Thursday, February 11, 2010

Creativity

Most of you have no idea how hard it is to write. At times, I'm in the mood for blogging everyday. Ideas pour onto me like drops of rain and I soak them up and turn them into words. When I spend time with family and friends discussing real issues, I immediately I pull out my notebook and write. If I'm in a cafe, I start writing on napkins. At times I'm so full of ideas that I find myself unable to sleep. I toss and turn, wake up at 3 a.m and start writing.
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Then again, sometimes I have 2 or 3 hours of freedom and I decide to sit down and write. My mind suddenly becomes a blank page of nothingness. If you're a blogger, you'll understand what I'm talking about. If you're a reader, try to understand. Writing isn't that easy. I don't just write for Dhofari Gucci. I write for myself. I have so many notebooks and papers full of ideas. Some are suitable for this blog. Others are not.
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Those of you who know me personally will understand what my life has been like over the past couple of months. A mix of chaos, stress, work, people, travel, appointments, plans, ... and very little time to sleep and eat, let alone write. However, fear not for I intend to bring myself back into the habit of blogging about issues in a Dhofar on a more regular basis. Thank you for staying tuned.
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This morning I watched a talk on nurturing creativity given by one of my favorite authors. It was sent to me by a friend, and even though I had very little time, I decide 'to hell with it' and I sat down and listened. She is a very gifted speaker and her talk inspired me.
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I've been thinking about creativity lately. I often spend a few afternoons a month tutoring an 8 year-old girl. Let's name her Sara. She is very sweet, but very shy. She hardly speaks but her passion is art. She spends hours a day drawing and painting and I've been noticing as she develops her talents. For her birthday last month, I bought her a real kid-size wooden easle and a whole new set of paints, brushes and paper. She accepted the gift gratefully and a few days later her mother called me and said Sara was crying because she couldn't paint using her easle. I drove over to their house on my way home from work and asked the child why she couldn't paint. She looks down at the floor and whispered 'What if nobody likes my drawings?'. At that point my heart crumbled into a thousand pieces. This poor child was so afraid of people not liking her art that she couldn't bring herself to using her new professional easle and paints. She was terrified. Terrified of being creative.
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I managed to cheer her up and we painted together for a while (on the easle). I told her it didn't matter what people thought. As long as she was happy with her own painting, nothing else mattered. I told her that all the famous artists in this world didn't care for the opinions of others. Evidently her teacher had asked them to paint something nice and all the kids had painted flowers, houses, cars, etc. Sara painted squares and triangles, dark colours, very neat... and very much like analytic cubism (I saw her work) and her teacher looked at the paper and told her 'Sara, That is not art. Draw something real'. I was so furious. What kind of a teacher is that? Who says we have to draw something real in order to be artists? I asked Sara's mother if we can use her computer, and I typed in 'Pablo Picasso' into Google images. I watched as her eyes widened. She was blown away by his paintings. I told her he is one of the most famous artists in the world and that millions and millions of people love his work. Are his paintings realistic? No. Was he not one of the most creative people who lived on this planet? Yes. Since then Sara has been painting everyday. I told her to tell her teacher 'I'm painting like Picasso' whenever her teacher criticizes her.
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For heaven's sake, if you know someone who seems to have a hidden talent, help them nurture it and pull them out of their misery. So many of us are terrified of being creative. Terrified of putting our all into a piece of art, a photograph, a poem, a story, a play, ...
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I myself am terrified of being creative. The fear of being rejected is probably going to kill me one day but I'm trying to get over it. And I will help others get over it. So many people I know want to be creative but are afraid of what others will think. IT IS SO HARD to be creative in a collectivistic society like Salalah. A society where everyone is practically the same. We wear the same clothes, eat the same food, wear the same bloody makeup to weddings, follow the same trends, wear the same pom-poms on our heads, etc, etc.
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There are so many talented artists who are not being encouraged. Families in Salalah aren't used to encouraging their children's hobbies. In fact, how many people do you know in Salalah have a REAL hobby? How many artists do you know? Photographers? Poets? Writers? Musicians? Actors? They exist but there aren't many of them.
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We need to bring on a paradigm shift in our society. Change. We need to encourage our teachers to nurture children's talents.
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And you dear readers, what is your secret passion? What are you afraid of nurturing? Do you secretly want to be a writer? A guitar player? An artist? A fashion designer? A photographer? What's stopping you? Family? Laziness? Fear? Embarassement? Society? Confidence?
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I look forward to receiving your comments. I want to know what your hobby is, what you LOVE doing, and what you want to do in the future. Even if it's cooking or sewing. I'm proud to say that I'm very creative in the kitchen. According to my mother, I'm the only person she knows who can throw spices into a dish with my eyes shut and without even thinking about the dish not turning out right. Have a great day!

11 comments:

  1. Great entry. Masha'a'Allah. ITA, one million %. I'm not a writter, but damn it! I try. LOL I guess you get to a certain age and just say, the hell with it. I'm doing what I like to do, even if I suck. LOL I love to take pics, I'm not a photagrapher, no. But, I'll do my best. Even if other don't like my stuff, I see myself and other things close to my heart in the pictures I take. Sometimes it's can just be my my kids toys laying there. It means something to me.

    God bless you! for letting little sara, believe in herself! we need that. I tell my daughter! we need to get her book published! asap! she's very creative! masha'a'Allah.

    Say, to hell with everyone who doesn't like what you do. As long as your at peace with it and love it. That's all that matters. Loving your blog. Your a fantastic writer. masha'a'Allah

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  2. Sara must be a real talented child if she could think of drawing something like abstract art.

    Many teachers in Salalah are a joke. I have hated my life because of some of my teachers. The private school teachers are even worse there.

    About being afraid to be creative, I think I can understand what you're saying. Honestly, Salalah society isn't a place for creatives, unless you were brave and confident enough to forget about the silly part of its mentality.

    Nadia, I have been mocked because I said that I'm learning Japanese. They find it odd, but in reality the odd thing is in their minds.

    Not only the mentality, the endless social duties in Salalah can also be a real obstacle to be creative and achieve a success. You know what I mean, Naddoosh.

    Note: if this is my second comment sent, please don't publish the first. SOmething is wrong with my laptop.

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  3. I am reader + writer. so I do understand what you are saying at the begining. It just like when my sister ask me to write for her an introduction of 5 or less sentences and I can't. but when the mode turns to writing mode I can write more than 5 pages !

    Creativity is a treasure and there are some people like Buried treasure. belive or not those people can be parents

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  4. Lovely post. I actually studied to be an art teacher. That's something that will really test your confidence. You did a wonderful thing by nurturing her talent. She is lucky to have you as her mentor. So these days my passions are writing and cooking and writing about cooking! I am enjoying it. Getting older is good for one thing - allowing yourself to shed years of insecurities to just do what you want.

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  5. As a Dhofari growing up in Muscat, I can safely say that my teachers have been nothing but encouraging. I always had a great passion for music when I was younger so I made sure to never miss any of the Royal Symphony's concerts, no matter what day it was and no matter how far away the venue was. I was there and as a result, I play two instruments, the clarinet and the piano. I joined the schools' band, I played solos in concerts and even played for other schools in Oman. I was handpicked to join an international festival winning awards that I am indeed very proud of. By no means am I trying to brag and show-off. I am just describing my passion and to say, music was my passion, period, is non-passionate.

    My secret dream is to become a famous fashion designer and photographer. I want to go to Milan, learn Italian, take fashion design and fashion business [in order to understand the industry more] and take up photography as something on the side. In my free time I love drawing naked models in different poses and when I am in the mood, all these ideas just ooze out and in no time, my naked models run out. However this idea has been firmly rejected by my parents and myself as it is unstable and I do want a stable future. One day I might just start turning my own clothes into designs and selling them and what not, but that day is not today.

    Nadia, my cousin is about the same age, she is really amazing at drawing and her parents buy for her paints and drawing pads for her to draw on. She likes drawing dresses and portraits of people and everyone in my family encourages her because she's so good. That made her confident in her drawings and she never takes any criticism, but sometime she notices flaws in her work and would point it out after we comment. All hope is not lost, there is creativity Salalah and maybe just maybe people are slowly accepting it.

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  6. I have always loved art and writing. A family member discouraged me: artists don't eat very often, and writers kill themselves. Be an engineer! LOL. We'll see about that.

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  7. Thanks Nadia. Having a major crisis of creative confidence over here the last few months. Hopefully I can get my bite back like little Sara. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  8. Good post mashaallah. Art is a grate thing, it is not good when someone tries to stick art into a box. How can it ever fit when it has no form, rules or limit. Non-Crowned Princess, inshallah you will do vary well, it is a fun language!

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  9. What an amazing gift you have given that child. Your teaching her to love herself at a young age and to nuture the truest part of who she is. Thank you for sharing the goodness!

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  10. Inspiring post Nadia. Thank you.

    Hmm I am guessing it's Elizabeth's Gilbert talk you watched on nurturing creativity? If it is, then I must say it is a must-watch for those who want to be creative, but are afraid of failure or rejection.

    As for me, I want to be a writer. Like you said, it's anything but easy, but sometimes I just cannot bring myself up to face all the challenges it brings and JUST DO IT. Trying nevertheless :)

    "Easy reading is damn hard writing", Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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  11. I chanced upon your blog today and enjoyed your thoughts very much! Little Sara was lucky to have met you and you did the right thing for her.As an artist myself, I took a lot of time to remove the fear of being rejected and realize that I paint for my joy. Thank you for this wonderful post!

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