The Context
We create art, but also explore new ways of being an artist. To search for new methods to circulate our views and extend our sentiments.
The hard part is, we have to trust our audience, believing that if people really do value our work and appreciate us as creators, they will follow us down whatever new corridor we travel.
Dylan, for example, recorded over forty studio albums, but he also published six books of painting and drawing. According to his biography, visual arts always played a significant role in his worldview. Drawing and painting served as an outlet for his huge creative energy. And once he finally began to use those mediums to reveal yet another dimension of his poetic vision, his audience responded to his extraordinary talent and treasured the work.
Dylan’s paintings were shown in dozens of galleries and exhibitions around the world. And visual arts became one more shelf in his creative room. Great lesson in avoiding limiting yourself to one vision of your creative capabilities.
The Tool
Mediuming
MEDIUMING -- Consciously and proactively mixing up your creative vehicles
Keep asking the question, okay, this is a new medium, what can we do with it? Mcluhan famously wrote that a medium is any extension of man that amplifies his senses and faculties to determine what he is. Meaning, the medium is more than merely the instrument by which something is conveyed.
The medium is that which gives expression to our sense of life and allows us to achieve and objective definition of our cherished values.
Sound grandiose and pretentious? It is That’s the whole point. Because once we broaden our definition of what the word medium means, it enables a change in the relative size of what we think is our creative territory. Mcluhan was right when he wrote that every major technology changes the balance of the senses.
The Rest
Always ask how your work could suggest new possibilities for what the medium could become.
Remember, each of us can choose how our technology will change us. May we be fearless in pursuing various vehicles to express our cherished values.
Are you in a space where you can reevaluate your relationship with technology?
The Benefits
Prevent boredom, disengagement and burnout
Unlock multiple visions of your innovating capabilities
Add new skills that equip you to become a more valuable on a team
Discover new forms of media and technology circulate your views and extend your sentiments