think like an artist [or pioneer]

having said i'd mention a few books i've read this year i have since failed to do so - start of term and all that!

but one short, easy to read book i loved is think like an artist by will gompertz. i probably like it because i  think like an artist (at least judging by this book). i like books on creativity. but the thought that i was musing on when reading it was how similar the ways of thinking gompertz describes for artists are to pioneers. i guess it's because the gift that pioneers bring is one of seeing new ideas and possibilities. here's a quote or two where you can substitute pioneer for artist...

Artists don't seek permission... they just do it.

They rarely sit back and wait for things to happen to them - they happen to things!

To break the rules and defy all these powerful people takes enormous courage... It generally takes at least two to take on the status quo - an artist and a patron.

The future depends on us talking a different approach

Passion is the spur that makes us want to know more. It provides the impulse for the thoughtful enquiry that generates the knowledge which fires our imagination to come up with ideas. These lead to the experiments that eventually result in the production of a realised concept. That is the path that creativity takes.

you get the idea... one chapter that appealed to me at the start of a new year with a fresh intake of students was one titled all schools should be art schools which i quoted from at our induction last week (and i admit i wish i had studied art rather than maths!). i certainly think the approach would be well suited to pioneers and i hope we capture a flavour of it at cms. 

art is all about breaking rules and discovering new stuff... There is of course a paradox in the notion that students should go to school to learn to break rules but it is worth contemplating

Art school or not students need to leave education as independently minded, intellectually curious, self confident and resourceful - prepared for and excited by the future and what they might be able to contribute to it. 

Comments

[Esther Baker]

Think I'd like that book x