Inspiring Artist

This video of artist Christine Sun Kim's work amplifies my own take on creativity. I don't want to tell you too much because there's a little surprise.

Todd Selby x Christine Sun Kim on Nowness.com.

I really love the way she thinks, trying all these different approaches to give sound form and color. She uses sound as a tool to make art, like artists use a camera or a brush. It makes me think about how often we take our senses for granted.

Creativity Workshop

Happy New Year! 2012 is going to be a great year. I've picked a date for the next Creativity Workshop, Sat. February 11, 2012, 11-5pm, at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden.. The time is 11-5 so that everyone can take Kerry Orr's yoga class first. I highly recommend Kerry's class on Saturday's normally 10-11:30, but on Feb. 11th it will be 9-10:30 so as not to conflict with my workshop. Thanks Kerry.

Here's the details about the workshop and a video that describes the musician Goyte's creative process.

Through guided exercises in creative writing, movement, painting and mixed media collage open up to fearlessly enter new territory and discover your authentic self-expression. Walk away reenergized and inspired to tackle your projects and life more creatively.
No experience required.
$65.00 All supplies provided.

The Buzz Ware Village Center
2119 The Highway Arden, DE
Feb. 11, 2012, 11-5 pm

www.lindacelestian.com to read testimonials
Register at 302-478-1329
or email linda@lindacelestian.com
If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

This is a cool video I stumbled upon. The musician Gotye talks about the making of his recent album and his process sounds like what I teach in my workshop. An artist doesn't arrive at a finished masterpiece just one day after their morning coffee. It's a process of collecting bits and pieces, playing around with them, discovering new things about them and arranging them anew. To do this you need to welcome this process into your everyday life. The results will amaze and surprise you.

Making Making Mirrors - a short documentary from Gotye on Vimeo.

Here's a very cool music video of his using stop motion animation.

Creativity Workshop Update

The word Creativity might take on different meanings for different people. Here are some meanings that we came up with on Saturday and I few others I pulled from a previous workshop, passion, fun, joy, intangible, unknown, our true nature, movement, new, expression of self, ability to stand alone, open, growth, flow, journey, ever present, recognizing that we are collaborators, part of creation, transcendence, release, surprise, discovery, inspiration, freedom, risk taking, and insight.

In the workshop we wrote, we laughed, we moved to music, we painted, we shared, we collaged and exchanged ideas. Then we were exhausted!

These are the only photos I remembered to take. I didn't get any of the final collages which is fine since I actually think it's more about process than finished product. It's so important to enjoy the process and understand that you're not going to love everything that you make. You are always learning something new that helps you the next time around. The creative process is a lot like life, you can't be worried about making mistakes. If you were you'd never leave the house and what fun would that be?

Thanks Keri, Kevin, Suzanne, Toby, Nicole and Liz for allowing me to bring you on a creative journey to the land of possibility.

If you are interested in participating in this workshop the next time I teach it please drop me an email and I'll add you to my email notification list.

Inspiration

Inspiration can come from unexpected places. I think my senses are heightened because I spend a lot of time working in the visual realm. My acting teacher called it looking with soft eyes, like a baby. This is something we actually practiced in acting class. I think it's the way I've always seen things. I've been known for seeing things others miss and in turn not seeing things that others think are blatant, like street signs.

Salt stains on asphalt.

My Kids Are Artists Too

People often ask me if my kids aged 12 and 15 are artists too. My answer is “hell yeah!”. I’m really proud of their work but sometimes I wish they weren’t so busy all the time and would learn to clean up a little once in a while. They wrote, directed, acted, filmed and edited their own movie this summer. I love how my kids can make their own entertainment out of the dress up bin. I hope they never outgrow this. Will the finished piece be a masterpiece? I think probably not, but what a great experience. I bite my tongue when I see the incredible messes that are left in the wake of their creative flurry.


Here are a few pictures of what they’ve been up to this summer.

Delaney's abstract paintings

Delaney's art portfolio from summer camp

Savannah's watercolors from summer camp

This was actually Delaney's lunch one day, that's Larry Cat checking it out

Delaney helped me make wrapping paper with some left over paint and newsprint

Delaney has to wear collared shirts to school and she's not going to wear boring solids every day so she splatter painted her shirt

Here's a shirt I made for her with fabric she chose

Fabric she painted to make a pillow for her room

I painted the wall purple in her bedroom to surprise her for her birthday and together with a friend we painted the spiral. Here she's gluing pompoms to her lamp shades.

Delaney also made cute animals out of plastic eggs, paper flowers from a tracing of her hand and cool jewelry out of buttons. Today they were off to their friend's house dressed as cats.

When I was a kid, the neighborhood kids were always at my house where my sister’s and I were allowed to make costumes out of old clothes and odds and ends and we wrote scripts and put on plays all the time. Our Christmas gifts were always craft kits like a pottery wheel or glass cutting kit. My mother sewed and my father had a wood shop in the basement. I was always making things, and still am. My craft room is a mess! I cleaned my studio this week though and can't wait to get in there and start making messes!

Creativity Workshop

I had so much fun this past weekend teaching my Creativity Workshop in Arden DE. My two sisters and my niece came from upstate NY to take the workshop. I was thrilled to have them here and they got to see what I do and experience it first hand. I also appreciate their honest feedback. I refer to the workshop as a journey inward. Like in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, the Tin man, the Lion and the Scarecrow, have to go on the journey to discover that they actually already possess what they are seeking. Together we demystify creativity and I provide the necessary experiences to assist in the uncovering of the participants creativity and their desire to make time and space for it in their lives. It's like going back to kindergarten without the rules. I forgot to take pictures again; it's not really something you can capture in pictures anyway. The group really enjoyed the collaborative painting and the freedom to play and explore together, encouraging each other along the way.

Here are some of our painted papers

Here is my collage, I'm planning to sew on it. It needs something.

It's really fun to play without worrying about the results. I was totally focused on process and tried to stress that throughout the workshop by saying "don't think, just paint". Some interesting things usually happen when you approach work this way. Things come out because you're not standing in the way. I have to remember to make more time to do this in the studio.

Don't Forget to Wear Clean Underwear

I don't mean to make light of this, but my Uncle Jack had a stroke while driving this past week and flipped his car. It was what you might call a double whammy. He didn't survive.

There's nothing like losing a family member to make you feel really alive...... or just plain lost in a senseless world. I'm feeling a mixture of both that could be best described as a roller coaster ride. Hey, that's life in a nutshell. Crazy, snake loving, dog loving, God loving, Uncle Jack will be missed. I know he's in a better place now and smiling.


Other news; I'll be running my Creativity Workshop in Arden on Sat. February 20th. You can reserve your space by dropping me an email at linda@lindacelestian.com You can read some testimonials on my website.

Come out and have some fun to lift your spirits in the duldrums of winter. Write, move, paint, laugh and let loose! You won't regret it in the morning, I promise.

Here's a new fiber piece I finished last week. It's a painting on broadcloth, layered with dyed and nuno felted silk organza. It's 15 x 17 inches and titled "Living"

Creativity Workshop

I did it! I taught my first Creativity Workshop. Thank you Laura, Sam, Linda and Keri, my brave participants that trusted me to take them on a journey. We wrote, shared, laughed, danced, painted, wrote some more, made beautiful collages with our hand painted papers, and imagined our perfect creative spaces. Wow, and all in 6 hours. I brought my camera and totally forgot to take pictures. Because of our small number I was the 5th participant and I really enjoyed creating alongside my friends. These are some of our painted papers, my collage and some of their feedback.

Sam wrote:

"I really enjoyed it. One part that was interesting was to be able to write freely about something and then go right into making something that tied the two together.Working on pieces together then creating some pieces on your own was also very freeing and I got a lot of inspiration from that exercise.I felt very inspired to just want to paint, when I left. I wanted to explore things that I played with in the workshop and the pieces that I'm currently working on. It was very positive energy."

Linda wrote:

"I definitely enjoyed the day....despite my crying! It was very intimate and the group worked together well in our joint projects. I loved the whole thing....perhaps just a couple more hours of time would be nice so that we would have more time as a group to get to know one another."

Laura wrote: "I enjoyed it very much. To me, it was an amazing success. I am so restrained when trying to create. Like when you mentioned in the a.m. that we'd be using our papers to collage with, I couldn't imagine at all how I would design a collage. In fact, I was a bit concerned. The writing exercise was so helpful to me; it gave me ideas to collage about. It was so fun to have a topic or message to play with in my collage versus wondering, what it ever could say, and the most inhibiting, how it should look? "

Thanks guys for your thoughtful feedback. I'm planning on leading another workshop probably in the Fall. On Monday I start my job as the art director at ACRA, in Arden, DE. It's the hardest job you'll ever love, if it doesn't kill you.

Creativity Workshop

cre·a·tiv·i·ty (noun)

 originality, imaginative ability

Synonyms: imagination, inspiration, ingenuity, resourcefulness, vision

In my own words creativity means coming up with something new and original, out of the box thinking and problem solving. 

Creating does not just mean making art. We create our lives every day. I'm  talking about creating drama, or creating an atmosphere of calm, these are things you can create anytime, anywhere. 

If you want to make art it's a simple as describing your day in your journal with colorful details, moving your body to your favorite song or deciding to wear a color that makes you smile. These are a few examples of creativity and once you get the hang of these you just give yourself permission to go a little deeper and risk a little more. Talent is the ability to reveal. My most wise acting teacher told me this and when I put my expression of thoughts and feelings on a canvas for all to see I reveal who I am and what I'm all about. 

I'm teaching my first Creativity Workshop on Sunday June 7th 10-4 p.m. 

Play – Explore – Discover – Experiment
with artist Linda Celestian

Through guided exercises in creative writing, movement, painting and mixed media collage open up to fearlessly enter new territory and discover your authentic self expression. Walk away reenergized and inspired to tackle your projects and life more creatively.
 
No experience required.
 Supplies provided. $65.00

The Buzz Ware Village Center
2119 The Highway Arden, DE
 Sun. June 7th 10-4 pm., 2009

to register call 302-478-1329
or email linda@lindacelestian.com

Creativity Workshop

I've finally set a date for my first 2 day Creativity Workshop. Here are the details:

Dive in and Make a Splash


The Buzz Ware Village Center
2119 The Highway Arden, DE
Sat. June 6th 2-5 pm and Sun. June 7th 10-4 pm., 2009


Play – Explore – Discover – Experiment

Through guided exercises in creative writing, painting and mixed media collage
open up to fearlessly enter new territory and discover your authentic self expression. Walk away re energized and inspired to tackle your projects and life more creatively.

No experience required.
Supplies provided. $125.00

I'm really excited about actually doing this. This will be a fun and cathartic experience, I gaurantee! I've had the opportunity as an actress, artist and teacher in be involved in the creative process at many levels. A creative way of looking at things is fun but also a very practical way to approach life. What I'm saying is that yes this is about play and having fun but also about problem solving and approaching situacions with an open mind.
Check back, I'll continue to write about this subject.