This podcast is 26:49.

This week’s guest: Pat B. Allen, author, artist, art therapist & teacher

Website: patballen.com
Upcoming Workshop: “Art Therapy and Nature” at the Cape Cod Institute
Upcoming Training: Open Studio Process in Evanston, IL, July 30-Aug 1, the method of accessing creativity that Pat teaches. Special Offer! If anyone sign up for the training and mentions the podcast, they will receive a copy of my book, Art is a Spiritual Path for free!

Books:

• Art Is a Way of Knowing
• Art Is a Spiritual Path

Pat B. Allen, Ph.D., A.T.R., is an author, artist, art therapist, and teacher who connects to the Creative Source through art, writing, and working in her garden. Her two books – Art Is a Way of Knowing (Shambhala 1995) and Art Is a Spiritual Path (Shambhala 2005) – explore the borders between art, psychology, spirituality, and social action. Author of numerous professional articles and several films, Dr. Allen lectures and delivers workshops throughout the country using the Open Studio Process which she has developed. Her artwork has been exhibited in a wide variety of juried and invited exhibits. She is an adjunct associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a member of the visiting faculty of the Expressive Arts Institute of Prescott College in Arizona. Her recent work has been in the area of permaculture design and she is working to integrate body based learning about ecological issues using the Open Studio Process of intention, art making and witness in natural settings.

Show Notes…

If you liked this, you’ll probably like…

• Your Creative Spark: An inspiration e-power pack with 3 hours of creative interviews, their transcripts and great bonuses to boot!

Subscribe to Creative Living with Jamie…

• You can subscribe to Creative Living with Jamie here and also on iTunes here (Note: this link will ask to access your iTunes and then take you to the podcast. You can also simply open iTunes and search for “Creative Living with Jamie)

From time to time I love to feature the clients and community here at Jamie Ridler Studios. A while back Angie wrote to me about the major transformation that’s gone on her life – and how it was inspired by Your Creative Spark! I’ll be honest – I still get giddy and teary-eyed when I think about what Angie’s doing. I hope she inspires you to find the courage to step into your dreams, whatever age and stage you’re at.  And by the way, in this month’s newsletter I shared my thoughts on age rebellion – so if this stirs you, please sign up and have a read!

Featured Your Creative Spark Client: Angie Fletchall

Angie’s website: Thalo Blue Sky

What are you creating in the world?

• I am creating the life of my dreams, and through that process, re-creating my own vision of myself as a powerful, unstoppable, creative dynamo!
• I am creating paintings and books that make people smile.
• Right now, though, I am re-creating myself from office cubicle dweller to FULL TIME ART STUDENT!  Mmmmhmmmm!!

How did Your Creative Spark help?

I think it’s pretty impossible to overestimate just how instrumental this collection of interviews has been to the real, life-changing decisions I have made in the last couple of weeks.

For a little background, let me just say that my parents are both accountants.  It’s really a miracle that I started painting at all.  Just last October, my mom and grandma sat me down to tell me that they were worried I was getting too interested in art.  I’m 35 and have been supporting myself full time since the age of 23, and still, they wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to do anything stupid.  Ugh, it’s like I’ve been living in this box of “You can’t, you can’t, you can’t.”   I have been trying with all my might to break free of this box.

Having “Your Creative Spark” on my ipod is like having a tribe of instantly accessible creative big sisters who are shouting “You can!  You can!!  Do it!  Do it!”  I feel like I am not alone, like they believe in me even without having met me.  They already know I can do it, whatever “it” happens to be.  I feel soaked in and surrounded by possibility.

Another thing I love about these interviews is that each woman is in a different stage in her creative career, which makes the idea of starting less intimidating.  So what I learned is that creating my own creative life does not require one single giant step where I either a) leap out into chaos and ramen noodles or b) wait for the exact right perfect moment where everything is perfectly worked out.  It is a collection of small movements in the direction of what calls to me.  It suddenly becomes a journey instead of a waiting game.

By the third listen through, including all the “Creative Living” podcasts, it became less about the actual words they were speaking, and more about the collective energy and momentum of amazing women being creative in the world.  It kind of all just SHIFTED for me.

When I began listening to these interviews, I hadn’t even really let myself begin to dream about art school.  It seemed that remote and completely impossible, not to mention way too late!   Actually, I don’t think I even knew that was my dream.  Thinking about Christine Claire Reed talking about going back to dancing at 40 opened me up to something.

A couple of weeks later now, and something I thought could NEVER happen is not only happening, but actually a done deal.  I’ve spoken to my boss and the president at my company, and they are totally on board with me keeping my job and reducing my hours.  I’ve completed my application to the university and my transcripts are being transferred.  I started a Drawing 101 class at the local community college for transferable credit.  I have 8 months to save and to move to a cheaper living space.  I will be a full time art student at Arizona State University starting Fall 2010.  Hooray!!!

Now I’m listening to the Gremlin episode with Andrea Scher over and over as my fears start to rise up.  “Oh my god, what have you done???” my little voices say.  And now I’m getting scared about my drawing class and taking comfort in Laini Taylor’s experience that you really CAN learn to draw!   I could really go on and on…and on!

What have you learned about yourself?

• I learned that what I am creating is exactly perfect just the way it is, because it comes from my heart.
• I learned that there is room for me at the creative table and that I bring my own unique self and therefore I add something valuable to the pot.

What would you like to celebrate?

• I want to celebrate my awesome self!  HA!  Being able to make this happen has totally changed my idea of who I think I am.  Suddenly I am someone who can make her dreams come true!  It blows my mind.
• I want to celebrate that even though I didn’t know what I was preparing for, I have been preparing for this all along:  I spent two and a half years paying off my credit card debt, and I started seeing a counselor, because I knew I’d need help if I wanted to make major changes in my life.  I am ready for this!
• And most of all I want to celebrate Jamie and these amazing women, a community where I KNOW dreams are coming true every day.  Words cannot express how grateful I am to have found you all.

And I’ll re-quote Laini quoting this Chinese proverb:  The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.  The second best time is now.

When I put together Your Creative Spark, it was truly my hope that it would inspire people, that it would touch their hearts and change their lives. Angie’s story fills my heart with joy. I hope Your Creative Spark will touch you too.

Maybe you know about the magic of my friend McCabe. She runs art empowerment camps for girls. Imagine! And she’s spreading the magic by teaching others to become Mermaid Warriors like her, ready to spread the art love, to help girls everywhere discover and experience the joy and power of  expressing who they are. If you want to be a part of this movement, if this video touched your heart, become a Mermaid Warrior. You don’t have to know what to do. The class will guide you. If you feel the warriors call, say yes and step in. Spread the magic. Spread the love.

For more information about the class and to sign up, go here.

Listen to my interview with McCabe, here.

You can find out more about The Sketchbook Project here.
You can see an awesome picture of Art House receiving all of these journals here.

The Art House has some wonderful projects you might be interested in, including A Million Little Pictures.

This week’s podcast is 22:58

This week’s guest: Caroline Benforado, illustrator and storyteller

Website: Caroline’s Crayons

From Caroline…

I grew up in a rather bohemian household in the 1960s. Both parents were atheists, believing that “man is the measure of all things.”  So they were both incredibly creative.  My dad drew and painted and dabbled. He loved expressive art.  My mom sketched also, then she did really serious photography.  At the end of her life she wrote and published short stories.  Creativity become part of me around the age of 14.  I apprenticed with a pastry chef where we played with form and color. That artistry pulled itself into letters, dinners, cards, term papers, birthday wrappings, and more.  I started to blog in 2004.  Immediately my creativity rushed into the arms of Melba and the many bloggers I met through her.  My graduate work in literature definitely plays out in my narratives.  I studied late Medieval narratives which are very concise. Since then I have made great strides in my illustration.  My real reason for blogging my stories is to make myself happy.  But I wouldn’t mind being published, so I’m in the process of contacting agents now. Mostly, I hope to learn more and more about illustrating in the coming year.

Show Notes…

• In the intro, I mentioned The Bigger Game.
• I mentioned I’m learning to crochet.
• Caroline refers to Maya Angelou, the poet.

If you liked this, you’ll probably like…

• Caroline shared her fabulous illustrated story The Orange that Saved the Day as a guest post here.
• Caroline says that if she was an artist, she would be http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/(but of course, we’re all thinking it, she is an artist!)
• Your Creative Spark, inspiring interviews with 12 Highly Creative Bloggers, including Melba, who Caroline mentioned in her bio.

Subscribe to Creative Living with Jamie…

• You can subscribe to Creative Living with Jamie here and also on iTunes here (Note: this link will ask to access your iTunes and then take you to the podcast. You can also simply open iTunes and search for “Creative Living with Jamie)

Ages ago I saw this video, couldn’t wait to share it and then somehow lost all reference to it! This week it arrived like a bird just gliding in. It must be the right time to share. Enjoy.

Here’s Tanya Davis’ official website.
You can hear more of your music here.

I have never seen anything like this. What an amazing creative work that lives for a moment and touches your heart – even when we don’t speak the same language.