Thursday, February 17, 2011

How to Be a Collector and Arranger of the World

At the moment, I'm reading Keri Smith's book, How to Be an Explorer of the World, which has got me thinking about creativity in a whole new way. With her encouragement to collect, organise and document the things you find, Keri shows that sometimes creativity is in how you see what is already there, rather than being what you can produce all on your own.


I love the emphasis on collecting anything that interests you. No matter how useless, old, impractical or clunky it might be. And so, just in the last day, I've acquired one piece of red string, two pages of someone else's colouring book, and thirty-three pieces of what used to be Bella's red plastic ball. Not treasure by any stretch of the imagination, but somehow laying those chewed up plastic scraps in rows on the floor did seem exciting and creative.

Anyway, it's a superb book, and worth a look if you're feeling a creative lull.
Plus, more Creative Spaces over at the Koo.

4 comments:

Jenni said...

Very artistic, very inspirational. And I can see several little red hearts dotted around on your lagtest "work of art"!

Jenni said...
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Amy said...

This book looks really great, how inspiring! Thanks for sharing. I might have to look into getting it :)
xox
Amy
awhimofmine.blogspot.com

blandina said...

Great concept: 'how you see what is already there'. I undestand what it means now that I am taking more photographs.
Thanks for pointing it out, the book looks enjoyable I will certainly look for it on my next trip to LA.