These octogenarians have enriched our lives by sharing their talent and passion. They have strong creative careers fueled by continuous problem solving, social/business engagements and tenacity which has enabled them to enjoy their success in a long life of accomplishments. It is interesting to note that they all have multiple creative talents that were explored in their careers. These octogenarians are a testament to what neuroscience has shown; creative pursuits will continue to strengthen cognitive ability as we age.
Maya Angelou, 82, A remarkably talented poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, Angelou has been a constant force in our society. She has been on two presidential committees and awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, and 3 Grammy Awards. Dr. Angelou has also received more than 30 honorary degrees and is currently Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
Harry Belafonte, 83, As an actor,singer and humanitarian, Belafonte's reputation is largely with his Calypso album that triggered new interest in Caribbean music. He sang on the hit 1985 single “We Are the World,” and the next year became UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador.
Mel Brooks, 84, Multi talented film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor, and producer, he is best known for his comic work and satires. Brooks received an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony award and the 2009 Kennedy Center Honor for his lifetime contribution to the performing arts in American culture. He was husband of the late actress Anne Bancroft.
Carol Channing, 89, An actress and singer, Channing is probably best known for her performance on Broadway in Hello Dolly and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She received three Tony Awards, a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination and an honorary doctorate from California State University Stanislaus. She and her husband, Harry, established a foundation to support the arts in public schools.
Clint Eastwood, 80, As a director, actor, producer and composer, he is best known for his role in action and western films. Eastwood received five Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, two Cannes Film Festival awards, and five People's Choice Awards.
Frank Gehry, 81, A world renowned architect, Gehry lives in California but has dual Canadian/US citizenship. His most acclaimed works are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; Experience Music Project in Seattle and the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis. A recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Vanity Fair also named him as "the most important architect of our age".
Jasper Johns, 80, Painter and Sculptor, Johns is best known for his American Flag paintings as well as the target and number and letter series. As a revolutionary artist, he also used everyday objects such as beer cans in his sculptures.
Cloris Leachman, 84, Actress and winner of eight Primetime Emmy awards, Cloris received more than any other performer. She was a contestant in 2008 on Dancing With The Stars, and at the age of 82, was the oldest contestant to dance on the series. In 2011, Leachman will co-star in a thriller called The Fields.
Jerry Lewis, 84,
Actor and Comedian best known for his slapstick movies with Dean Martin and his major fund raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In 2009, he was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Claes Oldenburg, 81, As a sculptor of everyday objects, Oldenburg's public art installations are often very large scale replications of things in our lives such as a typewriter eraser, clothespin, and others. In 2000, he received an award from the National Medal of Arts and was recently commissioned by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)to create art work for its Lenfest Plaza. The sculpture will be 53 feet high in the form of a paintbrush with associated paint on the ground below.
Andre Previn, 81, A pianist, conductor, and composer, he received many honors. He won four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. In 1996, he was appointed an honorary Knight of the Order of British Empire and received Kennedy Center Honors for his contributions to classical music and opera. In 2005 he received the international Glenn Gould Prize and in 2008 won Gramophone magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award for his work. This year, the Recording Academy gave Previn a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.
Maurice Sendak, 82 An award winning writer and illustrator of children’s literature, Sendak is best known for WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE which won a Caldecott Medal. His career included collaboration with Carole King and Jim Henson for television animation. Last year, the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia presented There’s a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak.
Paul Taylor,80 As a dancer, he performed in the companies of Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, and George Balanchine, and then, as a choreographer, founded the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1954. He received many honors for his work including the Kennedy Center Honors, an Emmy Award, the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton, and the Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts. He received three Guggenheim Fellowships and honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from multiple American universities. Taylor was also selected as an honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Gloria Vanderbilt, 86, As an accomplished designer, artwork in her early career was licensed by Hallmark Cards (a paper based company) and by Bloomcraft (a textile company). Vanderbilt also designed for linens, china, glassware, flatware and scarves. Perhaps her design reputation is strongest as a spokeswoman for her designer blue jeans. She is a socialite and heiress who is also the mother of Anderson Cooper at CNN.
Betty White, 88, A comedian and talk show host, White won six Emmy Awards and was the first woman to receive an Emmy for game show hosting. In 2010, she became the oldest person on Saturday Night Live to be their guest host. White received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and has been celebrated for her involvement with animal charities.
"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age."
-Sophia Loren
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Imagination, Creativity & Confidence
It is the perfect triad: imagination, creativity and confidence. Imagination is the cognitive state of dreaming up new ideas or solution ns, creativity is the process of developing those innovative thoughts to action and confidence happens as a result of making those dreams a reality. It’s a simple equation that constitutes a complex series of events. It may take minutes, days or even years to produce the final project but completion provides closure and builds confidence. Self efficacy is an important concept here because it embraces the belief that your actions can make a difference in producing expected results.
We all have dreams and fantasies, hopes and aspirations and that makes us different from other living creatures. So what sets us apart from each other is that some people can raise their emotional capital and intellectual stamina to seize an opportunity to become innovative. Driven by a thirst for new challenges, they unconsciously disregard feelings of fear and inadequacy. These are people who embrace the unknown and understand that thinking outside the box is about finding the unpredictable, problem solving and being on the winning side of the creative experience.
In her book “When Walls Become Doorways”, Dr. Tobi Zausner writes about how difficult life events can transform an individual and their creative process. As a young woman, Frida Kahlo suffered massive bodily injuries from a bus accident and was restricted to bed for many months. Her mother had a special easel built that could be used by someone lying down and her father gave her oil paint. “Lying in bed, Kahlo started to create the paintings that would eventually make her famous” says Zausner. Kahlo channeled her passion and talent and became a celebrated artist.
Thanks to a dream Elias Howe had, he realized how to fasten the needle and cloth together on the sewing machine he was developing. "I was taken prisoner by a group of natives. They were dancing around with spears. As they were moving around me, I noticed their spears all had holes near their tips." Although the dream was frightening, he translated the dream to make his invention work. By placing a hole near the tip of the needle so thread could pass through, fabric could be sewn on the machine. This is a classic example of how imagination can initiate the creative process and result in confidence as a result of its success.
Sometimes being in a compelling profession inspires thoughts for another creative outlet. Both Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, ER television series, etc. ) and John Grisham (A Time to Kill, Pelican Brief, etc.) had careers in medicine and law respectively. In their work, both surely had “what-if” moments that developed in to a string of possibilities as a mental narrative. And that started their writing careers which spawned such popular novels that they left their professions and devoted themselves to writing. Grisham says “I seriously doubt I would ever have written the first story had I not been a lawyer. I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a trial.”
Sometimes a dream can be so prescient that it requires verification in reality. "I woke up with a lovely tune in my head," Paul McCartney recalled to his biographer, Barry Miles. "I thought, 'That's great. I wonder what that is?'" He got up that morning in May 1965, went to the piano, and began playing the melody that would become "Yesterday." While he really liked the tune, he had some reservations: "Because I'd dreamed it, I couldn't believe I'd written it." (U.S. News & World Report. May 15, 2006 print edition). It took 2 weeks to add lyrics and it became one of the most popular songs in history having been voted the #1 Pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone Magazine. The song was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Age and talent are not as important as drive in bringing your imagination to an active state of creativity. You can build up your confidence with each process and with every success, no matter how small. So dream, aspire, play and allow yourself to make plenty of mistakes. Be flexible, go with the flow, get lost experimenting. Find the fun, enjoy yourself and trust the process.
We all live every day in virtual environments, defined by our ideas.
-Michael Crichton
I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.
-Vincent Van Gogh
We all have dreams and fantasies, hopes and aspirations and that makes us different from other living creatures. So what sets us apart from each other is that some people can raise their emotional capital and intellectual stamina to seize an opportunity to become innovative. Driven by a thirst for new challenges, they unconsciously disregard feelings of fear and inadequacy. These are people who embrace the unknown and understand that thinking outside the box is about finding the unpredictable, problem solving and being on the winning side of the creative experience.
In her book “When Walls Become Doorways”, Dr. Tobi Zausner writes about how difficult life events can transform an individual and their creative process. As a young woman, Frida Kahlo suffered massive bodily injuries from a bus accident and was restricted to bed for many months. Her mother had a special easel built that could be used by someone lying down and her father gave her oil paint. “Lying in bed, Kahlo started to create the paintings that would eventually make her famous” says Zausner. Kahlo channeled her passion and talent and became a celebrated artist.
Thanks to a dream Elias Howe had, he realized how to fasten the needle and cloth together on the sewing machine he was developing. "I was taken prisoner by a group of natives. They were dancing around with spears. As they were moving around me, I noticed their spears all had holes near their tips." Although the dream was frightening, he translated the dream to make his invention work. By placing a hole near the tip of the needle so thread could pass through, fabric could be sewn on the machine. This is a classic example of how imagination can initiate the creative process and result in confidence as a result of its success.
Sometimes being in a compelling profession inspires thoughts for another creative outlet. Both Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, ER television series, etc. ) and John Grisham (A Time to Kill, Pelican Brief, etc.) had careers in medicine and law respectively. In their work, both surely had “what-if” moments that developed in to a string of possibilities as a mental narrative. And that started their writing careers which spawned such popular novels that they left their professions and devoted themselves to writing. Grisham says “I seriously doubt I would ever have written the first story had I not been a lawyer. I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a trial.”
Sometimes a dream can be so prescient that it requires verification in reality. "I woke up with a lovely tune in my head," Paul McCartney recalled to his biographer, Barry Miles. "I thought, 'That's great. I wonder what that is?'" He got up that morning in May 1965, went to the piano, and began playing the melody that would become "Yesterday." While he really liked the tune, he had some reservations: "Because I'd dreamed it, I couldn't believe I'd written it." (U.S. News & World Report. May 15, 2006 print edition). It took 2 weeks to add lyrics and it became one of the most popular songs in history having been voted the #1 Pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone Magazine. The song was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Age and talent are not as important as drive in bringing your imagination to an active state of creativity. You can build up your confidence with each process and with every success, no matter how small. So dream, aspire, play and allow yourself to make plenty of mistakes. Be flexible, go with the flow, get lost experimenting. Find the fun, enjoy yourself and trust the process.
We all live every day in virtual environments, defined by our ideas.
-Michael Crichton
I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.
-Vincent Van Gogh
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Creating Success by Mistake
Most of us don’t like to make mistakes. It feels lousy, it wastes our time, it frustrates us. Yet many mistakes are opportunities in disguise. If you are mentally flexible and can look at things from different perspectives, you may have a Eureka moment. What may appear as a mistake because it did not provide the solution you were looking for, can turn out to be a fabulous bonanza.
Take a look at these extraordinary people and how they turned their mistakes around to achieve success.
Andrew Mason is the CEO of the fast rising Groupon (www.groupon.com) and says that he started his business as a total mistake. In less than 2 years, the business is global with over 600 employees.
Spencer Silver was at 3M trying to develop an extra strong adhesive when he accidently developed a product that performed exactly the opposite. Fortunately he did not disregard it because 10 years later it was used to make one of the most successful office products on the market: Post-it® notes
Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin by accident. He noticed mold spores had contaminated his bacteria samples but, looking at it more closely, realized the mold formed was dissolving harmful bacteria. That observation resulted in Penicillin and has saved millions of lives.
Frank Epperson was only 11 years old when he invented the popsicle by mistake. He had forgotten his flavored water concoction on his porch overnight in the freezing cold weather and remaining in it was his stirring stick. And the popsicle was born.
Gandma Moses began her painting career by accident. She was wallpapering her parlor and ran out of paper so to complete the project she put up white paper and painted a scene. That was the very beginning of what was to become a very successful career as a painter.
In business there are plenty of mistakes and honoring them instead of delivering a reproachful attitude makes a difference in corporate culture. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, said: “It's fine to celebrate success, but it's more important to heed the lessons of failure. How a company deals with mistakes suggests how well it will bring out the best ideas and talents of its people, and how effectively it will respond to change."
And what about our personal challenges? Even when our head is focused on being right and not making a mistake, life happens. We’re thinking it wrong, rushing it through, compromising with materials or just getting it done. Even though the result may appear to be a mistake because the outcome does not satisfy your intention, do you just toss it aside and start anew or do you take some time to reflect on it? Post-it® notes was not the planned outcome and getting to that point took about 10 years. The glue inventor shelved his idea for years before he had a serendipitous situation that triggered product development.
So it is important to evaluate all that we do as valuable. It means more than having a special way of looking at things and a unique approach to solutions; it also means keeping a vigil eye and a flexible mind. It means a willingness to take more risks and thrive in the experimental process.
Exercising creative thinking and patience can have its rewards.
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly."
~ Robert F. Kennedy
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein
Take a look at these extraordinary people and how they turned their mistakes around to achieve success.
Andrew Mason is the CEO of the fast rising Groupon (www.groupon.com) and says that he started his business as a total mistake. In less than 2 years, the business is global with over 600 employees.
Spencer Silver was at 3M trying to develop an extra strong adhesive when he accidently developed a product that performed exactly the opposite. Fortunately he did not disregard it because 10 years later it was used to make one of the most successful office products on the market: Post-it® notes
Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin by accident. He noticed mold spores had contaminated his bacteria samples but, looking at it more closely, realized the mold formed was dissolving harmful bacteria. That observation resulted in Penicillin and has saved millions of lives.
Frank Epperson was only 11 years old when he invented the popsicle by mistake. He had forgotten his flavored water concoction on his porch overnight in the freezing cold weather and remaining in it was his stirring stick. And the popsicle was born.
Gandma Moses began her painting career by accident. She was wallpapering her parlor and ran out of paper so to complete the project she put up white paper and painted a scene. That was the very beginning of what was to become a very successful career as a painter.
In business there are plenty of mistakes and honoring them instead of delivering a reproachful attitude makes a difference in corporate culture. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, said: “It's fine to celebrate success, but it's more important to heed the lessons of failure. How a company deals with mistakes suggests how well it will bring out the best ideas and talents of its people, and how effectively it will respond to change."
And what about our personal challenges? Even when our head is focused on being right and not making a mistake, life happens. We’re thinking it wrong, rushing it through, compromising with materials or just getting it done. Even though the result may appear to be a mistake because the outcome does not satisfy your intention, do you just toss it aside and start anew or do you take some time to reflect on it? Post-it® notes was not the planned outcome and getting to that point took about 10 years. The glue inventor shelved his idea for years before he had a serendipitous situation that triggered product development.
So it is important to evaluate all that we do as valuable. It means more than having a special way of looking at things and a unique approach to solutions; it also means keeping a vigil eye and a flexible mind. It means a willingness to take more risks and thrive in the experimental process.
Exercising creative thinking and patience can have its rewards.
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly."
~ Robert F. Kennedy
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
New Age Communities: Part 2
The focus on aging should be less about the body and more about its place in a community. That’s the premise of Philip Stafford’s book Elderburbia: Aging with a Sense of Place in America. It offers scholarship, research and basic advice on aging and environment and addresses the movement towards elder friendly communities. It addresses the value of memory and meaning in one’s own space.
So for those who want to age at home and engage in a community experience, there is a wave of options. Many communities are variations of NORCs (naturally occurring retirement communities) but there are also niche new age communities available.
Elderspirit Cohousing,http://www.elderspirit.net
Rooted in the spiritual path for people of different religious beliefs, its foundation is based on providing mutual respect, support and service to each other and the community as a whole. A cohousing neighborhood is currently being planned in Abingdon, Virginia.
Burbank Senior Artist Colony, http://www.seniorartistscolony.com
Are you an artist who wants to continue your creative spirit with like minded peers? This is a unique apartment rental community for seniors that provides opportunities to engage in visual arts, theater and writing. There is plenty of entertainment and socialization to keep you in the swing.
Senior Housing Solutions. http://www.srhousingsolutions.org
Affordable housing for seniors is available in California for those with restricted incomes. Rent is a fraction of a person’s social security benefits so the financial stress is lifted and the comprehensive health, safety, socialization and support services can be enjoyed.
Since there are a growing number of older adults who want to remain in their homes and communities, these communities will face an opportunity and a challenge. Independent seniors can represent civic, social and financial assets and often will volunteer to support important causes. However these communities will also need to take the responsibility of supporting less able bodied elders who may have health care, transportation and other needs. Understanding the impact of this socioeconomic situation, The AdvantAge Initiative (http://www.vnsny.org) helps counties, cities and towns prepare for the increasing number of older adults who wish to age in place.
Want to start your own community? Gayatri Erlandson, PhD is a consultant on cohousing and offers this advice:“
Think big, act small, build a community.
Eleanor Roosevelt: “Friends, you and me... you brought another friend... and then there were three... we started our group... our circle of friends... and like that circle... there is no beginning or end.”
So for those who want to age at home and engage in a community experience, there is a wave of options. Many communities are variations of NORCs (naturally occurring retirement communities) but there are also niche new age communities available.
Elderspirit Cohousing,http://www.elderspirit.net
Rooted in the spiritual path for people of different religious beliefs, its foundation is based on providing mutual respect, support and service to each other and the community as a whole. A cohousing neighborhood is currently being planned in Abingdon, Virginia.
Burbank Senior Artist Colony, http://www.seniorartistscolony.com
Are you an artist who wants to continue your creative spirit with like minded peers? This is a unique apartment rental community for seniors that provides opportunities to engage in visual arts, theater and writing. There is plenty of entertainment and socialization to keep you in the swing.
Senior Housing Solutions. http://www.srhousingsolutions.org
Affordable housing for seniors is available in California for those with restricted incomes. Rent is a fraction of a person’s social security benefits so the financial stress is lifted and the comprehensive health, safety, socialization and support services can be enjoyed.
Since there are a growing number of older adults who want to remain in their homes and communities, these communities will face an opportunity and a challenge. Independent seniors can represent civic, social and financial assets and often will volunteer to support important causes. However these communities will also need to take the responsibility of supporting less able bodied elders who may have health care, transportation and other needs. Understanding the impact of this socioeconomic situation, The AdvantAge Initiative (http://www.vnsny.org) helps counties, cities and towns prepare for the increasing number of older adults who wish to age in place.
Want to start your own community? Gayatri Erlandson, PhD is a consultant on cohousing and offers this advice:“
If you are planning to start a community, regardless of its eventual size, I highly recommend starting with a very small group of people — those with very similar needs, values, goals, and thus vision for a community. In the beginning, it is very important to be exclusive, rather than inclusive. Instead of having a larger group who try over potlucks to hash out the particulars for years (seven on average!), start with just 2-3 people, maybe even just yourself!”
Think big, act small, build a community.
Eleanor Roosevelt: “Friends, you and me... you brought another friend... and then there were three... we started our group... our circle of friends... and like that circle... there is no beginning or end.”
Sunday, April 18, 2010
New Age Communities
We’re all part of communities. It is where we live, our family, our friends, place of worship, recreational club and other special places where we are part of a group with like interests. The nucleus of our community is our home, our personal space where we welcome various people from our other communities. It is that physical space that holds precious memories of experiences shared and also holds physical objects that are sentimental. So many of us have a comfort level in our personal dwelling that will keep us there until our needs begin to change.
Now there are non traditional creative options to aging in place.
Natural Occurring Retirement Communities, NORCs are a new important trend for older adults. They are not planned but evolve by demographics in a specific area and responds to community needs (eg. Heath services, transportation) and strengths (eg. nearby shopping center). It can be a vertical NORC such as a high rise apartment building or it can encompass a section of single family homes where many seniors reside. There are social, health and service benefits available within a NORC. Public and private partnerships work together to support on site services and activities while government agencies and philanthropic organizations help fund the project. While offering these resources, its goal is also to empower older adults to be proactive in their community, develop strong social bonds and maximize their well being.
Building a Village: Similar to NORCs, villages are developed by older adults who choose to age in place. They want a community that will fuel their social needs as well as provide needed personal, health and transportation services. It is a membership based grass roots organization where neighbors help neighbors and coordinated by both volunteers and paid staff. Although it can take a couple of years to roll into action, the results are so positive that there are now about 50 across the country and over 600 in development. Urban areas like Beacon Hill Village in Boston, Massachusetts and Burning Tree community in Bethesda, Maryland are prime examples of seniors taking responsibility to help each other remain in their homes.
Aging in Place: A Virtual Retirement Community: This is a less structured organization than NORCs and Villages described above. It is a group of older adults aging in place within a specific geographic area. The community formed in Cambridgeport near Cambridge, Massachusetts is under the leadership of Polly Allen, who worked with many local volunteers and SeniorsConnect.This city wide networking model is easier to start since the cost is minimal and does not require a large number of participants to function. They meet primarily online to arrange social activities and respond to opportunities to help each other and share expertise. Support of volunteers is important for basic essentials such as meals, transportation and tax counseling.
If you are a senior who wants to continue to live independently, there are unique choices to optimize your daily living. Additional information and support is often available from your local council on aging.
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Never be the only one, except, possibly, in your own home.
Alice Walker
Now there are non traditional creative options to aging in place.
Natural Occurring Retirement Communities, NORCs are a new important trend for older adults. They are not planned but evolve by demographics in a specific area and responds to community needs (eg. Heath services, transportation) and strengths (eg. nearby shopping center). It can be a vertical NORC such as a high rise apartment building or it can encompass a section of single family homes where many seniors reside. There are social, health and service benefits available within a NORC. Public and private partnerships work together to support on site services and activities while government agencies and philanthropic organizations help fund the project. While offering these resources, its goal is also to empower older adults to be proactive in their community, develop strong social bonds and maximize their well being.
Building a Village: Similar to NORCs, villages are developed by older adults who choose to age in place. They want a community that will fuel their social needs as well as provide needed personal, health and transportation services. It is a membership based grass roots organization where neighbors help neighbors and coordinated by both volunteers and paid staff. Although it can take a couple of years to roll into action, the results are so positive that there are now about 50 across the country and over 600 in development. Urban areas like Beacon Hill Village in Boston, Massachusetts and Burning Tree community in Bethesda, Maryland are prime examples of seniors taking responsibility to help each other remain in their homes.
Aging in Place: A Virtual Retirement Community: This is a less structured organization than NORCs and Villages described above. It is a group of older adults aging in place within a specific geographic area. The community formed in Cambridgeport near Cambridge, Massachusetts is under the leadership of Polly Allen, who worked with many local volunteers and SeniorsConnect.This city wide networking model is easier to start since the cost is minimal and does not require a large number of participants to function. They meet primarily online to arrange social activities and respond to opportunities to help each other and share expertise. Support of volunteers is important for basic essentials such as meals, transportation and tax counseling.
If you are a senior who wants to continue to live independently, there are unique choices to optimize your daily living. Additional information and support is often available from your local council on aging.
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Never be the only one, except, possibly, in your own home.
Alice Walker
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Creativity, Conformity and Aging
Creativity is about taking risks to make something new; to explore, conceive, develop, dream of something that has not existed before. There are no rules except those which may be inherent in a product that must function. On the contrary, conformity is all about rules and staying within boundaries. This can mean masking your persona to adapt in a job or social group so you are accepted by its commonalities. It can be especially true in organizational structures where politics play an important role and maintaining the group’s expectations and invisible guidelines are paramount. Peer pressure to conform is with us from childhood on to our later years. However Psychologist Robert Ornstein, PhD (author of The Psychology of Consciousness) says “If you spend too much time being like everybody else, you decrease your chances of coming up with something different.” Although creativity and conformity are different entities, some people have been able to dream, conform and succeed. It’s about having a vision and knowing that it will fit in the world around you.
Inspired by seeing a voluptuous doll on the market in Germany, Ruth Handler made some observations. She saw that her daughter was playing with adult paper dolls rather than children and babies and that these dolls were all flat chested. So in 1959, she designed her first Barbie doll, an attractive small scale plastic feminine figure with improbable proportions and breasts. Ruth thought young girls would enjoy role playing with a three dimensional doll fashioned to look stylish and youthful as they look toward their growing up years. She revolutionized the doll industry by creating a play figure that was completely different from any on the market and she followed it by giving Barbie a boyfriend, Ken (both named for her children). It was a huge design leap and yet her brilliant creativity was anchored on understanding the psychological needs of young girls. Ruth says “The consumer made the Barbie doll an instant success”
Thomas Edison held more patents than any other person in US history. Yet he was not your stereotypical reclusive and struggling inventor; he enjoyed collaboration and had 6 or more main assistants with unique expertise to help him. “One of Edison’s greatest overlooked talents was his ability to assemble teams and set up an organizational structure that fostered many people’s creativity,” says Greg Field, historian. He had a genius mind for creating new devices while relishing the group process where success of the group means conforming to the underlying group rules (perhaps his own). And his inventions needed to conform to society’s needs to be successful.
Yet groups can thwart creativity. Jeremy Dean, a researcher at University College London, writes about Why Group Norms Kill Creativity. “When groups are asked to think creatively the reason they frequently fail is because implicit norms constrain them in the most explicit ways. This is clearly demonstrated in a recent study carried out by Adarves-Yorno et al. (2006). They asked two groups of participants to create posters and subtly gave each group a norm about either using more words on the poster or more images.
Afterwards when they judged each others' work, participants equated creativity with following the group norm; the 'words' group rated posters with more words as more creative and the 'images' group rated posters with more images as more creative. The unwritten rules of the group, therefore, determined what its members considered creative. In effect groups had redefined creativity as conformity.”
So how does aging fit with creativity and conformity? There lies the paradox. As we age, we can continue to develop new neural networks if we are actively engaged in activities that may be social, creative, cognitive and/or physical. Sure we can have memory lapses and concentration difficulties but older adults also have beneficial neurological changes. Pattern recognition and more efficient brain signal transmission provides stronger problem solving capability. And problem solving is integral to the creative process where there are many potential solutions and no fast conclusions. So it would appear that as mature adults we can be mentally wired for new explorations and more creativity yet what halts so many? I believe it is fear of the unknown, unwilling to risk social exclusion, depression based on health concerns and the comfort of their recliner. Motivation to seek new challenges is just as important as the discipline to eat nutritious food and exercise regularly. As Eric Maisel, PhD, creator of the Meaning Solution Program, says “Life feels more meaningful when you decide that your creativity matters.”
Conformity and creativity are part of the landscape of our lives. Finding ways to effectively manage them to strengthen our spirit as we age is a critical lesson for all of us.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing."
--George Bernard Shaw
Inspired by seeing a voluptuous doll on the market in Germany, Ruth Handler made some observations. She saw that her daughter was playing with adult paper dolls rather than children and babies and that these dolls were all flat chested. So in 1959, she designed her first Barbie doll, an attractive small scale plastic feminine figure with improbable proportions and breasts. Ruth thought young girls would enjoy role playing with a three dimensional doll fashioned to look stylish and youthful as they look toward their growing up years. She revolutionized the doll industry by creating a play figure that was completely different from any on the market and she followed it by giving Barbie a boyfriend, Ken (both named for her children). It was a huge design leap and yet her brilliant creativity was anchored on understanding the psychological needs of young girls. Ruth says “The consumer made the Barbie doll an instant success”
Thomas Edison held more patents than any other person in US history. Yet he was not your stereotypical reclusive and struggling inventor; he enjoyed collaboration and had 6 or more main assistants with unique expertise to help him. “One of Edison’s greatest overlooked talents was his ability to assemble teams and set up an organizational structure that fostered many people’s creativity,” says Greg Field, historian. He had a genius mind for creating new devices while relishing the group process where success of the group means conforming to the underlying group rules (perhaps his own). And his inventions needed to conform to society’s needs to be successful.
Yet groups can thwart creativity. Jeremy Dean, a researcher at University College London, writes about Why Group Norms Kill Creativity. “When groups are asked to think creatively the reason they frequently fail is because implicit norms constrain them in the most explicit ways. This is clearly demonstrated in a recent study carried out by Adarves-Yorno et al. (2006). They asked two groups of participants to create posters and subtly gave each group a norm about either using more words on the poster or more images.
Afterwards when they judged each others' work, participants equated creativity with following the group norm; the 'words' group rated posters with more words as more creative and the 'images' group rated posters with more images as more creative. The unwritten rules of the group, therefore, determined what its members considered creative. In effect groups had redefined creativity as conformity.”
So how does aging fit with creativity and conformity? There lies the paradox. As we age, we can continue to develop new neural networks if we are actively engaged in activities that may be social, creative, cognitive and/or physical. Sure we can have memory lapses and concentration difficulties but older adults also have beneficial neurological changes. Pattern recognition and more efficient brain signal transmission provides stronger problem solving capability. And problem solving is integral to the creative process where there are many potential solutions and no fast conclusions. So it would appear that as mature adults we can be mentally wired for new explorations and more creativity yet what halts so many? I believe it is fear of the unknown, unwilling to risk social exclusion, depression based on health concerns and the comfort of their recliner. Motivation to seek new challenges is just as important as the discipline to eat nutritious food and exercise regularly. As Eric Maisel, PhD, creator of the Meaning Solution Program, says “Life feels more meaningful when you decide that your creativity matters.”
Conformity and creativity are part of the landscape of our lives. Finding ways to effectively manage them to strengthen our spirit as we age is a critical lesson for all of us.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing."
--George Bernard Shaw
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
An Interview with MARIE ULMER: Artist
MARIE ULMER is an amazing 92 year old artist living in Philadelphia. She is focused and talented and shares her life story in the Arts.
When did you realize that you wanted to make Art?
As far as I can remember, I always wanted to make Art. I started out drawing myself and then created drawings of the neighborhood children
Where did you study art?
I studied at what is now called University of the Arts but was called School of Industrial Art when I went there. I chose that school because they had a variety of subjects that I was interested in. I graduated in 1941.
What kind of art did you specialize in?
I specialized in illustration and used watercolor and gouache.
Did you work other places before your career at the Free Library?
I had various jobs before the library. During war time, it was hard to get a job so I worked at a few places including a drafting job for a couple of years. Then I was hired at the Free Library. They hired me to shelve books. Since they did not have an art department at the time, a boy and I started it. I became involve in setting exhibits, designing showcases, and making posters, brochures flyers, and leaflets. The work was very varied. I worked there for 31 years when I took retirement.
What kind of art do you especially enjoy?
I enjoy fantasy illustrations.
I understand that you may have an upcoming show.
Yes, the owner of the Bambi Gallery on 2nd Street in Philadelphia is interested in my work. He’s planning to put together a show in cooperation with another gallery. I have hundreds of pieces of work at home and have worked in many mediums including ceramics, weaving, painting, and jewelry making. I also have written poetry.
You have been retired for many years. Do you have some words of wisdom for keeping your passion for art alive?
Art is just something I have to do, it keeps me going, I always look forward to it!
To read more about Marie, http://www.phillyartgalleries.com/art-news/09-9-bambi-gallery.htmclick here
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