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Coming into this class, IAH 241E, I had no expectations or knowledge of how it would really be formatted, because I just got done with another IAH class last semester, which was not at all how I thought it would be. The only thing I knew we would be doing, is using our creativity, which we definitely did. Week 1, the week of January 8th, I was confused about the structure, but also intrigued to see what would come from this class. I find IAH classes to be fulfilling in a way that my other courses are, and I was excited to see how this class would fulfill me. I can confidently say that this class allowed me to express my creativity and gave me an outlet where I was able to be productive and creative at the same time. This timeline will take you through my favorite concepts and topics, while also reflecting on how these experiences impacted my personal life and what I will take with me even after the course ends. Let the journey begin…

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As we began, the second week was focused around mindset. At first I was confused what mindset had to do with art and creativity, but I soon realized that this was the best way to introduce a course like this. Typically, students do not gain fulfillment through participating in classes like this, because it often doesn’t align with their major and their future careers. The mindset lecture was a great way to introduce students to the class and have them shift their mindsets about this. The first video we annotated was speaker Carol Dweck, discussing her ideas surrounding developing a growth mindset. A growth mindset is a huge factor that a student should be able to have in any context, but especially going into something they don’t feel very confident in, which is how I felt when I started this class. I knew my art skills and creativity was lacking, and her speech helped me realize that it was possible to succeed in these conditions. Carol Dweck spoke about how growth mindsets, rather than a fixed mindset, are key to improve abilities and intelligence. Some key points that she emphasized were belief in growth, embracing challenges, effort, learning from failure, and inspiration from other’s successes. These are some key factors, in Dweck’s opinion, that play into developing a growth mindset and being able to succeed even when it is not easy.  Another concept we focused on in the first few weeks was Richard’s research into Everyday Creativity. This was the idea that creativity is always manifested into daily life through small and big acts. Listening to this really opened my eyes and introduced me to the concept of creativity in the context of everyday life. It really made me ponder creativity in my own life, and it helped me start to focus on aspects of my life that contain everyday creativity. These two topics really stood out to me in the first weeks and helped me shift into the mindset that this class needed, because it opened my eyes to the potential success I can have by developing a growth mindset, and also made me realize that creativity is already a part of my everyday life in certain ways, so it wouldn’t be as difficult as I thought to portray my creativity.

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After having more of an understanding of creativity and the importance of it, we were able to unpack more complicated ideas around creativity. Moving into the middle of this semester, we kept building on these ideas and dove even deeper into more theoretical models of creativity, while still practicing and reflecting on our own creativity. In February, we discussed Csikszentmihalyi's 5 Stages of the Creative Process Model. These 5 stages, Preparation, Incubation, Insight, Evaluation and Elaboration, are a very helpful step by step explanation of how the creative process typically works, without us even going through them step by step. I think during this video, I realized that creativity really is easier than we think, because it is a complicated 5 step process that usually happens subconsciously, without us even knowing. I enjoyed learning about the steps of the creative process because I was constantly relating it to the art projects we were doing in class and thinking about how I’ve used these steps without even thinking about them. We learned about the Four C Model of Creativity, which outlines that there are different dimensions of creativity, and we are able to use all of them in different ways. The four C’s are Mini-C, Little-C, Pro-C, and Big-C, and can all be used in different contexts. This was very helpful to learn because it categorized the types of creativity, which is important to make the idea of creativity a lot less overwhelming. I resonated with this concept the most out of all the models of creativity, because it helped me think about my own creative process, and how these can be categorized into each of these categories. At the beginning of March, we ventured into talking about Glaveanu’s 5 A Framework of Creativity. This model opened my eyes to how creativity really works in a holistic sense, because it was the first model that we learned about that included sociocultural psychology, cognition, and ecological psychology concepts. This allows me to realize how creative acts can emerge from social, symbolic, self, and temporal relations. Learning about the multiple models fo creativity gave me a much better understanding of creativity in my own life, and it was able to paint a holistic picture of how creativity works and how it can be different for everyone. The fact that so many different models exist, each from different people, made me realize that creativity can look different through everyone’s eyes.

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Evolution of my Understanding of Creativity!

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Evolution of my Understanding of Creativity!

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My understanding of creativity had evolved immensely since this time in the semester. Through the lectures, TED talks, readings, and the experiences we explored this semester, I have realized that creativity Is much more than I thought it was at the beginning. I thought creativity was just forms of artwork. Now I understand that there are no rules with creativity and it can look different to everyone. There are so many different models and processes of creativity, which shows that creativity is a subjective idea, because it can be different for everyone, and mean different things for everyone. After interacting with all the models of creativity that we have experienced during this semester, I would say my own creative process most aligns with the four C model of creativity, but it also has aspects of all the different models, which is so interesting. To me, creativity is an everyday thing, since I am not an artist, but I find my creativity within things like schoolwork, organizing my room, making new recipes, trying new things in the gym, and imagining my future life. I love that this class and these concepts we learned about were able to help me come to this conclusion!

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Stretching my Creative Muscles Throughout the Semester, and Getting More Comfortable with Creative Risks! February 11, 2024 

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Stretching my Creative Muscles Throughout the Semester, and Getting More Comfortable with Creative Risks! February 11, 2024 

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Simultaneously, as I was expanding my knowledge of creativity and the models and processes that go along with it, I was doing art projects each week and putting my knowledge of creativity to the test. I have definitely stretched my creative muscles more this semester than I have any semester before this, because each week we had a new art project to complete. I favorite art projects ended up being the ones where were able to be the most creative and choose which form of the specific assignment we were going to complete. The last few weeks of the semester, I really enjoyed being able to use my creativity and put my own spin on some of the art projects. I took a lot of risks, especially because I am not and have never been good at art and Creativity, so even completing the assignments at the start was taking a risk. As the semester went on, I definitely got more comfortable with art and I began to grow my creativity as the time went on, always taking more risks with color choices and style. I was way more confident about my creative potential and I was able to have hope about getting better and better at these art projects as the semester went on. My favorite pieces were my last 2 projects, the neurographica and the zentangle! Reflecting on all of the artwork, I am very glad I was able to take this class and become more comfortable with making artwork like this, and I can even see myself doing this for fun after this course ends, because it was a great way to relieve stress and let my mind wander for a little bit.

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My Favorite Zentangle

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When reflecting on my time this semester, one thing I can confidently say is that I enjoyed the messages that went along with the lectures, TED talks, and readings. One of the TED talks that I enjoyed the most was the TED talk by Emily Esfahani Smith, “There’s more to life than being happy”. Her TED talk was very inspirational to me and gave me such a great perspective on life. In her TED talk, Emily talked about how finding meaning and purpose in life can be more important than being “happy”, because fulfillment, meaning and purpose can lead to the feeling of happiness and are more permanent concepts. She dove deeper into these concepts and told the audience that there are 4 pillars of Meaning: belonging, purpose, transcendence, and storytelling. These pillars are the reason seeking purpose and meaning is so important, because it cultivates fulfillment and leads to more meaningful lives, creating more permanent feelings than happiness.

In order to find meaning and fullness, I think harnessing your own version of creativity is important, because with creativity, one is able to create their own life of meaning, purpose and positive impact, in a way that makes sense to themselves. I loved the message of this TED talk, because I was able to reflect on the ideas and relate it to my own life. I agree with her that the feeling of fulfillment and purpose is important to my own happiness, and it opened my eyes to the fact that I need to focus on these things in my own life journey. This video made me realize that creativity is much more apparent in every aspect of life than I previously thought, because it plays an important role in the future, navigating challenges, relationships and contributions to community. Being creative in life in this aspect is different than being creative in artwork and school, but it is just as important, and might even play a bigger role.

Relating back to the book we read throughout this semester, the Runaway Series, by Eagleman and Brandt, without creativity and adjustment, there is no way we would be able to advance as a society and as individuals. Creativity is a huge part of life and it’s important, especially to my future.

I felt that the messages of most of the TED talks, lectures and readings were very inspirational and amazing topics that were very helpful for me and even helped me in my personal life, as well as throughout the class.

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My Favorite Neurographica

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Self-Reflection Lead to a Subconscious Creative Metacognition 

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Self-Reflection Lead to a Subconscious Creative Metacognition 

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Another aspect of this class that was emphasized every week throughout the semester was reflection. Practicing reflection on my creative process throughout the weekly responses and write ups for art projects contributed to my own creativity and helped me build up my skills and reflect on what could be better and what could be worse each week. These reflections gave me an idea about my creative strengths, and areas that I could work on for the next week. Repetition of reflection during this semester built up my creative metacognition because I was knowledgable about strategies for how to be creative in each context, I was recognizing my strengths and weaknesses when it came to creativity, and I was self-reflecting and self-monitoring, which lead to higher success. I think it was very beneficial to have weekly responses, because it allowed for further development of strengths and it outlined the things needed to be worked on going forward.

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Things Gained from this Journey are More than Just a Class...   

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Things Gained from this Journey are More than Just a Class...   

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This semester, I was able to create wonderful works of art, participate in lots of self-reflection, interact with classmates, and learn more about creativity and how it impacts an individual’s life on a daily basis. The main thing I gained this semester was insight about my own creative thinking and how it can improve my life and help me succeed in my future, not just art projects for this class. It is definitely a valuable lesson that I will be carrying with my much longer than just until this course is over, and that I am thankful for.