Creativity Book: Spin-2
where creativity is found ...
There’s a new section for you at The Write to Poetry called “The Creativity Coach” (paid subscribers).
First up at The Creativity Coach is a serial offering of our creativity book by Claire Haidar (Burge) … Spin: Taking Your Creativity to the Nth Degree.
Subscribers both free and paid can enjoy the introduction chapters of Spin.
We continue our introduction with Spin’s illustrator—who learned country by country, city by city, where creativity is found…
I only needed two things as a child: a pen and paper. I would draw for hours—creating characters, imagining fantastical scenes, reliving recent experiences. On the page, my young mind willed a second world into being.
As I grew up, I never grew out of this habit; I held onto it as a core part of my identity and pursued visual communication as a career.
I loved studying design at college, especially entering a system that emphasised mindfulness and attention to craft, so different from the rigid curriculum and examinations I had previously known. However, it took me a while to fit in. Unlike some students, my mind seemed incapable of exploring alternative possibilities or producing multiple visions on request. I was cautious back then. Literal. Although I could draw, I wasn’t very creative. As you will find out in this book, one doesn’t necessarily follow the other.
A turning point occurred in college, when I realised that if I wanted to pursue a career in graphic design I would have to adjust. I began to take chances with materials, concepts, and methods. Slowly I discovered the transformative power of sketching out ideas, viewing sketchbooks as more than white space to be filled up; they became places to embark on visual adventures. By the time I graduated, not only had the standard and quality of my work changed, but I, too, had adopted a heightened sense of awareness.
After working as a graphic designer in Dublin, I embarked on a year-long journey of self-discovery. Traveling had always been my ambition, but I had no specific plan. I wanted to do certain things, like visit India and volunteer at an organic farm in New Zealand. During that year, I saw those sites and performed the tasks, but people stood out most of all. So many wonderful individuals crossed my path, offering their thoughts, laughter, and countless snippets of wisdom.
At first I struggled with how to respond to these kindnesses and inspirations. Then I began sketching the experiences and sharing the art with others. People responded gratefully. On a street in Calcutta one day, I felt compelled to draw a doorway I noticed. A small crowd of schoolboys encircled me. They seemed surprised to find me drawing nothing but a doorway, but they continued to watch. Together we shared the experience of seeing details emerge on the page that might have gone unnoticed. Most people enjoyed being included and finding something they could recognise among the eclectic scribbles. I made friends. I fell in love. Country by country, city by city, creativity enabled exchange.
Illustration—or drawing, if you like—is now central to my work as a design practitioner and researcher. Even if a project doesn’t require hand-drawn visuals, chances are I will still need to “sketch it out.” Showing something, rather than just saying or writing it, is often the most effective means of conveying a message. At least that’s what I’ve found.
I hope you enjoy this book, and my contribution to it (the illustrations). In terms of advice, if it’s creativity you’re after: engage with the world. Look outward as well as inward. Balance the two. For me, this is where creativity is found: in that beautiful, brilliant space called being.
Featured photo by pure julia, Creative Commons, via Unsplash. Illustrations by Brian Dixon. Used with permission of .