You may have noticed we tend to write about creativity, exploration, and inspiration as recurring themes. It’s only because our team at The Transmogrifier believes in these ideas so profoundly, we seek both out daily ourselves. A few months ago, Tim introduced you to the Canadian author, Keri Smith and her wonderful book How To Be An Explorer of the World.
Well, I found another fun and inspiring book by her I want to share. It is called Living Out Loud: Activities to Fuel a Creative Life. As Keri Smith writes in her introduction, “my favorite books are those that make me burst with energy and inspire me to drop everything and get down onto the floor and fearlessly create for hours. Living Out Loud is a “to do” book, not a “how to” book. I hope it will encourage you to play, and to face the fears that hold you back.”
Just like How To Be An Explorer of the World, this book gives activities to encourage you to play, do and create. The activities are easy and inexpensive. A lot of them are free.
Here is an example with also embodies how our Transmogrifier Team hopes people will look around them, really LOOK, and SEE things from a different perspective. This idea actually feels a bit like looking through a camera lens…
It’s called The Finder.
“Charles and Ray Eames praised the use of a finder in their teachings. A finder is a small piece of cardboard (about three-by-four inches) with a one-inch-square hole cut out of the middle. Viewing the world through this hole forces you to lose context and content, and to greatly shift your perception. The finder allows you to focus on small sections and negative space. It also singles out color and isolates pattern.
[Photo credit: from Living Out Loud by Keri Smith]
“Make a finder and place it on a stack of magazines. Cut through as many layers as you can with an X-Acto knife. Sort through the pieces, picking out the ones you like. Look at the shapes you’ve created by accident. Use the cut-out squares as reference for other projects or to create new ideas, concepts, and compositions.
“Take the finder with you on a walk. Look at familiar places with a new eye. In your sketchbook, sketch out what you see. What do you notice that you didn’t see before?”
I love any suggestion that changes the way you look at something and ignites a spark. And this activity is not the only one like it. Smith’s book is packed with games, suggestions and ideas to encourage you to tap into the enthusiasm, joy for life and playful spirit that some may have left in childhood. The book also leads to a lot of self observation, which I’m always ready for. I might not like what I observe, and that kicks me into a growing movement…never a bad thing!
Add this book to your list and dare to live out loud!
