Creativity continued

Several days ago, Rice ( with two dots above the e ) asked me to respond to three questions:

1. In your opinion, what is creativity?
2. Where does it come from?
3. How can each of us access that creativity and make the most of it in our lives?

http://voodoonotes.blogspot.com/2009/02/kelly-buntin-johnson-on-creativity.html

you can access my answer by clicking on her blog posting above.

It was a fun meditation and writing assignment and am most pleased that Rice ( with two dots above the e ) posted my thoughts. I , as usual, did not follow the usual pathway of writing traditional answers after each question. Please read past postings by other artists. And am sure there will be more thoughts on creativity to come on this blog. I didn't read anyone's version til I had written my own thoughts down on paper. Didn't want to be influenced.

Now, I want to share with you where the title to my 'creativity soap box sermon' came from.

Cows can be purple

It came from a true life story. My Dad is color blind. Can't see purple, red, or green. I doubt orange either though I need to ask him. Not sure about yellow. Most things are brown to him. But I digress. When he was a young boy drawing pictures, one of his sketched cows he colored with a purple crayon. His mother, my Gran, said "Cows are not purple. " To this day Dad is self conscious about his artistic abilities of choosing colors to express his ideas.

And yet, my Gran is a creative person. Quite a seamstress in her day. The dresses and coats that she sewed for me through out my lifetime are treasures. Even my wedding dress. She drafted her own patterns from sketches or photos she saw. And her knitting and crochet work. It pleases Gran and me both that I wear sweaters she knitted in the 1960s. Truly an inspiration to me she is.

So the whole point of the title to my 'creative soap-box sermon' is that we all need to be careful of the words that come from out of our mouth. Words can have huge impact, squashing and stomping like fire breathing Godzilla. What we say can have a lifelong impact on other's creativity. And in turn, we need to be careful of our thoughts as these too have the power to squash and stomp like Godzilla squelching our own courage to be expressive.

We need to live mindfully and listen to what Big Fly whispers to us.

and remember your new vocabulary words: garble and dross

test is Friday. ( and no, it is not open book)

VOTE

Big Fly whispered in my ear. Quite annoying, though I knew he was correct.

I gessoed and then painted fabric to create a background. Printed my message, cut out the words and applied them to the fabric. Rhett encased the message in metal with a plastic lens. A pinback was glued on. All was fabricated on a hilltop in Platte County.

Hopefully the message will be spread across the country during this all important season of fact gathering. Hopefully each eligible voter will make an informed decision on who should lead our nation for the next four years.

If you would like to purchase one of these pinbacks, please snail mail twenty US dollars. I will take care of shipping and sales tax. The pinbacks are 1 and 3/4 inches across.

If you are wondering about Big Fly, please refer back to a past posting.

Big Fiy is tap tap tapping.....

Remember dear reader from past posting that Big Fly whispers rights and wrongs to us if we listen. Big Fly is tap tap tapping .

I wrote these words on 4 May, 2008. Today seems an appropriate day to share them with you. Big Brown runs later today.

A Memorial for Eight Belles:

Eight Belles,
a filly,
died for our sins
3 May 2008
euthanized
( politically correct term)
makes it all nice.

Steroids,
a worshipped drug,
also silently causing
fragility of bones
in human population.

"There are no side effects."
Doctor blatantly lied to me
whilst looking me full in the face.
I knew differently
tore up the prescription.

Eight Belles, a filly,
did not have this choice,
she ran her heart out
and died
whilst humans drank mint juleps
and cared not.

Eight Belles,
a filly,
died for our sins.

Big Fly, Navajo mentor

Big Fly, mixed media sculpture
34cm x 32cm x 30cm
wooden base with wire armature

Big Fly
a mentor,
takes earthly being form
of horse bot fly.

He too is blood red.
Danger.

Perched
on an ear
to whisper
instructions,
answers,
forecasts of the future.

Deafness
necessitates
entering
host's mouth,
to bellow.

Dance
Big Fly
dance,
break free
of
mounted specimen pins.


Okay, I can sense that quizzical look on your face. "What is Kelly drinking on this fine Earth Day?" The answer is dandelion tea, to be truthful. Big Fly is one of the Intercessors that I created two years ago. From Navajo readings I meditated and then fabricated Grandmother Spider, Yellow Rat, and Big Fly. With each , I write "words". I hesitate to call it poetry because I do not care for labels and I do not want to be encumbered by the rules of the game.

" So, explain the words ! "

Thankfully in the book about Navajo religion there were no images of Big Fly. I could imagine anything that I wanted. I thought about Big Fly's "job" here on Earth. A big job, getting humans to listen. I imagined that no one was listening to Big Fly and that in desperation he had taken the form of an earthly species . A fly that gets attention in a big way. The horse bot fly.

The last "paragraph" refers to the cigar box science lesson that teaches kids to kill insects and pin them in a cigar box for a good grade. Big Fly has broken free of these pins.

The red cross (which you will come to see appears on all my Intercessors) lets us know that the Intercessor has come down to Earth to help misguided human species.

Big Fly is created out of leather which is painted , sewn by hand, and then stuffed with a wire armature and cotton batting. The wings are of old copper wire window screen . Many of the seed beads used were recycled from a bedraggled Victorian era dress. The base is another recycled piece, a wooden form. Big Fly holds an old hat pin which represents the specimen pin.

I have decided that Big Fly will appear within this blog when I feel the need to post "the emperor hasn't any clothes on once again" soap box "sermons". Big Fly will tap tap tap us with the specimen pin to remind us to listen to his gentle whispers. If we don't listen , he will have to take on the form of the horse bot fly.

back to my dandelion tea and sewing tiny beads to leather......