Holly BF Warren (atelierista/art studio teacher/multimedia artist)
When we think we might stare into space, look out from a window, doodle, fiddle with whatever is at hand, touch our head, or play with our hair. Imagination weaves into our thoughts and nudges us into the realm of possibilities.
If your thinking were a window, a place for observing and learning with an extensive windowsill, what would you place on it? If you found flower pots that grow imaginative paths, what would you grow in each pot?
Each pot can grow an aspect of life that would enhance your teaching/profession thus that of your students/co-workers. They could be of any size and shape, colour, and texture. Think of the window as the threshold of your reflection which nurtures shedding light, distorting, creating illusions, enlarging, and reducing your mind’s wandering journeys.
Here are some ideaseeds to muse and ponder on.
- Simple
- Nature
- People
- Places
- Memories
- Stories/narratives
- Actions
- Feeling
- Discourses
- Dreams
- Sounds
- Music
- Slightly Unusual
- Shape
- Colour/hue/shade
- Shadow
- Equation
- Substance
- Pattern
- Space
- Environment
- Repurposed object
- Clothing
- Home/abode
You can create your own list and or tweak the above ones, as they are just starting points.
How would it work?
Create your own windowsill and place your pots with the ideaseeds on it. Think of the seed growing into a plant where each leaf/branch stems from the initial concept you chose and apply it to what you are doing. You can choose more than one pot from which to draw inspiration. You can also connect your imaginative wandering for a more powerful effect.
You set the boundaries of your imaginative wanderings to suit who you are, how you teach and where you aim to guide your students.
Consider that we are arteries of imagination (Egan,1996) that bring nutrients to our learning, providing oxygen to our teaching. Could imagination be seen as an equation where there is a continuous exchange of elements? I am thinking of imaginative cellular respiration.
Interested in reading more from Holly?
- The Think Tank Environment
- Light Narratives: A light adventure in the Think Tank Environment
- Ripples: A Journey Through Colour in the Think Tank Environment
- Activities from the “Think Tank” for Primary Children
- Creative and Imaginative Online Adventures in the Think Tank Environment
- The Boundaries of Imagination
- The Pursuit of Imagination
- If I Can Imagine, I Know I Can: Extending the Boundaries of Imagination
Holly BF Warren is an atelierista/art studio teacher/multimedia artist creator of the Think Tank and the Artelier. Holly works as a creative facilitator and mentor in Primary and Early Years. She is also the narrator of the educational landscapes she creates with her students which invite the audience to step inside the works of art created fueling the imagination of the viewer. Her mottos are “Learning never stops” “When you step inside your imagination you have found the door to yourself. Always leave this door open, it is an invitation to see far and wide. Close it and you will wither.”
Continue the journey here:
