You're a sixth grader. The teacher has just asked you to make up a story. Any story. Any way you want. "Be imaginative," she says.
You're all grown up. You've just asked yourself to write a poem. Any sort of poem. Any way you want. "Be creative," says your inner voice.
No problem, right? Wrong.
Recently we picked up a book called Creative Expression, Creative Education (2008) by Robert Kelly and Carl Leggo, two artist educators from Canada. Ostensibly a compilation of essays on creative process by Canadian artists, musicians, writers and performers, the book also has as its subtext the idea that creativity is a primary rationale for education. Now, creativity is widely valued these days. But as Kelly and Leggo astutely point out, it is also widely misunderstood - within and without educational circles. The teacher says "be imaginative;" we tell ourselves, "be creative." But what do we mean...exactly?
Kelly and Leggo propose that we need to do more than just let the chips fall where they may. Especially in classroom practice we need to be clear and explicit about definitions, concepts and processes. "While ambiguity is important in enabling possibilities in the act of creating," they argue, "it is equally important that the vocabulary for creativity be clearly defined to enable the development of an educational culture of creativity" (14).
We need also to dispel the misconception that to be imaginative and creative means to proceed without limitations of any kind, to do whatever you want. Chances are, for most children and most adults, such an open-ended, blue-sky task is altogether unmanageable and frustrating. And besides, how do you evaluate an endeavor whose only qualification is to have no qualification except to be 'imaginative' and 'creative', whatever that may mean.
So how do we define imaginative? What does it mean to be creative? Both those questions may be considered the guiding spirits of this blog. Indeed, they are twin spirits, for it is with imagination that we internally conjure the things that we externally construct or create. In our book Sparks of Genius we examine the imagination's thinking tools. Some of these-like observing, imaging, abstracting, body thinking and playing-we've discussed here in cyberspace. Learning to use these tools purposefully goes a long way to honing your ability to imagine something that is personally original and meaningful. We've also discussed in these blog-pages some definitions, some myths, and some desiderata concerning creativity. But what we haven't discussed, yet, is that the creative imagination works best when faced with explicitly understood constraints. (1)
What we mean by constraints are any number of boundary conditions, craft requirements, aesthetic standards and self-imposed 'rules'. Taken together, these conditions, requirements, standards and rules define the 'problem' you wish to 'solve' artistically and in your own way.
Recently, one of us - Michele - became very aware of the role of constraints in learning and making 'imaginatively' and 'creatively' while taking up a new art - in this case, the writing of haiku. The first thing many people will say is that haiku are syllabic poems. In the early 20th century, haiku practice indeed included the counting of syllables, and arranging them in a 5 - 7 - 5 pattern. Contemporary practice has tended to eschew syllable counts in favor of stress counts (2 - 3 - 2) or, simply, of the fewest words and syllables possible. Haiku primers lay out additional patterns: 3 lines (usually) of minimal length, the 1st and 3rd line (usually) shorter than the 2nd; two images and two phrases (most of the time); and a multitude of relationships that may be articulated between these two parts of the poem.
Michele quickly learned there was a difference between verbalizing these constraints and constructing poems that met the basic requirements. Or rather, she found that outward constraints were rather easy to satisfy (syllable counts, for instance, or 3 lines short - long - short, or two juxtaposed phrases).
autumn tattletale
again a field mouse rustles
through the kitchen trash
(unpublished)
However, in actual practice, constraints framing inward form were much more difficult to grasp. In fact, it was not until she began to explore and define inward constraints on her own terms that she met with some success publishing her poems in haiku journals across the U.S. and Canada. The relationship between the first and second phrase was not simply one of context and observation, she slowly realized; it was, rather, one of suggestive comparison between enduring and fleeting experience, in a way that made sense to her.
fall frost
a new piece of cheese
in the mouse trap
(South by Southeast, 2009)
For the novice the difference between these two poems may be all but unrecognizable. For the adept tuned in to shared as well as personal 'rules' of the game, the difference is profound.
There's a lesson here for teachers who want their students to be ‘imaginative' and ‘creative' and for grown-ups who ask the same of themselves. It's a lot easier to make something personally original and publicly meaningful when tasks are understood as open-ended problems, with ‘rules' or constraints that help sift effective solutions from the duds.
Robert Kelly gives an example particularly relevant to the classroom. When he was in second grade, he recalls, the beginning of each week meant a new set of vocabulary words to be mastered. And the end of the week meant the writing of a story that used words from that list. Kelly loved this task. It was well defined and well-constrained. The vocabulary words would have suggested-but not dictated-certain lines of narrative. But Kelly's example doesn't end there. He remembers one week in particular, when he and some friends added an additional constraint of their own to the set task. They each decided to write the same story, but each from the point of view of a different character. Then, one after the other, they each read their stories to the class. The teacher was impressed.
And so are we. The boys not only had fun, they bumped up the creativity monitoring meter to a whole other level! Though it may seem something of a paradox, they had tightened their own personal set of requirements for the task, making it that much the easier to 'solve' the 'problem' in a way that was personally novel and effective.
As with children in the classroom, so with adults at work in the world. Having well-defined, well-constrained problems, we assert, is much more conducive to creative imagination than unrestrained blue-sky thinking. What do you think?
© 2009 Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein
(1) Note: We base much of our understanding of constraints on the recent book by psychologist Patricia D. Stokes, Creativity from Constraints, The Psychology of Breakthrough (Springer, 2006).
SOURCES:
Robert Kelly and Carl Leggo. (2008). Creative Expression, Creative Education: Creativity as Primary Rationale for Education. Calgary: Detselig Enterprises.
Chained box at http://lateralaction.com/articles/thinking-inside-the-box/ brain and
Brain in the box at http://zenfulness.com/2008/09/13/thinking-inside-the-box/
Hi There
I love the article. There is also a lovely passage in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, describing this process of increased structure promoting creativity. I must find it for you.
As a Drama teacher I have found that "still images" are a very powerful creativity generator, in situations where improvisation has proven diluted and uninspired.
At the end of lessons, I ask students to sum up their experiences in a limited number of words.
Frank Zappa is the Mothers of Invention
:)
Steve
creative constraints
Steve,
Thanks. We'd forgotten that Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance mentioned structure enhancing creativity -- probably helped form our own views many years ago!
Tell us more about how you use the "still images." Sounds like something that Michele has been doing in her dance-writing workshops. Let's share and see how other people are doing similar things!
Bob R-B
Hi R-B
Maybe Zen and the Art was more about the structure-chaos interplay than structure enhancing creativity, now I remember it ; classic/ romantic; hipsters and squares?
I use still images in Drama. We normally start with spontaneous improvisation, then "mark a moment" from it in a still private image. Add inner monologe and then add small movements.
Apollo and Dionysus
Steve
constraints as a creative sculpting agent
How thrilling to be in touch with you, as I love your work and have quoted you over the years in my classes!
While now back in the US, I worked for over 12 years in UK business, public sector and education teaching applied thinking and creativity. I worked intensively with Dr. Edward DeBono's methods, Tony Buzan's Mind Mapping and Robert Fritz's structural tension. You wouldn't believe the push-back from very smart people who had bought into the notion that creativity means 'let it all hang out', and initial resistance to learning structured tools, techniques and mental frameworks. The AHA! came when they were able to get far more productive results, even with adversarial colleagues, in much less time. What's the secret? I suspect it's contextualized focus, which allows our harnessed mental energy to pierce the veil of infinite possibility.
Two new projects I'm working on are:
-combining creativity and movement based on the chakras as part of the process of accessing our soul's expression (so I'd love to hear more about Michelle;s dance work)
- taking the analogy of Tai chi for physical discipline and applying it to mental discipline through Mind Chi, based on a new work of that name by my colleaues North and Israel (www.MindChi.com)This fits with my overall work on Mental Resilience, of which structured creative skill building is a major part.
I look forward to hearing more from you!
Imagination Through Constraint
I think the authors make a very good point and I would like to add the following comment. In contemporary art and architecture, creativity and imagination are associated with traits like successful, forward looking, intelligent, desirable. If one reads architectural reviews, creativity is highly rewarded in terms of design even if that creative expression produces sterile, hard to relate with, unfriendly buildings. My point is that creativity and imagination are overrated in the sense that they are neutral, they are tools, like a knife, and can either be life enhancing or life diminishing. As a society we have a hard time identifying self destructive creativity and imagination.
Self-destructive creativity?
It's a great point. Creativity is a process, not an outcome. People do tend to confer a positive halo on creativy, regardless of the results. I would consider, for example, the Manhattan Project an incredibly creative phenomenon, though I'd hesitate to call it a "good thing."
An Excellent Article
As a child it used to drive me crazy when people, especially teachers, wouldn't give me specifics. I deal with a lot of problems in my head and it still drives me nuts some even as an adult.
I call imagination the first step upon the path of enlightenment because it is what drives our curiosity. It is what allows us to be creative and to think beyond that which we already know.
Children need it explained, a little nudge to help get their imagination stirred up. Its the reason I've started doing some inspirational posters based on my art to inspire kids to learn their math and science. Since my artworks are most often illusions of space created with fractals they inspire both with their beauty and in the manner by which they were created, with mathematics.
"Think Inside the Box"
Michele and Robert, thank you for highlighting the counterintuitive point that “the creative imagination works best when faced with explicitly understood constraints.”
“Blue-sky thinking”—that is, open-ended, utterly free brainstorming—is an attractive and picturesque concept that isn’t necessarily a practicable strategy. Particularly in the workplace, where the profit motive and the finite nature of the workday are sources of pressure, constraints facilitate imaginative thinking by defining both the problem at hand and the tools available to solve it; one’s imagination can then mold these raw materials.
Eric Liu and I include “Think Inside the Box” as one of the 28 practices that constitute our new book, Imagination First. One key notion that we mention and that I would like to add to your rich discussion is “intention.” Even when we’re not receiving an assignment of some kind, the fact is that our daily lives are “boxed in by limitations, material and attitudinal, that we inherit or create” (73); as social beings in a world of scarcity, we cannot escape this. So our success or failure as creators and innovators—as humans, perhaps—hinges on our ability to intentionally view these limitations as jumping-off points rather than obstacles. When we make a conscious decision to see things this way, to acquire this habit of mind, the road to innovation suddenly appears much clearer.
– Scott Noppe-Brandon, Executive Director, Lincoln Center Institute
http://www.lcinstitute.org
http://imaginationnow.wordpress.com/
Power of constraints
What a great post. And I've enjoyed reading the comments tremendously. As a creative strategist at one of the world's largest public relations and communications firms, I spend a large part of my time working with teams to develop creatively exciting, but strategicall sound programs for our clients. There's not an assignment in the business world today that doesn't come with constraints, and that's not only OK, it's great. In my training sessions I make the distinction between constraints and a deficit of knowledge, however.
I wrote about constraints in an essay on my blog called "The Sound of One Hand Creating" (http://www.thinkinside.biz/blog/2007/1/14/the-sound-of-one-hand-creating...). For those who, like I, were reminded quickly of Robert Pirsig's college professor giving a writing assignment, you can find my retelling of that story in this essay.
I wrote about lack of information in an essay called "The NINO Principle: Nothing In, Nothing Out" (http://www.thinkinside.biz/blog/2007/2/11/the-nino-principle-nothing-in-...)
Thanks for a great piece.
-- John Armato
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