Module 3: Creative "I"
James Frye
The young woman who I chose to interview for the Creative “I” assignment is Amanda Parmelee, a career entrepreneur who I attended college with a few years ago. Through her Graphic Design and Public Relations business, Amanda Grace Design, she does some of the most creative work that I have seen, and possesses the talent of turning bland ideas into creative ones for people who could not imagine it themselves.
When I sat down to interview her and discussed the concept of creativity with her, she was eager to share her definition of creativity: Amanda believes that creativity is, almost verbatim, “the way someone expresses themselves in a way that is unique to them.” She also believes that creativity can take many forms and be seen in different mediums. One of her examples was that a multi-million dollar sculptor isn’t any more or less creative than a member of a gang with a can of spray paint, and that stuck with me. Moving forward, Amanda shared that she finds creative inspiration from many sources. Her environment, her friends, her clients, and other designers she stays abreast of lead her to a conglomerate of different ideas which inspire her own thinking—she shared that seeing a design and remastering it, or pulling different elements from multiple designs is what makes you a better creator. When she works, her main goal in achieving creativity is to create something that isn’t too busy, or bold, and is suited for the person who it is a reflection of. Finally, she said that her environment is one of the greatest factors in her creative process. Adding different elements to the environment, such as a music playlist designed by herself or the client, appeals to her senses and helps fuel novel ideas.
While I took away a great deal from the interview, one of the biggest take-aways that I had was what it means to be creative when you transfer it from occupation to occupation. For teaching, her interview made me reflect on my own pedagogy. So much education coursework in college is so stuck on process. There is a definitive process for how to set up lesson plans. How to teach a lesson. The way that you should arrive at a certain conclusion about an assignment, a student or their needs. What you should take away from a reading, a piece of art, etc. From Amanda’s interview, I learned again that that is not what creativity is all about. Some educators are so focused on the method and the end result that they miss the true gift of teaching — a teacher is there to learn as much from their students as they are to educate them. What a student feels when they read a book may be completely different from what a teacher thinks they would/should feel, but that doesn’t make their feeling wrong. It could, in fact, be the exact emotion the author meant to inspire. Amanda’s experience with openness and the acceptance of abstract thought and ideas in her work made me realize that the same should be embraced and not discarded in teaching—and I never want to be the roadblock that stands in-between that experience and an eager student.
James Frye
The young woman who I chose to interview for the Creative “I” assignment is Amanda Parmelee, a career entrepreneur who I attended college with a few years ago. Through her Graphic Design and Public Relations business, Amanda Grace Design, she does some of the most creative work that I have seen, and possesses the talent of turning bland ideas into creative ones for people who could not imagine it themselves.
When I sat down to interview her and discussed the concept of creativity with her, she was eager to share her definition of creativity: Amanda believes that creativity is, almost verbatim, “the way someone expresses themselves in a way that is unique to them.” She also believes that creativity can take many forms and be seen in different mediums. One of her examples was that a multi-million dollar sculptor isn’t any more or less creative than a member of a gang with a can of spray paint, and that stuck with me. Moving forward, Amanda shared that she finds creative inspiration from many sources. Her environment, her friends, her clients, and other designers she stays abreast of lead her to a conglomerate of different ideas which inspire her own thinking—she shared that seeing a design and remastering it, or pulling different elements from multiple designs is what makes you a better creator. When she works, her main goal in achieving creativity is to create something that isn’t too busy, or bold, and is suited for the person who it is a reflection of. Finally, she said that her environment is one of the greatest factors in her creative process. Adding different elements to the environment, such as a music playlist designed by herself or the client, appeals to her senses and helps fuel novel ideas.
While I took away a great deal from the interview, one of the biggest take-aways that I had was what it means to be creative when you transfer it from occupation to occupation. For teaching, her interview made me reflect on my own pedagogy. So much education coursework in college is so stuck on process. There is a definitive process for how to set up lesson plans. How to teach a lesson. The way that you should arrive at a certain conclusion about an assignment, a student or their needs. What you should take away from a reading, a piece of art, etc. From Amanda’s interview, I learned again that that is not what creativity is all about. Some educators are so focused on the method and the end result that they miss the true gift of teaching — a teacher is there to learn as much from their students as they are to educate them. What a student feels when they read a book may be completely different from what a teacher thinks they would/should feel, but that doesn’t make their feeling wrong. It could, in fact, be the exact emotion the author meant to inspire. Amanda’s experience with openness and the acceptance of abstract thought and ideas in her work made me realize that the same should be embraced and not discarded in teaching—and I never want to be the roadblock that stands in-between that experience and an eager student.