tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50232002012-02-16T04:48:57.678-06:00thinkingsandlinkingsRandom thoughts on creativity
for artists, writers, musicians, and creative thinkers by creativity coach Christina YoccaChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comBlogger421100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-82285403690573171142007-06-22T15:35:00.001-05:002007-06-22T15:36:07.950-05:00Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1103121354445988702004-12-15T08:35:00.000-06:002004-12-16T10:07:12.356-06:00Marriage and Creativity
Karen Lorenz of MSN.com reports that while marriage is good for careers, mental health, and longevity, marriage diminishes creativity according to a study of 280 successful scientists.
"Myth: Married People are More Creative A study of 280 successful scientists found that their creativity tended to diminish once they got married. This also held true for musicians, Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1091672802461722552004-08-04T20:55:00.000-05:002004-08-04T21:26:42.460-05:00Inspiration or Competition: Artists Living Together
Eat up this great art discussion on The Connection . As you can tell, I listen to the radio while working in my studio. I am quite addicted to public radio. This art discussion kept me awake listening one night. Originally about Painters and Partners, the discussion beautifully rambled into aspects of art and life that artists love to discuss Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1091399670830825322004-08-01T17:26:00.000-05:002004-08-01T17:36:42.006-05:00Drawing
Peter Steinhart discussed his new book, The Undressed Art: Why We Draw with Lynn Neary on Talk of the Nation. Is drawing a form of meditation? Artists display heightened forebrain activity when they are deep in concentration. Scientists have measured brain activity that is similar to that emitted during Buddhist meditation. Those who draw, however, experience an enhanced sense of space.
Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1091398575908285832004-08-01T17:16:00.000-05:002004-08-01T17:21:12.356-05:00Anna Quindlen who has had successful careers as both a journalist and a novelist talks about the writing process on To the Best of Our Knowledge. The author of the novel Blessings said that she can write for seven hours at a stretch, but not when working on novels. The reasons? After a number of pages, the characters a writer creates in her head become more real than people she passes on the Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1091303598924767242004-07-31T14:42:00.000-05:002004-08-01T17:24:34.633-05:00Night Owls
On July 19, 2004, Neal Conan’s guest on Talk of the Nation discussed sleep chemistry and how some writer’s use this chemistry to their advantage. Christopher Dewdney, author of Aquainted with the Night: Excursion Through the World After Dark described the phenomenal chemical changes that occur within the body overnight. At approximately 10 or 11 p.m., the body secretes a chemical thatChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1079755500883287302004-03-19T22:05:00.000-06:002004-05-30T19:17:58.236-05:00More on Gauguin
Holland Cotter reviewed the ''Gauguin Tahiti'' exhibit in the New York
Times on Friday, March 5, 2004. His article, "Gauguin's Paradise: Only Part Tahitian And All a Fantasy" continues the schizophrenic look at Gauguin's life and art. "Dreadful man" and potent visual artist. To understand Gauguin the bully and opportunist, he suggests reading Nancy Mowll Mathews's ''Paul GauguinChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1079447263426753712004-03-16T08:27:00.000-06:002004-03-16T08:31:27.640-06:00Response from Elizabeth Childs
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 12:45 PM
To : chrisyocca@hotmail.com
Hi! Just read your blog!
Wanted to respond to your characterization of my comments on The
Connection. What I objected to in that caller's remarks was the
judgement that he "left his wife and family" and was so immoral and was
"just off to have a good time," in the caller's words. What I was
Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1079375122044600532004-03-15T12:25:00.000-06:002004-03-15T12:58:03.436-06:00Heart of Italy: Fiber Workshop and Mountain and Sea Tour
Study shibori dyeing methods in the medieval Apenine village of Santo Stephano. Visit with local artisans, including weavers working on ancient looms. Tour the mountains, L'Aquilla, and Rocca Calascio. Travel to the Adriatic and the Vasto Artist and Writer's Retreat. Tour the gorgeous Tremiti Isles. Our tour guide, Luigi Monteferrante, isChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1078377258533215542004-03-03T23:14:00.000-06:002004-03-04T00:10:41.496-06:00Dick Gordon of The Connection described Paul Gauguin as a painter and philosopher in search of paradise. A new exhibit of Gauguin's Tahitian work opened at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Images of the work are available on both sites.
When a caller asked about Gauguin's abandonment of his wife and family to live and paint in Tahiti, the art historian, Elizabeth Childs, did not want to judge Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1076687462389497402004-02-13T09:51:00.000-06:002004-02-15T17:08:13.326-06:00For news on artist workshops in Italy, check out Vasto Writers & Artists Retreat. Overlooking the Adriatic, Vasto is an ancient Roman City in the Abruzzo region of Italy, Italy’s rustic heart. Many cuisine writers praise the wholesome, traditional cuisine of Abruzzo. According to Luigi Monteferrante a founder of the retreat, "Abruzzo is truly set on becoming the next big thing what with Tuscany Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-1076684872217404652004-02-13T09:07:00.000-06:002004-02-13T09:32:13.543-06:00For more links to sites that emphasize spirituality and dreams check out the-Insight.com - spirituality/dreams. Their list of links will be up and running soon. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-951099752003-05-30T23:58:00.000-05:002004-02-13T09:30:54.716-06:00Anya Gallaccio's installation at Tate Britain landscape art is reviewed by Simon Schama in the Guardian.
Here is an excerpt, "Landscape art was born out of the tension between the universal and the local. Its first masters - Joachim Patinir and Pieter Bruegel the Elder - limned the earth as if born aloft on angels' wings, offering to man a glimpse of the godly view."
This rundown on the Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-938639472003-05-06T09:31:00.000-05:002003-05-06T09:45:07.000-05:00The No Sweat Myth: All great artists (or all geniuses) create effortlessly, without sweat.
This myth arose during the Renaissance before our modern idea of genius fully hatched, according to Gender and Genius: Towards a Feminist... by Christine Battersby. A new class of painters and sculptors developed. These artists, generally men from well-to-do families, wanted to distance themselves from Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-936007692003-05-01T11:02:00.000-05:002003-05-01T11:05:29.000-05:00Fiberarts Links
Anne Copeland provides a thorough list of fiberarts links. The links include career development, quilt appraisal, creativity coaching and quilting in general. Great resources for fiberartists and other artists!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-935987782003-05-01T10:24:00.000-05:002003-05-01T10:42:59.000-05:00There Is Always More To Do
Artists are always confronted with the urgency that there is always more to do. This feeling is the artist's double edged sword. The "always more to do" can add to our anxiety or our feeling that we are not good enough; still, it keeps us going in this endeavor; we are never bored with our art.
In an interview with John Freeman, John Updike, now 71 years old says,
"Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-933251692003-04-26T22:26:00.000-05:002003-05-01T21:31:28.000-05:00Timeline of Iraq's Cultural Destruction
A list of articles related to the cultural looting is at lootinginfo.blogspot.comChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-932004382003-04-24T16:21:00.000-05:002003-04-25T09:18:21.000-05:00Humor Break
Doonesbury has a fresh take on the looting. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-931586682003-04-23T23:46:00.000-05:002003-04-26T08:26:07.000-05:00Rosalind Franklin
In ''Secret of Photo 51,'' Nova celebrates the 50th anniversary of James Watson and Francis Crick's discovery of the structure of DNA by by giving attention to Rosa Franklin's contribution. Franklin's X-ray photo provided the evidence Watson and Crick lacked about the molecule's double helix structure. As Watson writes in his 1968 memoir, ''The Double Helix,'' ''The instant I Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-931223532003-04-23T12:08:00.000-05:002003-04-23T12:17:04.000-05:00Transformational Art
On NPR's April 21st Morning Edition, Ketzel Levine reported on artist Rick Bartow. Bartow's art is informed by his experiences in Vietnam during the war and his Yurok Indian ancestry. Bartow believes in the power of drawing to heal. Returning from Vietnam with psychological wounds, he turned to drawing as a therapeutic activity. Drawing and Alcoholics Anonymous helped him Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-929483272003-04-20T17:19:00.000-05:002003-04-23T11:31:34.000-05:00Eyewitness Report of Burning of Koranic Library
Robert Fisk reporting on burning at the library of Korans at the Ministry of Religious Endowment asks the question: why? Picking up documents blowing in the wind, he said, "I was holding in my hands the last Baghdad vestiges of Iraq's written history." He reported the flames of the Koranic library burning to the U.S. Marines giving the precise Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-929078652003-04-19T18:35:00.000-05:002003-04-19T22:45:41.000-05:00World's Leading Museums Send Emergency Team to Rebuild Iraq's Shattered Cultural Heritage
The Independent reports that Neil MacGregor, the British Museum's director will coordinate an alliance of curators and restorers from institutions including The Louvre, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, New York's Metropolitan and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. They will assess the extent of the cultural "Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-928952182003-04-19T12:25:00.000-05:002003-04-19T22:40:09.000-05:00Call for the Arts Community to Help Rebuild Iraqi Theater, Library, and Museum
Even from this safe distance it becomes numbing to read about the many tragedies and atrocities in Iraq. The arts community may be able to feel a sense of purpose behind a project to help the Iraqi people rebuild or restore some of their cultural heritage. Lisa@lysistrataproject.org forwarded news from Trish Schuh whoChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-927212152003-04-16T10:52:00.000-05:002003-04-16T10:52:56.390-05:00Attack on the Culture of a People
Dick Gordon of The Connection reported about looting of the National Archeological Museum of Baghdad, crunching glass underfoot as he walked. Muayed Said Damerji, the director general of antiquities in Iraq joined him in Baghdad along with John Malcolm Russell of the Massachusetts College of Arts from Boston as they discussed the great losses at the National Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-917776682003-04-01T09:50:00.000-06:002003-04-01T22:10:02.000-06:00Red Writing Weblog
As a rule, I resist the temptation to surf sites listed on the Blogger homepage when I edit or add to my blog. Breaking this rule, I forayed into the Red Writing blog site. With a serendipitous click, I discovered well written personal and political comments by an anonymous Scottish author. For National Poetry Month, check out her link to Scottish poetry. Red Inkworks gives Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-917472332003-03-31T20:31:00.000-06:002003-04-01T22:19:33.000-06:00The Academy
Ben Dickenson wrote a striking review of this year's Oscar ceremony. "So we had LIVE FROM THE OSCARS on one channel and LIVE FROM THE WAR ON SADDAM on the next. What legitimacy is there in a televised event, in a country prosecuting a war, which does not at least acknowledge that the war is taking place?" While producers, Steve Martin, and the orchestra tried to preserve "business Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-913635372003-03-25T13:56:00.000-06:002003-03-25T14:00:33.000-06:00Alice Waters
PBS aired a wonderful documentary about Alice Waters, world renown chef at Chez Panisse. She combines her politics and life, uplifting and inspiring many. Out of her passion for locally grown, organic, fresh vegetables, she creates sensuous food and started a food revolution. Her exquisite sense of taste has earned her accolades from prominent chefs and critics. She extended her Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-913574232003-03-25T11:57:00.000-06:002003-03-25T12:19:26.000-06:00A New Journal
The Mind's Eye: An Online Transpersonal Psychology Journal explores myth, psychology, ecospirituality, ecology, and sexuality. With a beautiful layout, the articles appear in two sections. Growing Edges: Theory and Research presents scientific research and theoretical articles. Poetry and prose appear in a section called Optimal Flow: Creative Writing. The writing here is uneven. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-913543382003-03-25T10:59:00.000-06:002003-03-25T11:49:13.000-06:00The Little Way
I want to write about inspirational artists. Art is important. I want to shout this from the rooftops. But the war weighs heavy on my mind. I can only write about peacekeepers who are using their creativity in positive ways to make a difference in the world. Each of their steps may be small, but like Dorothy Day, the Catholic who started the Catholic Worker movement along with Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-905010782003-03-10T22:24:00.000-06:002003-03-10T22:35:11.000-06:00Healthy Careers
According to a 'lite' article by Allan Hoffman, choreography is one of the ten healthiest careers. "Why it's healthy: Choreographers are often dancers themselves, so they practice their craft on a daily basis, while focusing on a group endeavor." If you link, notice that the healthy careers are not necessarily high paying careers. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-904703412003-03-10T12:49:00.000-06:002003-03-10T12:53:30.000-06:00Artist's and Writer's Retreats
Thank you Rebecca, for sending this link. This website lists artist's retreats in the United States and abroad. There is another list of workshops/classes. Costs vary widely.
http://www.shawguides.com/?p=residencies.html&s=1&a=f .
I found a retreat in my ancestral region of Italy:
Vasto Artist's & Writer's Retreat
Vasto, Italy
June 20-June 30. Est. 1999. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-904686182003-03-10T12:14:00.000-06:002003-03-10T12:40:57.000-06:00Lysistrata
According to Democracy NOW!, over 1000 readings of the ancient Greek anti-war comedy, Lysistrata were held in 59 countries and every state in the U.S. on March 3, 2003. Conceived just 6 weeks ago by New York actors Kathryn Blume and Sharron Bower as a way for actors the world over to register their opposition to a war on Iraq, the global theatrical protest will raise money for aid Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-900525442003-03-03T09:17:00.000-06:002003-03-03T09:21:21.000-06:00Flight or Invisibility: Steps of Choosing
John Hodgman asked people to select a superpower for their imaginary transformation into a superhero. From his interviews, he developed the Five Stages of Picking a Superhero. You can listen to them on the March 2, 2003 program of This American Life. For creative people, selecting a creative project may also involve these five stages. The stages may Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-895884272003-02-23T01:15:00.000-06:002003-02-25T09:53:41.000-06:00Virginia Woolf on Patriotism
Liza Featherstone reports on recent antiwar actions and on the history of women's resitance to militarism. Her article includes the role of artists. Featherstone states, "In her 1938 treatise Three Guineas, Virginia Woolf argued that as a woman, she had no reason to be patriotic, as the state denied her equal property and citizenship rights. She wrote, 'If you insistChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-893464372003-02-18T20:55:00.000-06:002003-02-18T20:59:48.000-06:00Great Creativity Tool
Mind maps are great tools for planning, organizing, problem solving, or brainstorming. Hold a paper in landscape view and start with one word of your idea or problem in the center of the page. Connect lines to other thoughts. Tony Buzan suggests using many colors and symbols as you you work from the center out. Recently, I used this method during a 15 minute break at my jobChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-892147812003-02-16T20:24:00.000-06:002003-02-18T21:17:13.000-06:00Career Advice
I like this bit of career advice from George Monbiot. He aims the advice to journalists, but I find it inspirational for all creative people. He claims that the typical career advice in school "teaches you to do what you don't want to do, to be what you don't want to be. It is an exceptional person who emerges from this process with her aims and ideals intact. Indeed it is an Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-892063302003-02-16T17:04:00.000-06:002003-02-16T17:12:18.000-06:00Poet Power
Have you ever doubted the power of art? Poets intimidated the First Lady and a poetry reading was cancelled when it became evident that many of the creative wordsmiths were antiwar. While one poet planned a subtle protest on her silk scarf, many poets planned to read poetry against the Bush planned war in Iraq. Imagine the conversations between Laura and the poets if she had not Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-887084492003-02-07T09:27:00.000-06:002003-02-07T09:27:28.163-06:00ARE CATS CREATIVE?
Are cats creative when they play with a pipe cleaner as though it is a hairy, long-legged insect? If there is an element of playfulness in creativity, then are cats creative? What is the difference between play and creativity? One answer obviously involves the difference in product. If you are a serious artist, writer, or preformer, you expect a serious product. Is the act of Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-886658632003-02-06T14:46:00.000-06:002003-02-06T14:48:55.000-06:00"There isn't time for writer's block."
Composer John Williams and National Symphony Orchestra conductor Leonard Slatkin both conduct in the concert series called "Soundtracks: Music and Film." NPR's Liane Hansen interviewed the two for Weekend Edition Sunday, January 26, 2003. You can hear the interview online.
Slatkin who thinks highly of film music is excited by the collaboration with Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-886087542003-02-05T15:04:00.000-06:002003-02-05T15:40:47.000-06:00Leonardo: Genius or Blocked Artist?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an exhibit of Leonardo daVinci's Drawings, Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman.
Leonardo is a name synonymous with genius. Yet, he was often a blocked genius. Carmen C. Bambach states in her introduction to his drawings, "By temperament he never managed to fit within the traditions of production and socioeconomic structures Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-886079252003-02-05T14:48:00.000-06:002003-02-05T14:53:48.000-06:00Is it Good Enough?
On another link within the Doonesbury site, Garry Trudeau answers questions about how he creates Doonesbury. Here is a great question:
"Are there any strips you wish you could have done over?"
--Tony F., Albuquerque, NM
GT: "Almost all of them. In a deadline-driven business, most syndicated cartoonists haven't the luxury of asking themselves, "Is the workChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5023200.post-886075842003-02-05T14:41:00.000-06:002003-02-05T14:53:28.000-06:00Humor and The "Day Job"
Thinking of getting a professional degree in order to find a well paying day job? Tired of the starving artist life? Read this classic Doonesbury comic, "Hug Me". Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11153368571359028451noreply@blogger.com