Creative Life Sampler

I'm excited to share the news that my work, (& I) are featured in the "Latest Stories" section on the Create Whimsy website,  https://createwhimsy.com/ . It was such a joy to collaborate with Create Whimsy founder, Lynn Woll on this project. She had great, thought provoking questions for my interview!  It was especially meaningful to be asked about my personal philosophy on my work and to promote handwork in the realm of quilting. (It's not every day someone asks you for the best advice you've ever gotten!) Check it out with this link: https://createwhimsy.com/projects/spotlight-lauren-klementz-harte-modern-quilt-artist/   But don't stop there! You'll want to explore this resource. Create Whimsey is a cool website that gives a platform to artisans in many different mediums and also has tutorials, project ideas, free quilt patterns, just so much for the person who loves to be creative! Many thanks to Create Whimsy for the opportunity to contribute to th...

Obstacles and Collaborating   (5 of 5) Is there anything that you personally find an obstacle to your creativity? And how do you overcome them?( Launa is quoted in  blue , Bill in  red .) The biggest obstacle to creativity is the thought that you have to create something that is good. It’s a very hard trap to resist. Instead of focusing on your creativity and coming up with an interesting groove, lyric, etc., you end up focusing on “I need to create a really great song that we can learn, put on an album and perform.” That doesn’t work. It’s important to make good decisions about which songs should advance and become full arrangements for a recording, but that’s the tail end of the process. In my case, I need to write a lot of bad songs to get some that will develop into what I hope will be good songs.  I think that’s true no matter what you’re creating. When I was illustrating, I would do lots of little sketches called “thumbnails” before choosing which one...

Individual Expression (4 of 5) So, to you, Miles of Music means...? (Launa is quoted in blue , Bill in red .) Well, great creative environments like Miles to Music enable people to just get started, and then they learn to strengthen whatever they produce, through a process that everyone can apply.   How about your vocations… Launa how has teaching influenced the way you create? Being surrounded by middle school students every day is a great reminder of the value of effort,... and the value of failure. Middle school students — as awkwardly unfinished as they tend to be — go through huge amounts of growth, in part by working hard each day just to stay afloat socially, emotionally, and academically. We tend to throw work at them that they can’t always do easily. That reminds me of how much adults have to learn from children about being confident and soldiering on in the face of uncertainty. Have you ever seen people struggle with the frustration or discouragem...

Lessons from Music Camp  (3 of 5) So you would definitely recommend Miles of Music? (Launa is quoted in blue , Bill in red .) Definitely! Our time at the camp has resulted in an enormous improvement in our songwriting, arranging and performance f or our own band, New Yeller . A big percentage of our songs were started on the island, or improved through the creative proce s s. Eventually all good things come to an end and you have to get back to the everyday life of the “real world.” Is it difficult to sustain that level of creativity when you go home?  We both have full time jobs, and we have been raising two kids for the last 20 years. There are so many priorities in our normal lives that it would be easy to say, “we don’t have time for that.” However, the process of writing, arranging, and performing music with New Yeller is so energizing that we tend to just feel inspired by that.  It sounds like this creative outlet is an important part of your ...

Music on Three Mile Island (2 of 5)  One of the paths on the island. It turned out that, before they brought their family to TMI for summer vacation, Launa and Bill attended  Miles of Music , a camp for musicians of all levels and experience which takes place on the island each June. They write and perform music together and I thought it would be interesting to share our conversation. (To make it easier to follow the give and take, Launa’s contribution is in blue and Bill’s is in red .) Tell me more about Miles of Music… This is a remarkable creative community of Americana and roots musicians who gather for a week once a year.The founders Kristin Andreasson and Laura Cortese partnered with Dinty Child, the off-season manager of Three Mile Island, to come up with this unique experience. It’s an incredible place to generate new songs, to learn new skills, and to let yourself try out new aspects of musicianship. I hear there is a waiting list for the camp, what m...

Creativity in the Classroom (3 of 3) So, you’re seeing this STEAM approach to teaching has a positive impact on your students? Yes! Another huge area in which creativity has a part is “mindfulness”. Our schools are finally addressing the fact that the single greatest predictor of personal success-- greater than socioeconomics, education or intelligence -- is the ability to regulate one's emotions. Called “equanimity” or “self-control”, this is a skill that is of utmost importance. Giving students the chance to be creative goes hand in hand with developing this self-control. Students who are given the chance to create something new gain the pride of ownership as they become actively engaged in their own learning. I've seen classes of children who come in the door full of distractions become mesmerized by the simple act of sewing a beanbag or creating a figure out of clay. Allowing that creative outlet is so important in an otherwise highly structured day.  Has this p...

Creativity in the Classroom  (2 of 3) How do you begin to present the STEAM goals to your students? Every year I have a theme, which I introduce in September. I've had “perseverance” and “collaboration” as themes. This year my theme is “creativity”. I am using the definition "to use your imagination to create something new." “Creativity” is a word we usually associate with the arts; but with math or science? …maybe not so much. How do you see creativity as relevant to these disciplines? Well, that "something new” could be a different solution to a design problem. For example, students might be tasked with finding a creative solution to cleaning up the ocean. They might then be asked to create a model of their design using recyclable objects, and then test that model in a tub of "polluted water" (water with bits of plastic bags and paper in it.) In another example, students might be tasked to come up with a creative solution for far...

Creativity in the Classroom   (1 of 3) In honor of the start of school, I thought it would be interesting to share my conversation with a teacher about creativity in the classroom. My friend, Dr. Joyce Raines, is a middle school teacher in Massachusetts who has been instrumental in establishing the S.T.E.A.M. curriculum in her school. So, Joyce, please explain the term S.T.E.A.M. The term STEAM is an acronym. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. To begin with, schools created STEM (without the A) to make up for areas in which American students were falling behind, compared to their counterparts in other countries. As a result, many technological jobs were (and still are) being filled by people from countries such as India and China. STEM education has become a hot item in high schools in this country . Wait… did you just say that STEAM is hot? (giggle) And this is a way to get students interested in learning? Yes, and now m...