This is the second of two framing posts for the January 14th #ideachat on Twitter where we explore creative “work” spaces and other sacred places for creativity. Join us! (9 am ET)
How does "space" affect your creativity?
What elements of a space -- size, light, sound, colors, physical artifacts -- create your perfect aesthetic for creating? What environment suits you for coming up with good ideas?
A space that inspires one person may completely inhibit another. Clutter vs. clean. Music vs. quiet. Bold colors vs. subdued tones. Moving vs. being still.
Your usual space may also be temporarily abandoned for a sacred place where you can “think different.” If you work alone, you may crave a place to work with others.
A space to create
I asked some friends -- entrepreneurs, artists and innovators -- to share their creative “work” spaces. All are working in highly innovative fields. Many are polymaths, combining an artistic side with an entrepreneurial side. Here is what they shared.
David Hood @davidahood Photo 2
“I tend to travel and co-work a lot. I find Hub Melbourne a great place to inspire.”
Drew Marshall @DrewCM Photo 3
“The driver’s seat of my VW Jetta. I leave voicemails for myself with ideas for follow up.”
Lee Tracy @fiddlehead Photos 4 + 5
“I love spaces that have history in the beginnings of urban craft and early factories. My first studio was a boiler room and there were archways where horse drawn carriages came through with the loads. In my new studio, again late 19th century, the loading dock moved things made by people's hands, time, and minds. I am drawn to historic factory buildings because I can easily sense the activity of the workers and respect it.”
Jose Baldalaia, @jabaldaia Photo 6
“I built this water tank, and it is one of the places I feel gooood! The tank wall has become my favorite chair to imagine the world, first the closest, the garden and the vegetable garden, and after, the farthest, the outside world. It is there, near the water, that I frequently embrace the future!”
Tac Anderson, @tacanderson Photo 7 + 8
“The most important element for my creativity is my "stuff." Notebooks, books, legos, post-its. The physical things I can go to when my brain needs to stretch. I also often go for a walk or switch tasks.”
Deb Scofield, @dscofield Photo 9
“My dock at my house in Maine. The tides.”
Sandy Maxey @sandymaxey Photo 10
“Epiphany Road. The trees know my name. Never lost here.”
Michelle James @CreatvEmergence
“My home office filled with all of my paintings (abstract) and other energizing things. Important elements are creative stimulation (energy) and aesthetics (for flow). I also need some blank, zen space for rest and possiblity. All three keep me creating.”
Adriana Mullen @adrianamullen Photo 11
"Natural light."
Lily Penelope @lilypenelope Photo 12 ©lilypenelope
“The flâneur. Resting. In the city. Admiring. The city. A new understanding.”
Photo No. 1 is also ©lilypenelope excerpted from her blog Free Form. She shares the sense of the space she feels about the art/architecture exhibition at the Biennale by Argentinian artist Tomas Saraceno, "Galaxies Forming along Filaments, like Droplets along the Strand of a Spider's Web".
"This is what I want from art/architecture. The ability to be part of it. The chance to be part of its meaning. To be one additional detail that can add value to it. Art that is speaking to us. And we, consciously or not, interact with it. With our feeling, with our imagination, with our secret thought!
There was a moment, inside the exhibition space, that a strong feeling of being catapulted inside a virtual space crossed my mind. It felt as if those lines where just in your imagination. Yet, the same feeling, crossed my mind even when I downloaded the images. Looking at them on my PC, felt like a montage, reality vs. virtual. Inserting people in a virtual space to give depth to it. To make it alive. But, in fact, we, the visitors, made this possible. We made it alive."
