Park Slope Parents is northwest Brooklyn’s premier resources for parents to connect and share resources, ideas and activities for children of all ages.  For more information on discounts and membership click here.

Creative Seeds is a visual arts program designed to offer different creative workshop series for children ages 6 to 10.  Our workshops  take a fun, interactive and structured approach to combining the creative process with basic elements of creative coaching, to provide children a venue to share, acknowledge and celebrate their own creativity and “artist within”.

Where does coaching fit into the creative process?

Providing children with a safe environment in which to share their work allows them to feel acknowledged and validated for their own individual creativity.  The focus is on the creative process rather than the end result, which allows for exploration and experimentation, and removes any tendency to compare themselves or their work against their peers.  Instead we build confidence and self esteem by celebrating each child’s individual creativity, and encouraging them to continue doing so outside of the classroom.

The next workshop begins April 16 and is entitled “My Character Book”.  “My Character Book” takes an easy and  fun approach to teaching children  the basics of figure drawing for humans and animals, using mixed media  like paper, pencils, markers and shapes.  Throughout the 6-week course, children will practice their figure drawing skills to create their own  “portfolio” book of their favorite people to bring home and share, which can include family, friends, teachers, pets, or anyone else who inspires them!

For more information on Creative Seeds and our upcoming workshops click here.

And even while I always knew art would continue to play an essential role throughout my life, how about everyone else? What about the kids who had the same passion for art that I did, but who were unfortunate enough to sit in the same art class as my brother or I, where undoubtedly their level of artistic talent was surely compared against the standard set by people like us. What happened to all those artists within, the ones who maybe never received the awards, the accolades and the recognition, but surely were at no lack for creative passion and desire?

And I say it not to be a ego-centric self-lauding jerk, but out of complete honest interest. When it came to matters of art and creativity in my youth and young adulthood, I was usually the default winner. And by calling it a default, which it was, makes me ponder the real extent of accomplishment behind the title.

Kids like us, who grow up in the spotlight of our publicly recognized artistic talents naturally feel compelled to stay within that area where we’ve always been regarded in a superior light. And when college is done and your 6-figure art degree hangs in the wind, suddenly your artistic legacy is no longer relevant to anyone, and perhaps even a burden to you. Because being the “artistic kids”, we were raised with an unwavering expectation to continue cultivating our creative talents, because we were regarded as “gifted”, as if only we were blessed with the ability to translate mind onto paper. Yet now some two decades later, we find ourselves standing independently at a crossroads. Do we struggle to monetize the one thing everyone told us that we were meant to do our entire life, or do we figure out how to be someone else who fits a little better within the constraints of the social and economical mold? Suddenly the same people who pushed and prodded us all along to “be an artist” are the ones telling us that our life’s work is now reserved as a side hobby while we find something more stable to support the more tangible aspects of life.

The creative re-purposing of Aspyre Design is all about abandoning the traditional ideas suggesting that only a select few of us are born creatively gifted, and instead working to further cultivate the artist within all of us.

The fact that some kids are groomed to be artistic achievers from day one doesn’t negate the fact that all people possess creative talents in many different forms.  Seems to me that the ones who manifest these talents in the more traditional artistic formats are the ones who receive the validation, the acknowledgment, and the venues for support and growth.  But we all need these things to grow & develop creatively. And to not see how limiting that is, simply shines light on our own narrow-minded human nature, suggesting that only those who produce a superior final product or physical manifestion of ideas, should be lauded as creatively gifted.

It’s not all about the end product, and this I have learned through my own creative experience and my professional training as a certified coach. It is important to recognize the process, the small accomplishments along the way, the ideas brought to life by simply doing and trying, and not to focus solely on the tangibility of the final outcome. Results-driven intentions often lead to feelings of dis-empowerment. The creative process is a beautiful journey that puts us in touch with parts of ourselves and abilities otherwise left untapped.

I spent the last 8 years building a career in helping people find work they enjoy and develop careers reflective of who they are as committed, driven individuals.  I have yet to see one person build a fulfilling career in the absence of passion for what they do.   And that crossroads I talked about earlier, here I am standing at it, at the intersection of what I have already done and what I still want to do.  I’m passionate about helping people, about contributing to and advocating for a better society, and especially about art and creativity.

In recognizing that each of us possesses an innate creative talent, we can better understand the ways in which art and the creative process contribute to personal wellness and excellence in all areas of our lives.  I encourage you to join me in these efforts, one day at at time. Stay tuned!

Lauren F. was a fellow Morristown High School Alum who graduated with my own younger sister in the class of 2003.  Her old sister, Emily, graduated several years earlier with me.  In the most tragic of circumstances, neither of these two lovely, kind and successful young women are with us anymore, and it’s that word “NEITHER” that’s been grabbing so much attention the last few days, as the community quickly caught wind of Lauren’s passing via mouth and social media, barely three and a half years after her older sister.   Untimely exit from this lifetime is tragic enough in itself, but even more so when it’s compounded by a double incident.

I found some of Lauren’s artwork via a friend’s tribute posting in an online forum this morning, and I was really impressed!  I didn’t know Lauren all that well, and with the age difference, I never had the pleasure of sharing an art class in high school.  Clearly this is someone with a delicate, discerning eye for art, for subject matter, and for color, and who translated it just as well into physicality.  Beautiful pieces that quite honestly had me thinking, ‘Man…I wish I could paint that.’  If I’m not mistaken, I believe she went on to study art management in London.

It’s my school of thought that no matter where you are on this earth and otherwise, the gifts of one’s creativity should be shared with all to appreciate.  And I suppose this holds true even more so when you are no longer here and the opinions start to form around your legacy.  Now there’s likely not a single person in our well-known New Jersey suburb that would say anything less than extraordinary, beautiful things about these two ladies, because if Lauren was anything like her sister, I’m sure she shared those qualities- one of those people you never caught NOT smiling (and you wonder how they’re so good at it!).  Lauren and I didn’t share many exchanges really, but I see that we at least shared a mutual passion for creativity, and from one artist to another, it’s something you’ll never fail to appreciate about another human being.

Take a look at some of Lauren’s oil and acrylic work here.

Now, it’s amazing how many people I’ve encountered in 27 years who, when I engage in any kind of exchange regarding mine or my brother’s artistic endeavors, reply with some variation of “I wish I could draw like that.  I’m totally not artistic at all!”  Perhaps they’ve tried and failed, perhaps they’ve surrendered before they even started, either out of lack of interest in the arts in general, or maybe some belief that they lacked “the artistic gene”.  That last part is even more ironic to me, when you consider this.

I wouldn’t say Brandi Binder necessarily lacks any kind of creative or artistic gene.  A twenty-something from Colorado, her artwork is quite good.  By 13 her work was hanging in the offices of Congress.  And at age 6 she had the entire right cerebral hemisphere of her brain removed as a last resort treatment for Rasmussens Encephalitis.  Her family was told that, in the event that she even made it through the risky procedure, she would grow up with no appreciation for or ability in art, music or anything in the creative realm, being that the right half of the brain controls all creative impulses and stimulation.   Thank god for people who refuse to simply settle for the hands they’re dealt.

Over the years, Brandi’s left brain was retrained to develop new pathways to help her recover some of the things she lost when the right side of her brain was removed.  She enrolled in art classes, learned to draw, and essentially reinvented herself as an artist against the “expert opinion” of the country’s top neurosurgeons.  Needless to say, as someone who’s been blessed with the creative gene since day one, I am beyond inspired by this girl’s story, and for someone like me, it’s a real shame to take that gift for granted.   Artistic nature isn’t defined by one’s skill, by how many years you spent in art school, or how many people know your name.  It’s pure 100% concentrated passion for the craft, and this girl…has got it.

You can, and please do, read more about Brandi’s story and her art at ww.brandibinder.com.

Featuring artists such as: The Mill, Dvein, Pleix, Psyop, Herzog & De Meuron, Three Legged Legs, Jean-Paul Frenay,Yoshi Sodeoka, Alan Sondheim, Addictive TV, Warp Records, The Crystal Method, Royksopp, Assassin’s Creed 2, LucasArts, N.A.S.A., Larry Carlson, Ken Adams, Jen Stark, Shantell Martin and more.

Featured Artists :: http://mgfest.com/10/boston/#featuredartists
Workshops & Conference :: http://mgfest.com/10/boston/#education
Tickets and Registration :: http://mgfest.com/10/boston/#tickets

The Motion Graphics Festival will soon be back in town, and from April 1st to 5th, ready with a new wave of artists to awaken those sleeping synapses. Witness and participate in a convergence of motion, sound and interactivity, embrace new ideas, celebrated the inquisitive spirit, and at evening’s approach, dance.

The festival debuts the 2010 schedule with screenings by Lumen Eclipse, “Psychedelia” and “Somatic Death, Soma Life” at the Brattle Theater on Thursday 1 April.  We will journey down the road set by thirteen artists exploring a new mind-manifesting experience – challenging afresh our perceptions and pointing towards a reawakening unhindered by the prosthetic body.

Friday night’s Best of 2009 screening by Stash DVD Magazine highlights
36 commercials, music videos, virals, short films, broadcast designs
and game cinematics from top-tier studios across the world. Something
will grab your attention, setting off a chain reaction and igniting a
fresh set of ideas, which may have been lying dormant for years,
uninspired to leave the confines of its stasis.

Saturday night’s performance by Z.E.E. in the 2012 Lounge at Machine
features a completely integrated audio + video live performance music
set.  The visuals are rendered in realtime, seamlessly spread across 3
full-HD resolution projections, achieving a horizontal resolution of
over 4500 pixels at 30 frames per second.  The entire evening
experience brought to you by Zebbler, Vermin Street and MGFest.

Boston may not be the same – but neither will you.

Full Festival Info :: http://MGFest.com

Now maybe it’s not fair for me to sync the phrases “artist” and “passive aggressive” so universally.  Not every artist (or musician… no actually, scratch that… musicians are generally angry.  Especially drummers.) is preserved in a constant state of angst, anger, anxiety or other words starting with the letter ‘a’.  But hell- no one can take the physiological  unpleasantries of those emotions and so seamlessly do a 180 with them, transforming them from otherwise detrimental mental flaws into physical embodiments of meaning, like an artist can.  I made that up…but it sounds good.  And honestly, there is a decent amount of truth therein.

First came the paper application to the canvas using a clear acrylic medium.  After that dried, the original flower was done in acrylics, followed by the ink, which was inspired by my love for the art of Japanese ink drawings.  A second coat of acrylic semi-gloss medium is applied over all three layers to “seal the deal”.  Voila!