Creative Process

What we learned about the creative process...

Through the development and planning of this workshop, we learned the extent to which the creative process is tied to structure, facilitation, and responsiveness to others. One key concept from CPSA260 that shaped this understanding was our approach to facilitating group discussion. Rather than treating discussion as a passive transition, we began to see it as a critical space where students can construct meaning and critique examples before creating their own work, taking the lessons they learn into that work’s creation. In our workshop design, each session included a guided discussion of a series of works, allowing participants to analyze the artist’s intent and the social context of the work before creating their own projects.

This approach is further supported by the work of Stephanie Cheung and her analysis of community-based public art, one of the core units we drew from. Emphasis is placed on collaborative engagement and dialogue as essential to meaningful artistic expression and representation (Cheung, 2022). In the incorporation of that structured discussion, we aligned our teaching with this idea, encouraging students to see themselves as contributors, rather than individual creators. 

Additionally, lesson planning became an essential part of refining the creative process, breaking each session into discussion, instruction, and hands-on creation helped manage time and maintain engagement. This structure helped to improve our leadership skills by adding a level of intentionality and planning towards pacing and clarity.

Overall, we learned that creativity is not just about idea generation, but about designing environments where ideas can be explored and transformed collaboratively.