Everything That Counts As Creativity
A non-exhaustive list of my favorite things to get immersed in, from writing to organizing my sports bras
Last week, I led a workshop at my friend’s store in Boston (technically Sommerville), and it was the first ever Bad Art Every Day Workshop. It was small—just 9 of us sat around a table, all my most-used and most-forgotten art supplies jumbled in the middle and with a big piece of good paper for each of us. The goal of the two hours was to play, open up, and fill the paper.
I was nervous as I arrived, possibly because I was running late, it was raining, and i had 4-5 odd shaped objects. By the end, I was delighted and grateful for how the group opened up, and honestly impressed by each of their posters. I have a friend who tells me my account name is a misnomer, as he thinks most of art I do doesn’t really end up being very bad at all, and I told them I had the same feeling that night.
The workshop was art-prompt based, and my singular instruction was to use materials that evoke the least sense of mastery from each person. This was to make it at the start okay to be a beginner, and even to aim to make art that is not going to be good, so you can flow a bit more with the creative process and real time responses your body and mind give you. I’ll talk about all of the prompts at another time, and maybe even do a virtual version of this workshop sometime in December, but today I want to tell you about the one inspired by one of my favorite quotes that I cite often here.
“I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art.”
―Helena Bonham Carter
As we continue with 75 Grow, I think the third habit of creative practice and play (P in M.A.P), can feel daunting. We can want to make creativity into something we will do and accomplish. I don’t underestimate the importance of mastery and how incredible it feels to see yourself grow in something, and so I don’t totally discourage this. However, I think that creativity is also a brain process, and that in the age of hyper-consumerism of both products and content, growing in the ability to tap into the capability of our brain in the mundane and in our Artistic Endeavors can be its own sense of mastery.
With that said, here is a non-exhaustive list of 20 things that I think can be hugely creative, and I invite you to come up with your own from your own life or observations as well.
My List of Things That Count
The way I pick out mugs to use each season, and then store the rest on a top shelf. The simplicity I feel in only picking from 3, but the delight that is renewed because I haven’t seen them since the autumn prior.
A good, sharpened tucked into my pinned up hair for a day of work. This one includes both the updo that comes from years of watching youtube hair gurus (particularly, Kayley Melissa) as well as the choice of pencil (sometimes a red colored pencil if it’s that kind of day).
The books I keep on my coffee top as part of my Coffee Table Curriculum for the month (aka books or craft supplies I leave out to pick up and peruse or play with if I so desire while my phone is bricked up) (yes I know what that means) (yes I think it’s funny).
Now that I have decluttered my beauty products (honestly there were not that many, but still more than the container I have for them), my beauty rituals and when I have extra time to play around with the products I do have. I view this is I view using other art supplies: many different portraits can be painted from one set of paints.
The baked good I choose to make each week, the topping I put on the loaf of bread I make, the pan I choose to bake it in for shape.
Picking a dance/ballet inspired workout outfit for each Pilates class I teach, and getting to pretend like I am an instructor like the ones I saw in dance movies growing up or from the old photos of early Pilates x Ballet teachers from the 1950s.
How I organize and then run therapy sessions with the kids I work with, picking out tools and toys that will help us process and learn skills about emotions and cognition.
What Facetime face-to-animal animation I choose to use when I Facetime my twin two year old nephews.
How I let the light into my beautiful, grown up apartment that was once a dream to me up until the last year—how the light hits the prisms set up to refract them, the mini disco-ball chandelier, the way the light slants against hung up art.
How I write here, on TikTok, and Instagram.
Every time I pick up my guitar to play a Taylor Swift song, just as I have been doing since I was 13.
How I color-code or don’t color-code my bookshelves.
The way I have decluttered and set up my drawers in my closet, so that every time I reach into one I actually know what is there, and this functional creativity has brought calm into my life for there to be more space for choosing how I dress each day
The addition of a new spice or special flavoring to a well-loved and well-worn recipe from my recipe box.
What shade of red or clear I paint my nails.
What gifts I choose for my close friends and family, and what cards I think most match.
How I format and then flow with the podcast episodes I lead on
How often I time my walks or jogs or commutes to be able to see the sunset over the Charles River.
What I choose to be pinned to my corkboard or to my fridge any given month, which in this makeshift collage becomes a sort of canvas itself.
What poem I choose to start or end my Pilates classes with.
The list could go on. The point is to see how each of these small decisions—some clearly artistic, some not so clear—require submersion in flow and divergent thinking, and that when we understand it as such, our mind opens to all the places creativity can and does live in our days.
What are your Things That Count? I’d love to know where your creativity lives.
Take care, and take your time,
Margaret of Bad Art Every Day.