra paint, brushes, hot glue gun and velcro.

I knew immediately that hat-making would be the theme of my next attempt to gather together our creative forces.



Jackie Miller Business Card

Supplies:
  • a regular size grocery bag
  • acrylic paint in a color you like (I bought a set of paints if you want to mix it up, and I bought a box of brushes)
  • hat decorations -- plastic flowers, ribbons, hair doodads, buttons, etc. This is where you can go wild!
I'll have a hot glue gun and velcro.

Here's a picture of my purchased hat for inspiration!
Inline image 1
Inline image 1


Here's a timeline view of the hats-in-progress:
Painting the hatsPainted bagsEmbellishmentsMaking flowers for hatOf course, Barbara had to make her own flowers...

The final results: magnificent hats!

Susan's Hat
Barbara's Hat (Day of the Dead Mask)