{"id":31676,"date":"2023-03-07T20:51:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T04:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31676"},"modified":"2023-03-13T08:58:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T15:58:25","slug":"creative-kleptomania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/creative-kleptomania\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Kleptomania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay. . . confession time everyone. When you read the title, <\/span>Steal Like an Artist,<\/span><\/i> did the word \u201csteal\u201d entice you to read more?\u00a0 Or for a quick minute did you wonder if you were being led on a path to breaking a commandment? Confession, I wanted to read more. The book convinced me that being a creative kleptomaniac isn\u2019t so bad after all. . . well, at least the kind of theft that honors and credits the artist for the transformed remix of their brilliance. \u00a0 Other features of the book that drew me in were the cover, font, length, black\/white contrast, pictures and all of the creative features that the book contained.\u00a0 Author Austin Kleon included ten principles that give readers tips for engaging their creative artistic side.\u00a0 Readers may experience feelings of liberation as they consider tips like \u201cthe genealogy of ideas\u201d or \u201cimitation is not flattery.\u201d\u00a0 Here are a few of my favorites in Kleon\u2019s top ten.<\/span><\/p>\n

#1 – The Genealogy of Ideas<\/b><\/p>\n

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas. [1]\u00a0 In Biblical words, \u201c<\/span>What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.\u201d (Ecclesiastes 1:9) [2] <\/span>\u00a0In a TED talk, Austin Kleon shares about the genealogy of ideas as he talks about the creation of his collection of poems in his book <\/span>Newspaper Blackout. <\/span><\/i>[3] (He also shares about the process when we refers to tip #4 Use Your Hands Again). Kleon took a marker and started blacking out words that popped out to him.\u00a0 Then he started connecting those words into phrases and funny sayings. In the talk, Kleon connected his technique to the British artist, Tom Philips, who left words floating in pieces of art.\u00a0 I learned that Tom Philipps\u2019 40 year project is called \u201cThe Humument\u201d. [4]\u00a0 In the talk, Kleon goes on to show the genealogy of ideas behind this blackout technique, tracing it back to the 1760s to a neighbor of Benjamin Franklin, named Caleb Whitford.\u00a0 <\/span>Nothing is completely original.<\/b> Art is influenced by the art that came before it.\u00a0 Tracking the inspiration of generations of artists is fascinating to me.\u00a0 I can\u2019t help but ponder the delight the Creator of the Universe must have in the created, made in his own image, who likewise, create.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \"\"<\/a>
\n#2 – Imitation is Not Flattery<\/b><\/p>\n

Kleon explains imitation as copying, but emulation is when\u201d imitation goes one step further, breaking through into your own thing.\u201d[5]\u00a0 When I think about this concept of emulation, <\/span>the idea of going a step further to surpass a person or achievement, I think about engaging in a process of apprenticeship.\u00a0 To emulate a person, I study them.\u00a0 I spend time learning alongside them.\u00a0 I think back to my previous blog <\/span>post on the book <\/span>Leadersmithing<\/span><\/i> by Eve Poole. . . \u201cA<\/span>s I study the life of Jesus, I see so much of his leadership style that I desire to see developed in me.\u00a0 Jesus was a \u201ccome alongside of\u201d kind of leader.\u00a0 We see this in the way he led the disciples and \u201cleader-smithed\u201d them.\u00a0 He ate with them, went fishing with them, walked with them, healed them, cried with them, prayed with them. . . He did life WITH them. The disciples apprenticed at the feet of the master<\/span>.\u00a0 Transformation happens as we apprentice with Jesus and emulate Jesus. <\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/b>Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma\u201d. (Ephesians 5:1-2).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

#3 – Step Away from the Screen<\/b><\/p>\n

I find this tip to be the most challenging, yet liberating, in some respects.\u00a0 Challenging because most of life involves a screen.\u00a0 Much of life as we know it in 2023 involves checking a screen for the weather, time, research, correspondence, phone calls, recipes, photos, music and more.\u00a0 When I am creating professionally, it most likely involves a screen. Kleon encourages readers to step away from the screen.\u00a0 He states, \u201cWhile I love my computer, I think computers have robbed us of the feeling that we\u2019re actually making things\u201d. [6] The simple presence of digital anything near my analog space can distract me from my original intent or creative idea. While I do not have two desks, as Kleon suggests, I have analog spaces and digital spaces.\u00a0 My analog space looks more like an outdoor space with my pouch of colorful fountain pens and moleskines without lines or an indoor space with my journal and pens in my leather chair. \u00a0 The reminder to step away from the screen is freeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion, I found Austin Kleon\u2019s book to be an engaging and enjoyable read that challenged some of my thinking around being original, copying other artists and using tools that are most engaging in the process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] Austin Kleon, <\/span>Steal Like an Artist<\/span><\/i>, (New York:\u00a0 Workman Publishing Company, 2022), 7.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Ecclesiastes 1:9, NIV.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/span> “Steal Like An Artist: Austin Kleon at TEDxKC”, accessed March 6, 2022, <\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oww7oB9rjgw<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0 “A Humument”, accessed March 6, 2022, <\/span>https:\/\/www.tomphillips.co.uk\/humument<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Austin Kleon, <\/span>Steal Like an Artist<\/span><\/i>, (New York:\u00a0 Workman Publishing Company, 2022), 38.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] Ibid, 53.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay. . . confession time everyone. When you read the title, Steal Like an Artist, did the word \u201csteal\u201d entice you to read more?\u00a0 Or for a quick minute did you wonder if you were being led on a path to breaking a commandment? Confession, I wanted to read more. The book convinced me that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310,1],"tags":[2489,2325],"class_list":["post-31676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp02","tag-kleon","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31676"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31805,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31676\/revisions\/31805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}