SURFACE 1°22 Textile Design Workshops

International design educator, and  SURFACE 1°22 creative director Emily Wills is looking for hosts and collaborators to help her share three inspiring textile design workshops. 

She will be visiting London in July, Perth in August and Bali in September so get on board...!

www.surface122.blogspot.com

www.surface122.com

The Motivational Holy Trinity

Peering through the Jungle, 2014

“Each artist expresses through art his unique way of experiencing life.
This is the essence of creation.
Through our art we bring into existence something that did not previously exist.
The creative process fulfills our need to express our experience.
And if the expression has been true, we will feel a sense of completion and satisfaction.”

(Loori, 2004, p.84)

Madder Moon exhibition, Singapore 2013

"We do things because they're interesting. 
We do things because we like them, because they're inherently gratifying. 
We do things because we get better at them, because they're the right thing to do, 
or because they're part of a larger purpose."

(Pink, 2010)

Loori and Pink artfully surmise why we engage in the creative process, why we decided to become artists, designers, writers, performers. I am motivated to be creative because creativity is challenging by nature, I feel stimulated and excited when approaching a new task or learning new things. There is said to be a holy trinity of motivation, outlined by three key points. Are you unmotivated by your creative pursuits because you overlooked one? Apparently it’s not all about you.

Autonomy . I did this myself...!

Mastery . I’m getting really good at this...!

Purpose . I did this for a cause greater than myself...!

Loori, J.D (2004) The Zen of Creativity; Cultivating your Artistic Life. Ballantine Books: New York, USA
Pink, D. (2010) Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us. RSA Animation [Online] Accessed 09/06/2014 from, http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=SG&hl=en-GB&v=u6XAPnuFjJc
Wills. E. (2013) Peering through the Jungle. [Online] Accessed 23/06/2014 from, http://www.surface122.blogspot.com/

Subtractive Poetry + Fashion

 DUSEN DUSEN in Frankie Magazine, 2014

90's terrified our wardrobes with socks and chambray.

COLENIMO in Frankie Magazine, 2014

Ladies motor-racing pioneer broke vintage fingernails.

Personal Creativity Manifesto

“...without a manifesto, we cannot conceive the future.” (Kyes, 2008)

The artists’ manifesto can be defined as a “document of an ideology, crafted to convince and convert.” (Caws, 2000) On a more personal level, the artist manifesto is an individual document written to inspire, challenge and motivate. It can help the author to articulate the parameters of their creative practice and what philosophies the process is built upon. 

I haven’t written a personal creativity manifesto as yet. But I have identified that having an engaging narrative supporting creative ideas is at the core of my creative practice. Seth Godin's (2009) tribe building theory is underpinned by the central aim to tell a story that connects with its audience and creates a sense of community.

Daniel Pink says that storytelling is important because as “facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact.” (Pink, 2009) Narrative therefore helps to generate interest in ideas, and provides people with a story with which they can subscribe to.

Godin says that we are searching for meaning and a tribe to ascribe to, articulating that we "are living through and are right at the key moment of a change in the ways ideas are created, and spread, and implemented." He calls this the ‘time of Tribes' – which is defined by storytelling, ‘connecting people and ideas.’ (Godin, 2009) The objectives for my creative projects are underpinned by Seth Godin’s leadership theory of building a tribe, described by his four steps; Telling a Story, Connecting like minded people, Leading the movement to Make Change. 

Telling a Story

For my projects to be successful they must connect or resonate with their audience. 
Godin and Pink see a future defined by shared storytelling, a way to connect like-minded 
people and ideas.

Connect Like-minded people

Projects are interactive and experiential, helping to cultivate a wide audience.

Collaboration is key. Projects share visions, and contributors bring a variety of skills from 
different disciplinary backgrounds.

Leading the Movement

Be exemplary and step into the unknown as a role model, mentor and guide.

Make Change

Ensure the projects have longevity and new ideas can keep being adapted from previous ideas.

Challenge creative thinking processes in order to find new connections and propose 
new cross-disciplinary relationships. 

Caws, M.A. (2000) Manifesto: A Century of Isms. University of Nebraska Press: USA.
Godin, S. (2009) The Tribes we Lead. TED Talks [Online] Accessed 20/06/2014, from http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead 
Kyes, Z. (2008) Manifesto’s of the Future. e-flux [Online] Accessed 20/06/2014 from, http://www.e-flux.com/journal/manifestos-for-the-future/#_ftn5 
Pink, D. (2005) A Whole New Mind; Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Riverhead, Penguin Books: USA.

Subtractive Poetry

 “When you cut into the present, the future leaks out.”

William Burroughs

I thought it would be interesting to set parameters when playing with newspaper blackouts, and so I combined subtractive poetry with six word memoirs. I chose to black out text from a series of 'News in Brief' stories and to reduce these down to six of the original words to tell a new story.  This is a tool that could be applied to assist in the creative naming of artwork, exhibitions, or personal design philosophies.

Six word memoirs are a concentrated form of storytelling. The idea is that stories can be communicated effectively and more poetically through a limited word count. Writing six word memoirs is fun and addictive, finding the six magical words within one short newspaper story is even better.

http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/