CREATIVITY A journey to explore ….
Meetali Gupta
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My first and foremost gratitude is to my mentor Sophie who has supported and guided me in the process . I am grateful to Pratyusha , Eesha , Bhavyo , Francoise , Manas,Yamini , Gijs Spoor , Ar.Mona , Ar. Rajat Ray, Meenal , Divya , Mitia , Ar. Lalit , Johnny for their contribution to the research and my journey. The effort would be incomplete without thanking my parents who understand and support me in all my endeavors .
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GLIMPSES
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INTRODUCTION
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ANALYSIS
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STORIES
Of people’s definition of creativity
Of project
Of interviews and secondary research
Of people interviewed
INDEX
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GLIMPSES STORIES
“A child doesn't know if she is losing herself in the ways of the society and eventually shifts to adjustments. Adjusting to the mundane is so much a part of you that you don't realise that you are losing yourself.“ – Pratyusha , Architect “ Creativity is the ability to transform and transcend the present in a positive way. A leap forward at a moment or through durations longer, with production of a distinct sense of joy, lasting till further transcended.” -Rajat Ray , Architect “ Creativity is a flame that and professor needs fanning, the less you use it , the smaller it gets.” - Divya , Architect
"Had I been in the conventional schooling system , I would not be ME.“ - Bhavyo , a student in Last school, Auroville "We are too structured today in our lives and that is why we are running towards creativity ; forgetting what structure does for us. Structure too can be applied in creative ways.“ - Yamini , Psychologist
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INTRODUCTION
"Creativity" is a word which is understood differently by different people. It is generally used to define a person's work or personality. The following research is an attempt to see what this word means to different people in an environment like Auroville and to explore the process and outcome of the same. AIM
: To understand the meaning of creativity and its link to happiness.
OBJECTIVES : 1. Explore the essence of creativity as a process and outcome. 2. To see if people recognize "creativity" as an innate ability they possess. 3. To understand the external environment in which creativity is less and at its peak for a person. 4. To explore ways by which "creativity" can be enhanced and revived. HYPOTHESIS : "Creativity" is an innate ability in all human beings which can be stifled and enhanced by external forces. NEED : The educational system in today's world is structured to an extent where students are taught what to think. Everyone is expected to excel in whatever field they choose. This points towards a need to understand "creativity " deeply inorder to help us to include it as an important part of our educational system. Shifting from "what to think?" to the process of developing "How to think?" is important and for this the factors that could help us revive the creative ability in students needs maximum attention. With the challenges the world faces in today's times we can't afford to kill the future generations' creative ability . SCOPE : The word "creativity " will be explored in the environment of Auroville with a focus on the education system. METHODOLOGY : 1. Interviewing people of diverse professions and understanding what "creativity" means to them. 2. Exploring the parts of their lives when they think they were "creatively " active. 3. To know what makes them happy and see if it has any connection to creativity. 4. To understand if creativity was an uncertain process of high and low points for them. 5. To look for parts of their journey when they thought their creativity was lost and the parts when it was at its peak. 6. To link their educational brought up with their definition / understanding of creativity and life journey and observing where did happiness fit in the scenario.
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ANALYSIS
EXPLORING "CREATIVITY“ The whole process of conducting this research was itself a creative one. It might appear to be subjective to say this ,and that is the whole point. "Creativity" is an ability which allows us to look at the same situation / problem differently each time. While conducting this exploration on creativity , there were many hidden meanings to what students and professionals said about the subject. Interestingly, despite having different brought up and education there were some similarities and differences between the students in Auroville and those not schooled here. Pratyusha , an Architect by profession who is volunteering at Auro-service , Auroville defines creativity as a new way of doing things everytime. She describes it as a process in which one is independent and has a sense of belongingness to the problem, thus produces new solutions which makes one happy. On the other hand, Bhavyo, a student in Last school, Auroville doesn't believe in tagging anything as creative but says that creativity is what one has to express. It is a subject of self discovery and an ability that needs to be developed , else it dies. While Pratyusha's way of looking at the word creativity points towards the product more than the process and is directed to address larger external issues . The creativity she explores while dancing is limited to herself because of the fear of the insensitive external environment. Bhavyo takes the meaning internally by defining creativity to be a journey of exploration and expressing oneself, further linking it to an ability that needs nourishment. Yamini, who has a background in psychology and is currently working in Samsung brings another tangent of creativity being novelty and an ability to look at situations from a new perspective but doing everything differently everytime might lead to new problems and turn out to be chaotic. Despite the differences in their backgrounds and perception of creativity , the people who were interviewed did take creativity to be an ability that exists within all universally. They were not rigid in limiting it to artistic fields alone. Though the path and ways to explore it is different for everyone. Some focus on creativity as a process while others look for a creative outcome too. In both the cases the person goes through a journey of looking at problems from different lenses and sometimes arriving at new questions.
WHAT MAKES CREATIVITY COME ALIVE ? One can't neglect the fact that curiosity and imagination are important factors to allow creativity to flourish. The art of questioning and making mistakes were important to the people interviewed in order to lead them towards the creative process. The students coming from the conventional education system had little scope for making mistakes while the ones brought up in Auroville took mistakes to be a way of life."There are mistakes and there is room to correct them." Bhavyo says. In both the cases (Pratyusha’s and Bhavyo’s) , pressure from the external environment never worked to help them enhance their creativity. The possibility of having a space to make mistakes reduces stress and boosts confidence , productivity and creativity. HAPPINESS AND CREATIVITY The process of doing things differently or doing new things along with the ability to do them, gave people self confidence. This in turn made them happy. Many find happiness to be a way of life, measuring their abilities and capacities and going beyond what they think they can do. It is important to understand that enjoying the creative process is also an ability that comes when one is doing what one wants to do. As in the case of Pratyusha, the process of dancing was joyful but that of sketching though having a creative outcome was not. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND CREATIVITY Most of the people did relate to the external environment as being the people they were surrounded by. Eesha stopped going to school as she didn't like being talked down to . Homeschooling provided her with an all new environment that gave her the liberty to explore her creative abilities. For Yamini , working in a group to find new solutions and addressing new problems was a creative process. Different people at different points of their lives require different external environment and thus to generalise it would not justify the situation. However, factors like being productive , encouragement provided by people around and a format to look back at one's progress could stimulate creativity.
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS IN AUROVILLE Auroville stands for unending education. It has proven itself to be a laboratory of creative thinking. In such an environment one of the experiment done with the students in primary schools was "the sandbox". "The sandplay , also called the world game is based on the concept of encouraging spontaneity, trust in oneself and being in the flow of the moment. There are no mistakes and no experience is required. There is nothing to accomplish, no place to reach. Nothing is wrong with the children. They are fine as they are and we aren't trying to fix anything but to let them unfold. " - Glimpses of wonder , Aikya The objects for the game are the ones belonging to our world realistic objects , cultural objects, supernatural imaginary beings, artificial objects, symbols, natural materials . In this simple play children express themselves, imagine a new world , learn to concentrate and at the same time develop the creative instinct.
Children experimenting with sand play Picture credits - Glimpses of wonder , Aikya Johnny’s Unschooling Meeting Johnny was yet another experience . He dropped out of Architecture and came to Auroville . In the 70’s he started a farm named “fertile”. As life progressed he had to look for schooling options for his kids. “ I was very down on conventional education , but Jonas (his kid) said you have to get me prepared for Kodai ( Kodaikanal International school).” – little by little by Heidi Watts
Johnny believed in learning by doing. Slowly many children came to his place to learn. This was no official schooling. He believed in learning which is self initiated , self directed , leads from the known to the unknown , is it’s own motivation and yields multiple rewards as felt by the mind and the heart of the learner. He found that being intensely serious but unhurried and playful are essential elements of creativity and for the development of independent thinkers and doers. Teaching kids by going with them on a camp night was teaching in action , which this method of unschooling followed.
TLC – The learning community Picture credits - Stanley TLC (The Learning Community) TLC is a school for kids from 7- 14 years of age. Here learning is offered to students by doing things. Each child chooses what he wishes to do. Even cooking classes are a source of teaching the children about chemistry concepts. They follow an integrated technique of teaching to help the child connect different subjects and know his interest. The most important feature of such a programme is that even the teacher learns with the students because it is his responsibility to keep the child’s interest alive and make the child believe that all his imagination can be made into a reality and everything is possible. Last school and Future school After the basic schooling , a child can opt to go to Last school. During the first year , he has to take all subjects to build a foundation . Later , the child chooses his subjects of interest . It is interesting to note that despite having no exams , certificates and degree , each child here is occupied to make himself better and explore his own potential. Children here learn because they want to and not because they have to. Students who wish to go outside , take classes in Future school which helps them to clear their A and O level exams .Some students don’t enter Future school with a plan to go outside but just to test themselves or learn further. Many kids manage attending both the schools .( Last school and Future school )
Schools in Auroville , unlike the conventional schools in India believe that each child is unique and learning is never ending. The teacher solves the problem with the students and is as much a part of the process as the student is. Helping the student to realise his true calling and focusing on what he needs and wants puts these schools at a different level. The only race the child is asked to run is with himself . Creativity thus comes in many different forms and the only thing needed then is to have an eye to look at it from a fresh perspective. Today’s time is of redefining everything that exists and to leave “creativity” behind would hamper progress.
PUTTING THINGS TOGETHER There are certain points which could be highlighted from the study conducted. Creativity as a process was admired by the students interviewed. They did recognise that creativity is an innate ability. Though some believed that it needs to be worked upon to keep it alive. “ A creative outcome ” was generally seen by them to judge other people’s work while some didn’t wish to label the outcome at all. The external environment can’t be generalised as all of them required different aspects to produce something creative. However, in the process having a safe space with encouraging people and a room to make mistakes without restrictions , judgements and boundaries along with an open mindedness of the guide to listen to their imagination and approach did help. It seemed that learning by experience brought joy to them and in order to enhance their creativity a conscious effort to be productive along with a format to measure their progress could help . ( followed in schools of Auroville , source – Francoise , Teacher Trainer in Auroville
“ No matter what your age is , Creativity is there inside you and you can enhance it . Nothing is impossible .” - Francoise
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STORIES Pratyusha , an Architect by profession who is volunteering at Auro -service , Auroville has a liking for dancing and she does it for herself . She says that having no limits and restrictions makes dancing a flow which produces happiness. On the other hand she lost her willingness to sing at an early age because the people around her were not supportive and encouraging. With time , she let go of the fear of what people say and focused on self development and enhancing her creative side. She didn't like the pressure to perform well in the system she was brought up in. There was no room to make mistakes and she never had a chance to learn from experience. The exposure was limited and there were always limitations to possibilities. The fear of asking questions developed in her. Tired of running to achieve and compete she finally had to take a gap year to explore herself .
Bhavyo ,a student in Last school, Auroville says that if he isn't satisfied with his performance in some aspects , he makes an effort to go deep into it and the school gives him the liberty to do so. He believes "everything is possible" and doesn't believe in using "creative" as a tag for a person or profession. According to him every subject or activity has a scope to carve your niche and express yourself creatively. He knows that he is a slow learner who loses concentration and needs guidance. For him , schools in Auroville have understood this and helped him to improve his skills. He doesn't work well under pressure and thus follows a schedule that matches his capabilities. For him a conversation between a student and teacher works well rather than a directing approach. Asking questions which lead to other questions is a game he plays and in the process he discovers himself more. He does wish to go out of Auroville to study and for exposure but not to attain a degree or certificate.
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Yamini has a background in psychology and is currently working in Samsung. She says that creativity is important to adapt to change and a child has limited access and knowledge. The external environment thus guides the child. For her the overload of information kills curiosity. She believes that creativity does give happiness but happiness is shallow whereas creativity runs deep. “When you look at something beautiful it touches something inside which is deep , far deeper than happiness.”
Eesha ,a student who is homeschooled since 6 years of age. “It was very early that my parents realised that the conventional schooling was not working for me. That is when they decided that homeschooling could be explored. ” She defines creativity as an ability to express yourself and not paying attention to what other people say. Being homeschooled , she had an opportunity to go deep into things she liked and wanted to do. She interacts with children of all age groups - younger and elder to her. The main reason for her to leave school was that she didn't like being talked down to. She doesn't like to follow other people's answers but follow her own imagination to solve the problems. She understands that for kids appreciation is important as was for her.
“Creativity is not a word. It is a book that has pages left blank. Let’s write the story….”
- Author