As a professional artist and an exciting creativity facilitator Cheryl Jones Evans will ignite your exuberant, expressive creative self. She is a passionate well-seasoned leader with more than 28 years in all facets of the visual arts industry and 18 years of creativity facilitating. Cheryl holds a BA in Arts Management (UMASS) has been listed with Florida Department of Cultural Affairs as a presenter, the Creativity Coaching Association, the Florida Arts in Education Association, and the National Independent Artists Association. She served on the City of Casselberry Parks and Recreation Advisory Board as the Arts liaison and currently serves on the Leesburg Center for the Arts board as the director of Artistic Community Building. She actively facilitates The Central Florida Artist’s Way Group, has instructed classes at a small private college, conducts weekend creativity seminars, and regularly facilitates other spiritually based creative and art marketing classes with arts organizations all over the state of Florida.

Oh....and she actively, passionately, constantly CREATES!

http://www.cheryljonesevans.com/

Thursday, February 14, 2013

The RESEARCH Ruse

This past week I was reminded of Julia Cameron’s observation, that as creatives we tend to look the gift horse directly in the mouth, then slap it on the rump and shoo it off!

Over the years I have devised an ingenious way of protecting my Artist’s Date activities from judgmental friends and family by calling them artistic research. Since the mere word RESEARCH typically brings up thoughts of high browed academia and hours of tedious study, most of them will drop that conversation immediately. No further explanation is expected from me and I am relieved of duty, no need in explaining how skipping stones at the local pond or playing with a big gooey blob of silly putty is necessary for my art.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I made a harrowing discovery. I have managed to fend off my own ACTUAL creating with that very same clever ruse. I recognized that I was researching and not creating. I had successfully convinced myself that preparing for and reading about creativity could make me more creative than actually doing it.

This coming week, I will…
#1 actively create
#2 confine my research to only REALLY fun stuff!
#3 and pray that none of my family or friends read this blog!