Why me? Why this Blog?

So the first thing I think we need to establish is why me?  Why would anyone want to read these simple musings?  When there are so many various and sundry learned people blogging and tweeting and generally making noise at every hour of every day. Who has the time to see what I have to say when Charlie Sheen is parading around his latest porn star nanny or d’uh winning?

Well I’ll tell you, because it is free and easy and I am compelled to, yeah that. Because I am really funny and it should be entertaining to read, sure that. But more so because I have spent a lifetime exploring the creative process working with children, artist, performers, architects, designer, and teachers from around the world. I have been told I was “too” creative by some of the best creative minds in the design industry, and this in a time when creative “out of the box” thinking is suppose to be what the corporate giants are looking for. I have struggled with my own creative angels and demons on my life path which, I like to flatter myself, has run similarly to that of the great Vincent Van Gogh. (more on that later, I promises).  I think I bring a fresh perspective that will be helpful to some, and amusing to others.

When I was talking to Kurt Andersen of Studio 360 about Julie Burstein’s book “Spark: How Creativity Works”  I mentioned my way as a designer to always say “yes” to a project and later figure out the “how” where as artist we wait for the “inspiration” and later figure out the “what”.  He pointed out the pitfall of that process by showing me that a designer in that mode must then wait for a client to propose the problem, and the muse must provide the inspiration. Both require waiting, when really what we must do is balance the nuts and bolts of actually getting down to work with the quest for inspiration. That, my friends, is why I am doing this blog.  To fasten the nuts to the bolts and prepare for the quest.

What I hope to accomplish, for us all, is to explore avenues to that inspiration, and best practices for the work.  I hope to provide insight, and offer a forum to nurture the creative process in myself and hopefully my many many readers.  I plan to demonstrate my own practices, provide interviews with creative professionals with whom I work and of course, generally explore the world with my unique brand of wit and wisdom.  First up, road trip back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to view the Marc Chagal exhibit.  I do hope you will come along for the ride.