What stirs your creative soul?

While walking through the MoMA’s painting and sculptural galleries is a visceral experience for me, it’s not so much for my seven-year-old—especially when she has an entirely different idea of how we should be spending a Saturday morning. 

 

A source of inspiration for my effort to nurture my child’s creative development was seeing Julie Taymor speak about her artistic process at the Rubin Museum of Art’s 2008 Brainwave Festival.  For those who aren’t familiar with her, Julie Taymor is a visionary director of film (Frida, Across the Universe) theater (The Lion King, Spiderman) and opera (The Magic Flute), lauded for her kaleidoscopic fusion of music, word and image.  The Brainwave Festival, now in its sixth year, pairs prominent scientists with equally important artists and educators.  I attended a discussion in which Julie Taymor discussed her creative process with neuroscientists Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D., and Sam Wang, Ph.D., authors of the book, Welcome to Your Brain.

Taymor made a lasting impression on me when she spoke about continuously thrusting herself into circumstances outside her typical environment through travel, and how those situations continue to influence her artistic vision today. Art and travel have always fueled my sense of wonderment and creative soul, but it hadn’t occurred to me that exposing my daughter to diverse experiences from an early age (at the time, she was 4) could help shape her creativity.  Since then, I’ve made a conscious effort to expose my daughter to more culturally diverse experiences.  Hearing Sam Wang speak about the importance of active engagement being a vital part of a child’s cognitive growth offered further motivation.

I recently watched the symposium again online.  It is a bit esoteric at times, but it’s definitely worth seeing.  Meanwhile, I revisited MoMA with my daughter in tow and renewed hope to help her connect in her own way with art.  More about that to follow…