Contact me at britakatarina@gmail.com for CUSTOMIZED CLASSES
Start this new year on a creative note by creating your own evolving vision for 2018 using creativity.
In an intimate setting in my art studio, I will guide you through multiple exercises to enable you to focus on YOUR SELF– and to come away with a unique very personal vision board. This vision board will be YOUR SAFE PLACE.
We will use processes such as:
• Journaling
• Drawing
• Collaging
• Mindmapping and Action Planning
• Big Vision Visualization
• Right Brain Tools
• Whole Brain Engagement
In order to bring my creative adventure to fruition, I will visit this fortress, this safe house, many, many times. Gradually I will assemble the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle I have stored here. Finished, it will provide the ideas, moods, and ingredients that will feed my dream.
– Phillipe Petit
LENGTH OF WORKSHOP: TWO HOURS
NO PREVIOUS ART EXPERIENCE REQUIRED!
ALL SUPPLIES INCLUDED
Some pre-work will be encouraged.
Love, Katarina
Contact me at britakatarina@gmail.com for CUSTOMIZED CLASSES
Mind maps integrate both right-brain and left-brain thinking by capturing your stream of consciousness in a structured way.
As much as art and connection are part of the 3-day intensive, I also want to incorporate life skills in a natural way. One of those life skills is project planning. On Day 1 we will be mind mapping an action plan as a group. I want this to be youth-led, so my role as facilitator is to create a safe and dynamic space/environment. Of course, I have a plan and agenda in case there needs to be a nudging in order to achieve the goal, but as much as possible, this is the overall vision is that of the participants. By mind mapping together, the participants will experience project planning in a tangible way, and my goal (part of the longevity piece) is that they put that experience into their personal tool kit. .
I practice what I preach. I am spending this weekend preparing for the trip. Making checklists, packing, mind mapping out some curriculum and action plan, researching, and looking to other creatives for inspiration. For example:
Thomas Kail of Hamilton Joins Prof. Dolly Chugh’s Managerial Skills Course:
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As a facilitator, I have to have a plan, an agenda-free agenda if you will. I also have to be flexible and in the moment, ready to throw plans over the shoulder and let the experience and group dynamics lead. Plan, be ready, RELAX, have FUN!
“Before you can think out of the box, you have to start with a box.”
― Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
We started to make connections as to how all our ideas, projects, issues etc. relate to one another:
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We categorized, sorted, rearranged:
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We reflected and asked ourselves questions:
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We trimmed it all down to the KEY points:
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We focused more intently on these new categories and started to created action plans and to-do lists:
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We asked ourselves what and why? What is our core value? Are our plans nurturing that value?
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Now take about 10-15 minutes reevaluating your mindmap(s). What can be changed around, added, deleted… to ensure that the plan you have laid out, or the reflections that have resulted reflect what is truly important to you?
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Now quickly sketch out a new pared down mindmap with your core value in the centre…
Lather, rinse, repeat.
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AH- so we have reached the end. But you will find there is no end in mindmapping. It is an ever-changing, evolving, self- and group-reflective process. The core focus last year may be completely different from today’s.
Keep your mindmaps. I have a big collections of them. They are a central part to my journaling and creative process.
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Please share your mindmapping experiences and questions with me.
If you are in the Vancouver BC Canada area, let me know if you’d like me to host a three-hour intensive workshop this Fall. I have a few people inquiring already. If the interest is high enough (I’m thinking 20-25 people, for ages 16 and up), I will create an event and post the invite and registration here. Send me an email to britakatarina@gmail.com if you’re interested and if you’d like to receive an invite.
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Stay tuned for more tutorials such as:
Vision Boards
How-to’s
etc.
IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG SERIES HELPFUL, PLEASE CONSIDER A SMALL DONATION TO THE STARVING ARTIST FUND!
By now, we have gone through multiple steps to start organizing and taking action on our project and/or self-reflection.
Time to dig a little deeper.
Let’s not only address the to do’s of the current mindmap:
Action steps are the detailed, practical tasks you need to perform to achieve your goals… By breaking the strategies down into discrete tasks, you’ll better be able to plan for resources and timing. – Jennifer Lee
… let’s also take time to write in your journal as to why you feel it is important to take time to properly address your action steps.
What is it all really about?
My journal entry October 30, 1013
Art for me is not just about being in the moment and in the heat of the creative process. My right brain ways certainly thrive on that. But as a right brain enterpreneur, I am ready to embrace DISCIPLINE. Ready to focus on business, sales, marketing, numbers, grant applications, networking etc.
And all this left brain stuff would only be daunting if I hadn’t designed an action plan. It will no longer be about trying to fit in the art around the work schedule but defining myself as a working artist.
Specific day-to-day foci include:
Product, Branding, Customers, Operations, Illustration, Writing, Research, Personal
Time sensitive, Proactive, Arty, Inaction
Sticking to it is key. Including “off” times. Ironically, my new schedule that reflects fluidity and flexibility will be more rigid and disciplined than now. And double ironically, the more I work on art, the more my left brain is awakened and fearless!
Allowing the temptations of distractions and answering to the needs of others above my own is no longer an option! I have to weigh requests and take a breath before saying yes. Before saying no.
Within the new “limitations” though lies absolute freedom and a fulfilled heart!
WOOT!!!
The journey since the journal entry above has been intense, difficult, humbling, beautiful and enlightening. The success I wanted to achieve then looks very different than what I envisioned and hoped for yet, there is success nonetheless. Why? Because the journey centres around my personal core value: FREEDOM.
Have you identified your (current) core value(s)?
Starting from this place will help us bring more ease, empowerment and success into our personal and professional lives. – Laura Mack
Last time we consolidated our mindmap- stripped it down to key components.
Today we focus on each component and ENHANCE.
This is similar to the stream of consciousness mapping but now you are more focused. Think ACTION PLAN. You are building a structure. Research a bit. Make a to-do. (We will ADDRESS the items in more detail tomorrow).
Mind maps integrate both right-brain and left-brain thinking by capturing your stream of consciousness in a structured way. This method is perfect for brainstorming goals and organizing related ideas. – Jennifer Lee
Tomorrow:
Part 6- ADDRESSING
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Recommended reading:
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