Creative Contemplation, Part III: A Growing Vision
A key learning for me in the past year has been to trust my intuition more and to speak with confidence from personal experience. Brené Brown described this sentiment beautifully when explaining her qualitative research: “stories are data with a soul”. My experience is my data, so this next chapter on the development of my thinking about Creative Contemplation is also related to my observations as I spend more and more time in my collage practice.
In my last article, where I articulated the benefits of collage for individuals and teams, I explained that the process was best suited for team effectiveness, feelings of well-being and learning consolidation. Recently I have added “the quest for creativity”. I find myself most creative (with lasting effects beyond the art session) when I am immersed in creative work. Immersion in creative work is not a dip, it is a long, slow and deep letting be of oneself in the work, materials and creative process. Creativity does not come quickly nor is it smooth and without angst. More importantly, you cannot let be in this process when you are rushed, pressured or distracted.
If what I notice is true, then Creative Contemplation has even more to offer than when I started experiencing it. The complex challenges we encounter often need creative solutions. In our personal lives, our professional lives and our lives as citizens of a planet in crisis, we first need to slow down and become present before we can attend to these challenges with all our care, gifts and will. But in a world obsessed with efficiency and beset with our declining capacity to pay attention and focus, where is the hope that we will find the time and slow down long enough to solve those problems?
When we are so quick to sacrifice even self-care on a daily basis, it will require a structured solution to restore our reflective practice and capacity to be creative.
If the problem is as serious as I think it is, then weekends, holidays and workshops are akin to taking a dip in the conditions needed for creativity. I am more convinced than ever before that if we are looking for creative solutions or creativity, we must be immersed in a creative activity and create the conditions for it. For those with a creative practice of any kind, there is definitely hope; you may even realise that it is because you have a serious hobby, talent or being creative is your full time job, that you find it easier to be creative and you are generally a person who is capable of focus. I have heard anecdotally that many people who have full time creative jobs at an office are taking their creative work home because meetings, non-essential tasks and overwork have robbed them of the conditions they need to do their work. Sacrificing one’s sleep is not good either, because without sleep we are not able to function at our best.
A structured solution in my mind is dedicating a permanent space for Creative Contemplation in the workplace. Corporate Real Estate Services have stepped forward in the last 10 years or so to create quiet spaces, focused spaces, fun spaces and rest spaces, delivering great benefits for health, productivity and stress relief. I urge them now to create spaces for Creative Contemplation. Collage making in such spaces could be used in three main ways:
For booking by teams for visioning, problem solving, innovation, exercising collective creative muscle, etc
For anyone to walk in and relax, unwind, create, calm down, focus, think, make decisions, consolidate, exercise creative muscle, etc
For wellness-focused classes at fixed times on topics like inner resourcing, goal setting, learning a skill that teaches focus, consolidating emotions, etc
I would propose keeping things simple. This not about investing in a full blown art studio. All you need is a room, movable tables in clusters (like in a café), chairs, and a shelf or open cupboard with paper, magazines, scissors and glue. One wall should be empty for teams to stick up their creations and discuss them. Ground rules like how to behave in a library would work well. Despite reading somewhere that it is possible to create collage badly, I believe the opposite; all are equal in making collage because you have images as a starting point and skill is not a barrier to creating significant results both in terms of aesthetics and content. All are able and welcome when it comes to collage. Your Creative Contemplation space can have a trained facilitator come in when needed and the rest of the time, a box of index cards with prompts and instructions can help individuals get started.
Interest in Creative Contemplation is slowly growing and I am happy to report that I have run collage sessions for 3 teams so far this year. I hope to share some anecdotes from participants in the weeks to come. I now also have a home for workshops, classes and events in a shared studio space (Refind SG at The Yards, Joo Chiat Place).
Please reach out if you’d like a more in-depth discussion on Creative Contemplation, to experience a collage class or would like help with creating a space for Creative Contemplation in your home or workplace.
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