Creativity is synonymous of begetting, as the ability to generate new ideas or concepts, new associations between ideas and known concepts, which usually produce original solutions. A creative person enjoys self-confidence, fineness of perception, intuitive ability, imagination, enthusiasm and intellectual curiosity.
Creative thinking is synonymous with original thinking, divergent thinking or constructive imagination, and is an exclusive characteristic of human beings. Being creative is for children something natural, that does not need effort or analysis. As human beings advance in age, the ability to express creativity usually diminishes or even disappears, due to problems of trust, self-esteem, prejudice or social pressure.
We are coming to understand and appreciate the role played by divergent thinkers. They are our inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs, and visionaries in all walks of industry, politics, and life. This appreciation for divergent thinking translates to a call for more respect of thought diversity in education. Children are natural divergent thinkers, but many schools nowadays focus primarily on convergent thinking. It only makes sense that convergent thinking skills are rewarded in a system that rewards students for exact correct answers in grading.
Socratic Inquiry approach to learning presents an answer and then asks the questions – how, why, what? A type of inquiry what immediately calls for divergent thinking in students as it taps into natural curiosity to draw out ideas.
Creativity is intelligence having fun. - Albert Einstein
It is during adolescence that the creative freedom that was enjoyed in childhood is often left behind. On the other hand, traditional education does not help to protect and feed the inner child, but to repress it. This fact poses a major threat to the development of young people's personalities, depriving them of the advantages that creative individuals enjoy when developing skills such as:
Flexibility / Insight / Intuition / Curiosity / Independence / Determination / Perseverance / Originality / Understanding / Patience / Fluency / Self-esteem / Freedom / Joy / Vitality
The human being has endless resources, naturally inclined to make use of their wit and willing to improve their environment. Creativity allows finding solutions and looking for alternatives to fulfill personal or group wishes in a faster, simpler, more efficient or more economic way. Therefore, creativity is key in adapting to the environment and therefore to ensure the evolution and subsistence of species, being that what makes society and human civilization move towards more evolved forms of coexistence.
At present we know that different thought processes stimulate different areas of the brain, each hemisphere makes a different contribution in the development of different actions, learning, strategies and attitudes. Commonly speaking, the left hemisphere is responsible for logical, mathematical, rational, linguistic, structured and orderly attitudes. The right hemisphere is responsible for imagination and imaginary production, emotions and feelings.
To exercise creativity is key to enter in the sphere that encourages the development of ideas, eliminating all barriers and creating a fertile ground for their development. Often, simply by being in a creative environment the creative mind is inspired and refreshed.
In the artistic field, it is common to measure the creativity of an author's work of, comparing it with other contemporaries. Among the different measures that exist to rate the degree of ease of creation and innovation that a specific artist has, parameters such as fluency, originality, sensitivity, abstraction, synthesis or flexibility are used.
In the professional artistic field, creativity is valued by comparison with other contemporary authors, using parameters such as originality, fluency, sensitivity, abstraction, synthesis when expressing the concept. This circuit represents the "Olympic Games" of contemporary human artistic creation, so to try to participate can be disheartening for many.
However, the creative capacity is an essential feature of the human being, and while there are some personalities that may have a sense of creativity more developed than others, we are all able until certain extend to create and invent new things, ideas or reflections according to our existing cultural baggage, and we all constantly do it in a myriad of ways.
Art is not the only field in which creativity is applied, but it is a good place to put it into practice and train it. For this reason, the Imaginary Method offers students an enormous variety of artistic media and technologies, as a field in which cultivating it. According to the program inclinations of each individual, the method allows to explore and introduce a variety of means of expression, techniques and technologies, such as:
- Drawing on paper (Pencils, Markers and Watercolors) - Painting on canvas or board (Acrylic and Oils) - Modeled sculpture (Porcelain, Clay, Plasticine and Fimo) - Writing (Prose, Poetry and Songs) - Photography and digital manipulation (Digital camera, Lightroom and Photoshop) - Graphic Design and Vector Illustration (Illustrator) - Modeling and 3D printing (Rhino) - Web Design (Wordpress and basic HTML) - Video and postproduction (Camera, Final Cut Pro and AfterEffects)
