Shaun McNiff has spent 30 years exploring the process of creativity with groups — first with art therapy and therapeutic community experiments in 1970 and continuing with studio retreats that he leads today. Although we still tend to think of the artist as one who needs solitude to create his or her works of art, there is much to be said about creating with others. McNiff states: "Creativity is a physical and spiritual energy that spreads to every corner of life, seeking new experiences to be transformed. It is available to all of us at every moment. Everyone has it. Every person is a creator. The difference lies in those who have the desire to cultivate the gift and who choose to look at the world as a creative opportunity."
This handy book can be seen as a passport into creating with others. There are chapters on getting outside yourself, flow and spontaneity, the integrating process of the imagination, positive attitude and making the best of a bad situation, criticism, flying sparks that come in relationships with people and places, what leaders can and cannot do, and creating from the hard places. McNiff is not only a master of theory but a gifted practitioner filled with exercises to help launch your creative activities with others. And there are plenty of interesting illustrative stories. We love this one:
"I remember John Cage in a lecture/performance at Lesley University saying something like this: 'If you are bored with something after two minutes, keep doing it for four minutes. If you stay bored, do it for eight, then sixteen minutes. If you are still bored, press on to thirty-two minutes, and at that point you might begin to find it fascinating.'
"Cage's illustration suggests that the mental switch is not necessarily an act of will or intention. It is closer to letting go, to getting beyond mental resistance and judgment. The breakthrough happens when we surrender to doing the activity for its own sake, no matter what it might be. The creative slipstream requires complete involvement in the immediate environment and attention to the present moment. Such immersion in a given context will always transport us to new places shaped by the fusion of the participating forces."
As always, McNiff is an avid cheerleader for the imagination.
