Turn the my brain from Spock-like robot into artist.

November 24, 2008 7:21 PM

Brain shift: How do I transition out of a heavily academic/theoretical mode, and into a creative one?

My PhD work involves writing about my research, and creating visual media. The writing, needless to say, is very dense and theoretical. The creative work is just that - creative, free, fun, beautiful, without constraint.

I enjoy both of these pursuits enormously, and for different reasons - the theory for the problem solving, mental knot untying and wordsmithery, and the creative because it's what I love to do.

I don't need help with either of them, but what I do need are ideas for transitioning from one mindset to the next. I become pretty much entrenched in one mode or the other, and find switching pretty hard. To be honest, I find conducting a conversation or making dinner hard sometimes after I've been focussing on this stuff, but no one can really help me with that.

I'm looking for ways, small creative ways, to start moving out of the theory and into the making. Out of head and into hands. Ways to brainstorm visually. Visualisation, meditation techniques, anything goes. What do you suggest? Silly, fun, irrelevant, relevant to get me out of my head, and focussed on art-making.

Three conditions, if I may:

1. Ideally I would prefer the ideas not be "Go take a nice walk outside" - what I'm looking for are time effective tools or ideas which can get me focussed on making creative work in an industrious way.

2. I should mention that I don't need to make this transition daily, more like every few months. So if you can imagine what I would like to do is focus on the writing for three months, spend a week or two in fun transitional exercises, then move onto creative work for three months. Rinse and repeat.

3. I have already read The Artist's Way, and don't much care for its spiritual angle. What I would love are ideas, practical things I can do which won't add another book to my already long reading list.

I have been writing for months now, and have become the human equivalent of a test pattern. This Ms. Dullsville automaton thing isn't working with the creativity at all.

I really appreciate your help...

posted by lottie to media & arts (12 comments total)

This is a very general answer, as we appear to be in different fields but there are some tools that you can use to make yourself more creative. Generally, if you're stuck with something then taking it to the next level of abstraction helps. If you do have an idea, try imagining, or better still doing the exact opposite of that idea. Playing with ideas is central to creativity. The 'what if I tried this?' mentality is central to my creative thinking. Lastly setting up extremely strict guidelines, like small exercises that take an hour to achieve at most, is very useful. I've recently had to make a switch almost exactly similar to yours and it was hard, and a little slow but I got there. Good luck!
posted by ob at 7:33 PM on November 24, 2008

Set up a ritual. Two separate rituals, if you can. Condition yourself using these.

Example Ritual 1 (Serious Academic Ritual): Put on pair of black shoes, make cup of green tea, turn on radio to news station, sit on gas-lift chair.

Example Ritual 2 (Creative Ritual): Take off pair of black shoes, open a bottle of Pepsi, put on favourite rock album, kick back on couch.

For me, it's a simple (if unfortunate) matter of cigarettes. When I'm doing professional work work, I'm sitting at my desk doing that. When I'm doing my own stuff and basically having a good time, I light up the smokes. Switching back and forth between these things is as easy as taking the ashtray outside, or bringing it in, whatever's happening.
posted by turgid dahlia at 7:38 PM on November 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, and this might be specific to what I do, but I hate a blank sheet of paper. So much so that I fill it up with anything words, diagrams, anything. Occasionally I've used a mind map to organize such things but I've always been a little underwhelmed with their use in my creative process, but that might just be me.

If words stimulate anything for you then you could try a random word, sentence or paragraph generator. Likewise, numbers.
posted by ob at 7:42 PM on November 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

I realize this might be too "walk in the woods," but what helps for me in those situations is to immerse myself in sensual experience where I don't have to make anything up. If I play music from a score, or knit something from a pattern, my mind starts to switch from logical-linguistic to being directly engaged with touch and sound and color and texture, and then the creativity starts to flow from there.
posted by Jeanne at 8:02 PM on November 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

Don't underestimate the power of a nice walk outside. It sounds like you just need a break from writing for a day or two. Take the day off and just don't think of anything academically related. Decompress.

I get the same problem when trying to record music (technical) vs creating new music (creative). Its a case of basic left brain/right brain conflict and I find that trying to switch back and forth between brains means neither one works particularly well. I can only do one or the other. The tip I was given which helped me record better music was to do all the technical stuff first, like planning, setting up mics and equipment, check levels, planning and more planning. Once everything I could possibly need is set up I take a break, have a cuppa and a rest then pick up my guitar and start recording. The idea is to get all the technical, logical stuff out of the way so that my mind is free to be creative.
posted by robotot at 8:04 PM on November 24, 2008

Try doing things that are sort of in between the two extremes. For example, sometimes I'll start out start out just drawing sketches of things; it's mechanical enough that it's easy to do even when you're not in a creative mindset, and it eases your mind into a more creative frame. Rituals, like dahlia said, help too. At some point you also just have to jump in, though; I know I never really feel comfortable doing creative stuff until I've been at it for a while. You'll probably end up with about a day of subpar stuff, but after that you should be flying.
posted by chairmanroflmao at 8:19 PM on November 24, 2008

In college I majored in music theory and composition: two very different activities that I had to practice at the same time.

I agree with ob. Sometimes a blank sheet can be intimidating. Get friends to commission extremely short creative works from you, like 60-90 seconds each. Make them place ridiculous restrictions on your work, like you can only photograph marshmallows and flowers. Or you have to alternate three seconds of B&W film with five seconds of color, and use that rhythm to pace your narrative.

It's counterintuitive, but having limitations forces you to concentrate your creativity onto a point that's manageable for someone who's out of practice.
posted by billtron at 9:09 PM on November 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

I took a yoga and meditation class for several years and they always burned a certain type of incense. I find it much easier to meditate if I burn that incense now, it's kind of a short cut to that state of mind for me. I would say try to bring as many of your senses into your transition ritual as you can. Find a tea or juice that you save just for this, something distinctive, blood orange maybe, or a fancy, sparkling mineral water in a nice bottle. Find a scent, incense or something you dab on your wrists, even just a little bottle of essential oil that you open and sniff. Again, something you use only for this. Play a song you love or the sound of water or get some sort of chime that you ring or you could chant.
If you know how to meditate or know relaxation techniques get into that sort of state and then make a visualization for yourself. Go through a door from one room into a drastically different room. You could start in a library and move into a studio filled with all sorts of colors and textures, paints and clay and toys and whatever else feeds you. Or get on a plane or boat and travel into your creative place. Feel the boat rock on the water, hear the sea gulls, listen to the engine of the plane, definitely go first class.
I like to have some physical signifier, I usually use a bracelet to remind me of what I'm trying to accomplish but you could wear a ring or a necklace or even tie a red string around your ankle. Have fun with it.
posted by BoscosMom at 10:10 PM on November 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

When you're using your right brain and are being creative make a conscious effort not to over think what you're doing. When you feel yourself going over to the theoretical side stop and take a break.

That being said, thinking through creative ideas is natural and I'm not suggesting you not think during that process. Just start to notice when you make a jump into the theoretical.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 10:27 AM on November 25, 2008

Great thoughts everyone. Thank you!

Anyone got any little brain-storming exercises to add?
posted by lottie at 1:26 PM on November 25, 2008

I'm about 3 years out of a BFA in sculpture, and currently applying to a grad program in Sociology - so feel I understand the duality of this relationship you are trying to maintain. I also personally feel its very hard to effectively turn on and off, so you need to be a little pragmatic about it.

What I always did after a period of distance was start with a 100 drawings/sketches in a day ritual. It will take about 8 hours and it is exhausting. You don't need to draw anything in particular, nor do the drawings have to be heavily invested with time or talent. In theory I bet you could finish this in about an hour, but who are you trying to impress? The goal here is to acknowledge 1) what you are currently thinking about, sensitive to, directing towards, interested in 2) what can be done with that.

These can be detailed drawings, or rough plans for some project, or stick figures telling jokes. Doesn't matter - just invest yourself into it (for me this means doing it alone, in a no distraction bunker, you may have different methods) - then end the day with a beer and a movie.

Maintain a work journal daily. Don't be melodramatic here - but clarify your thoughts: "Yesterday I formed the nose. Today I will paint it, and try to make achieve the proper sand texture. Its reminding me of a can of sardines." Like in simplifying the equation? - cut out all the extra noise that is distracting you. Place in simple - unemotional terms what you did, what happened, and what is the current state and direction of the project(s). Acknowledge changes in intention, goals, expectations with the monotone of a journalist. If you are committing a period of time to this, things can get emotional, and haphazard - 'art' permits alot of freedom of action and thought, but that is a thin line from wasted energy and confusion.

At least stating out loud what is going on for real (not in "I think" land) clarifies your intention to yourself, and permits you a way of being detached from the struggle. This permits you to think freely about directions or actions you would like to take.

Best brainstorming method is really very short, time-constrained projects with a direct and specific goal: In one hour, I will invent a prank to scare mom. Or, In twenty minutes I will draw 5 friends wearing hats. Remove all the value judgments (like, scare the hell out of , or funny ), and focus on the verifiable. In process, you can be clever, but don't make it difficult. Make it short, contained and something you specifically reference in your mind. Generally these short projects sets your gears going on how to further manipulate it. Scale out from here.

I know alot of people subscribe to these abstract means to increase creativity - I do as well at times - but have never really seen a honest material difference in studio. A lot of creativity is finding a way to systematically lead yourself away from a fix pattern of seeing the world.

Let me know if that helps.
posted by mrgreyisyelling at 9:48 AM on November 26, 2008

Hmmm, a little late on the uptake on this one but...

This won't be the Holy Grail, but may well compliment the techniques that have already been described above and may help you in that period of transition from logical to creative. I have recently started using binaural beats as a technique both for mental relaxation and for mental stimulation. It works for me very well. I won't attempt to describe it here as the Wikipedia page does the best job.

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, there is a free application from the Apple App Store that you can download and there is quite a high level of control given to you in this application to add your own music and alter the volume of the binaural pulses/tones.

If you don't have the above, there is an application that runs on Linux, Windows, DOS and Mac OS X and is released under the GPL called SBaGen which is also very good.

Hope that helps.

Mike
posted by mlott at 3:31 PM on December 1, 2008