‘If you create values and ethos around what you do, people will relate to that’ – Kate Kendall, speaking at CreativeMornings.com
Spoken Word Poets:
The work of these veritable artists acted as a huge driver for my creativity and passion during this process. I stumbled upon Andrea Gibson a while ago and had loved the few videos I’d seen of her performing her SWP. Through talking with Cassie we continued to find others and I have learned a lot about this particular interest and passion of mine. Work like AG’s and her counterparts like Anis Mojgani and the glorious Jackie Hill is reflective, intelligent, and insightful – it can even sometimes be quite hard-hitting. I think it is this combination of commentary or critique with the beauty of performative delivery and skillfully crafted language that draws me to it, and is the reason our 10 Day Poetry Challenge (seen, in our gallery, on the divider which faced ‘Expression’ – the desk installation) was able to be so successful. I am not usually one for creative writing; I can write essays, and can perform, but the two never seem to come together as such. SWP inspired me to push myself and the 10DPC was a hugely enjoyable (and difficult) challenge; we have found a line by which we are connected to poetry, just as Acconci is connected by his background in with the medium. The poetry, initially shared only between myself and Cassie was hugely personal and intense in most instances, but received positive feedback when seen by our peers during the gallery. It is also nice to feel that we have somewhat repaid our ‘Worst Words’ contributors for their bravery, by being brave ourselves; we have made our piece a conversation between trusting friends, and what better way to creatively exist in a piece all about the power of words.
Creative Mornings:
CM are ‘free monthly breakfast lectures for creative types’, as they so call themselves (www.creativemornings.tumblr.com). They talk about the process of creation, design, marketing, failing, and everything else, and their tumblr is a great outlet through which to see the points which they feel are paramount from each lecture (and also to gain some sense of their company’s interests). They and their work seem so full of passion and knowledge and, most importantly for me, the wisdom to inspire creatives. It is often noted in their lectures that effort and willingness is key (as Shane Koyczan puts it, ‘effort is the siamese twin of success’), and as Censored Sensibility, I feel perhaps a truer word was never spoken. The attitudes and ideas they convery are encouraging and inspiring and notes like ‘Your creative imagination will always be greater than the technology at your disposal’ (from a CreativeMornings.com [www.creativemornings.com] lecture) sing to CS – our experiences, ideas, attitudes, issues, and so on – as if it was actually written for us. We prefer creative afternoons (mornings were made for sleep, friends) but CM was instrumental in driving me forward.
People:
A simple one. The willingness of our peers and friends to provide encouragement, feedback and questions has been a really useful thing. It has also been wondervul to see people so fully investing in each other’s work – it’s been the final countdown, our final pieces of work coming into being, and everyone’s heart is not just in their own projects but in everyone else’s. The support and assisstance, too, of outsiders like Lauren Barnett Kemp and the LPAC tech team has been staggering and haas had a considerable effect on our success – in fact, on our ability to be creative at all in the first place. Lastly, gallery visitors and professional feedback was extremely positive and it is so rewarding to know that the hard work has paid off.