The Creative Turn

The conundrum of understanding, practising and teaching contemporary creativity is that it wants to be all things to all people. Almost all modern lists of creativity, creative thinking and how-to ‘becoming creative’ books begin with one premise: the creative individual/artist is not special, rather each of us is creative in a special way and these skills can – and must - be nurtured. Increasingly, industry and education leaders are claiming that creativity is the core skill to take us into a prosperous future, signalling the democratisation of creativity as industry. Yet centuries of association between aesthetics, mastery and creativity are hard to dismantle. These days, it is increasingly difficult to discuss creativity without reference to business, industry and innovation. Why do we love to think of creativity in this way and no longer as that rare visitation of the muse or the elite gift of the few? This book looks at the possibility that creativity is taking a turn, what that turn might be, and how it relates to industry, education and, ultimately, cultural role of creativity and aesthetics for the 21st century. In proliferating discourses of the commodification of creativity, there is one thing all the experts agree on: creativity is undefinable, possibly unteachable, largely unassessable, and becoming the most valuable commodity in 21st-century markets.

Everyone is born with creativity, but why doesn’t everyone use it to live a life that’s more fulfilling and purposeful? CREATIVE YOU TURN is the one book that readers can turn to for the guidance and encouragement they require to live their creative dreams! Based on his own creative journey, TV host and career reinvention coach Pat Pattison offers an inspirational and transformative blueprint for millions of Americans to unleash their hidden passions and gifts, and to live happier and more joyful lives. His proven strategies motivate readers to unlock their passions and to explore what they truly want to do with the rest of their lives, and then to take actions to make their creative dreams a reality – all while staying financially practical. Included in the book are many easy-to-follow exercises and worksheets toward self-revitalization; advice and takeaways from additional experts in the field; the author’s own “9 Steps” for creative living; as well as anecdotes and case studies of notables and other Creative YOU Turners from a wide range of fields. Having recently made his own Creative YOU Turn, Pat’s proven and unique method encourages, inspires, and entertains while not shying from the practical realities and challenges that creative self-reinvention entails.

What sparks your creativity? Lists of what you love? A collaged vision board? Creating a mind map? Organized by weeks and days into a year of small 15-minute challenges, You Are Creative! offers easy ways to help your innate creativity blossom. Every day there's a new exercise, activity, or prompt to promote creative growth. For artists, entrepreneurs, students, and anyone who wants to live a more fulfilling life, this journal will guide them on the journey.

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

Creativity is critical. Out of Our Minds explores creativity: its value in business, its ubiquity in children, its perceived absence in many adults and the phenomenon through which it disappears — and offers a groundbreaking approach for getting it back. Author Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally recognised authority on creativity, and his TED talk on the subject is the most watched video in TED’s history. In this book, Sir Ken argues that organisations everywhere are struggling to fix a problem that originates in schools and universities. Organisations everywhere are competing in a world that changes in the blink of an eye – they need people who are flexible enough to adapt, and creative enough to find novel solutions to problems old and new. Out of Our Minds describes how schools, businesses and communities can work together to bring creativity out of the closet and realise its inherent value at every stage of life. This new third edition has been updated to reflect changing technologies and demographics, with updated case studies and coverage of recent changes to education. While education and training are the keys to the future, the key can also be turned the other way; locking people away from their own creativity. Only by actively fostering creativity can businesses unlock those doors and achieve their true potential. This book will help you to: Understand the importance of actively promoting creativity and innovation. Discover why creativity stagnates somewhere between childhood and adulthood. Learn how to re-awaken dormant creativity to help your business achieve more. Explore ways in which we can work together to keep creativity alive for everyone. Modern business absolutely demands creativity of thought and action. We're all creative as children — so where does it go? When do we lose it? Out of Our Minds has the answers, and clear solutions for getting it back.

Seeking throughout to bridge the gap between the creative and the critical, and to span disciplinary boundaries, this book offers a significant intervention in the theory of creativity and the practice of criticism.

New York’s award-winning bakery Ovenly is world-renowned for their innovative and decadent treats. The Ovenly cookbook is packed with all of their greatest hits—the best ever chocolate-chip cookies, dense, crumbly shortbreads, buttery scones, and more! As self-taught, curious bakers, Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin believe above all that baking (and eating!) should be an adventure. With their use of unexpected flavor combinations by playing with tradition, it’s no wonder Ovenly has a dedicated fanbase. This updated second edition celebrates Ovenly’s tenth anniversary and includes new recipes of bakeshop favorites such as the ooey-gooey Hot Chocolate Cookie, the tart, moist Vegan Lemon Raspberry Quickbread, the Chewy Molasses Spice Cookie, and fresh twists on some of the bakery’s newer recipes, which are also sure to be classics. With tips and anecdotes, exquisite photos, and pantry and kitchen tool essentials, Ovenly contains experimental yet perfected recipes for the most inventive and out-of-this-world pastries, desserts, and snacks.

Based on twenty years of research, a Yale University scientist explains how to make ideas into realities and dispels the myth that creativity is a trait that you’re born with. It isn’t; instead, creativity is a decision that you make again and again Anyone who has ever participated in a brainstorming session will know that most of us do not lack ideas. Yet, many people never breathe life into these ideas. To turn inspiration into real achievement, you must decide to act—and then decide to act again and again, despite obstacles, until your thoughts take shape and come to life. This is what Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle calls the creativity choice. Drawing on decades of research into the science of creativity, The Creativity Choice teaches readers how to bring ideas out of your mind and into the world. With stories ranging from an entrepreneur who built a national nonprofit, to a YouTuber who turned a hobby into a professional career, to a business leader who established a company culture of innovation, Pringle illuminates how people make creative ideas happen: what it takes to get started, the psychological and emotional tools needed to navigate the creative process, and the social conditions that allow creativity to succeed. Through this book, you’ll learn how to bridge the gap between having the first spark of an idea and actually doing something with it.

The Plastic Turn offers a novel way of looking at plastic as the defining material of our age and at the plasticity of plastic as an innovative means of understanding the arts and literature. Ranjan Ghosh terms this approach the material-aesthetic and, through this concept, traces the emergence and development of plastic polymers along the same historical trajectory as literary modernism. Plastic's growth as a product in the culture industry, its formation through multiple application and chemical syntheses, and its circulation via oceanic movements, Ghosh argues, correspond with, and offers novel insights into, developments in modernist literature and critical theory. Through innovative readings of canonical modernist texts, analyses of art works, and accounts of plastic's devastating environmental impact, The Plastic Turn proposes plastic's unique properties and destructive ubiquity as a "theory machine" to explain literature and life in the Anthropocene. Introducing several new concepts (like plastic literature, plastic literary, etc.) into critical-humanist discourse, Ghosh enmeshes literature and theory, materiality and philosophy, history and ecology, to explore why plastic as a substance and as an idea intrigues, disturbs, and haunts us.