“Thirst for knowledge.” That actually turns out to be completely true, studies prove it. The human (and other animal) brain signal the body to release a stimulant as a reward for learning. Pinker’s “if you were to design a being, you’d give it the same qualities” math applies here, too – a system that rewards continued learning, guessing, probing and speculation keeps a species safe from predators. In the end, perhaps, it is not a thirst for knowledge so much as a love of life, but at least I feel a little better about my 2 hour jaunts on Wikipedia. This is life or death, ppl!
Here’s an excerpt:
“Dopamine neurons are thought to be involved in learning about rewards – by adjusting the connections between other neurons, they “teach” the brain to seek basic rewards like food and water. Bromberg-Martin and Hikosaka think that these neurons also teach the brain to seek out information so that their activity becomes a sort of “common currency” that governs both basic needs and a quest for knowledge.”
Read more here.
This website – which matches up simple, but strange, household objects of seemingly lost eras with a writer – seems a lot like a creative writing class assignment. But it gets to the heart of what creativity is, for a lot of people – an assignment with a good inspiration; small, life moments described. Putting one thing with another and watching the chemicals react in the test tube.
Get into it here.
This is the final paragraph of a fascinating study on brains and our innate desire to know what’s going to happen before it happens.
“Dopamine neurons are thought to be involved in learning about rewards – by adjusting the connections between other neurons, they “teach” the brain to seek basic rewards like food and water. Bromberg-Martin and Hikosaka think that these neurons also teach the brain to seek out information so that their activity becomes a sort of “common currency” that governs both basic needs and a quest for knowledge.”
Read the full article here.
This is a nice little article from a nice man with a nice talent for drawing. Something about his story reminds me of a portion of my own, and maybe just everyone pursuing a bit of fine art in their lives. He describes his sort-of happenstance way he came across his career, drawing for theater, dance and music rehearsals. And then says, “It could never happen for anyone the way it happened for me… it was all an accident.” Only that’s just sort of the thing, isn’t it? All creative careers happen that way, being an artist is opening yourself up to situations you wouldn’t otherwise come across. Yes, that particular set of events might never happen again, but equally strange ones do every day to people just like him. The key is to be like him… open to it. Read on:
“Just Drawn That Way” – The New York Times
Paul Arden was a big voice in advertising/art direction in the U.K. He passed away last year and some folks over at Creative Review sought out to honor him with an article about his top five resources for creative inspiration, when he was needing a little help from the muses. It’s an interesting set of things/artists, but also gets you thinking about what your own are.
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2009/june/ardens-influences
Art is so… fancy. Art tries hard to be cool. Art is bedfellows with intellectuals, critics and scholars. Art dresses in clothes that it feels it should be wearing, because that’s what’s in Vogue. Sketching, on the other hand, wears shorts. Sketching drives a ‘67 Ford Bronco and hides a bag of weeks-old Milano cookies in the glove compartment. Sketching is flippant, carefree and Summery.
No one pays much attention to the sketchers. It’s more like a means to an end. In the early days, sketches laid the foundation of bigger works. The da Vinci sketches, for example, aren’t so much art as a peek into the working mind of an artist. An artist meant for bigger things. The sketches, beautiful sure, but not a destination so much as the twiddling, tinkering, pondering train ride to Gettysburg.
The truth is, it’s all in the sketches. Sketches are the ideas. And Baldessari, Burden, Keinholz and Warhol destroyed the notion that art necessitates execution.With that being the case, I can see an argument for redefining the role of sketches. Or at least our perception of it. The materials and techniques need to advance, though. Watercolors, guache and other lame sounding materials need to give way to more innovative techniques. This site might be paving that way: http://www.urbansketchers.com/ These guys have got the goods, and they seem organized. Pass the cookies, fellas.
“Lighting is everything.” My Mom taught me that at an early age. It wasn’t an art lesson, it was a beauty lesson. But it was an art lesson, too. After all, how you light your subject determines a lot.
Then, when I got into drawing, my Dad sat me down with his long-time friend, Lee Chapman. At the time, Lee lived in a beautiful sprawling house with a pool, up in Laurel Canyon. He was an ad guy, but his true calling was fine art. We had his paintings in our house and I had already heard many stories about his drawing and illustration skills before I had met with him that day. It was intimidating as hell. “So, you like to draw?” I remember him asking me. “Let me show you something.” Continue reading ‘Lighting is everything.’
How many Emails do you get a day? 100? 150? Me too. A little over a year ago, I was sitting in an airport, heading to a pitch with my co-workers. We were all sitting with our collective mobile devices, Emailing away. All of the sudden, I stood up, threw my arms in the air and shouted out, “I’m at ZERO!!” A temporary victory over my Inbox. And although people laughed, it pointed out something sad. Email is the new boss.
Soon after, I started working on ways to take back control over my work day and, more importantly, the creative process. Email is the quintessential “death of a thousand cuts” because all of the reasons to check it are excusable. It is, after all, productive. But it’s also a diversion. We talk to friends and family through it. We use it as a to-do list; leaving Emails in our Inbox as a reminder to get something done. These things are valid reasons to check Email throughout the day, but together they create a monster of distraction and overwhelmedness. A monster we embrace, because it is often easier than the task at hand. Email is the perfect diversion from our top priority because it is acceptable and, often, helpful. But at its worst, it can be an avoidance tool.
The following three things took me a full year to really embrace and do – weening off the drug is hard – but they are actually very simple tasks and can be employed in under 15 minutes. Continue reading ‘Email Rehab. My personal journey out of hell.’
