Inspiration for Technique

Analog Digital from Guro Kåsa on Vimeo.

Colours KIP405 Final Assessment. from Danny Quinn on Vimeo.

Wild Places from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo.

What Is Peter Pan Syndrome?

Written by Evan Bailyn on 06/20 at 12:36 PM

Peter Pan syndrome is a deep-seated belief that one will never, and must never, grow up. It is named after the legendary character of the same name who lived in Neverland, a place where kids are immune to aging.

The story of Peter Pan fascinated me as early as five years old, way before I knew what it was like to feel like an adult. I still keep an image in my mind of a particular moment in the play, when Peter Pan flew into the children’s window while they were sleeping and brought them off to Neverland. I think that scene delighted me because I, like other kids, had fears associated with sleeping - probably some combination of darkness, robbers, and dying. The act of sleeping itself is such a mystery to me even now that I can understand why my young mind would see it as fertile ground for something mystical and unknown to happen.

The very idea that one could be saved from the creepiness of sleep, from the powerless grasp of unconsciousness, was not only plausible, it was too wonderful not to believe. In that protected, naive state that characterizes children, I hazily imagined the eternal playground where Peter Pan lived, with its lush flora, children swinging on vines, parties, dancing, laughter, and complete removal from that other dimension known as everyday life.

That picture in my mind is still there. It has been weathered by the army of adults who have politely tried to tear it up with their rules and reminders about “the real world,” but the stubborn five year-old inside of me has resisted. In truth, I don’t believe that we are damned to honest Christian work ethics and middle class toil. I believe that I could be walking through the streets of New York City, turn a corner, and enter a jungle with raging rivers, sparkling waterfalls, and fairies swooping through the sky.

I am in love with childhood and with Neverland. I only wish I could find a way to bring back the vividness of that magical place that I knew best when I was five. If I could re-build Neverland exactly as I remember it, I would - anything to reclaim the hope of living forever as a child.

This is Peter Pan Syndrome. Those who don’t have it are missing something vital. After all, as Peter Pan said, “Fairies only exist if you believe in them.”

Personality Traits of Creativity

Article on Affect and Creativity

Tim Brown on "Play"

Write-up #1

After today's critique, I realize now I was on a slightly veered path of constructing this concept, statement, summary, or whatever I'm supposed to call it. I guess I thought it was appropriate for me to explain myself, but now I understand that since my concept is so broad right now, I need to construct a more concrete idea of how this project will visually appear. I need to reconstruct this statement to explain exactly what techniques I intend to employ how they deconstruct film, design, and craft. I intend to dive into more specific examples of specific materials, shots, editing techniques, filming techniques, and text. I will lean less towards specific personal connections and more towards the general idea and message of the piece in its literal context.

Artist Statement

With almost seven years between each of three sisters, it has been relatively natural for me to retain my child induced mindset. Just as my interest in Santa Claus, snow forts, and Mousetrap persists, I also find myself still mesmerized by bright colors, plush characters, and shiny things that glisten and gleam. As the eldest, I have always been intrigued by my ability to influence my little sisters in terms of creativity through the arts. For instance, when I first discovered Sculpe and its creative possibilities, I shared it with my sister and realized how much we could teach each other despite our tremendous skill and age difference. It was refreshing for me to see her creative processes that may or may not have been loosely interpreted from my own artistic approach. But no matter how hard I may try to scribble outside the lines, my art will never express the same immaculate innocence of a child’s creative expression.

Based on this idea of process and how it relates to creative expression, my senior piece will deconstruct “crafting” in its magnitude of form and materials in an attempt to elicit crafting as an art form, especially in relevance to childhood crafts that use popsicle sticks and macaroni for example. The thought of using rudimentary techniques as a form of self expression takes the focus away from both the formal intentions constructed by the artist as well as the finished outcome, and instead focuses on the impulsive desires to create and be creative using any available means necessary. It is this implicit freedom from reservations and desire to express visually without fear of judgement that makes crafting for little kids so different from crafting for adults.

As a way of demonstrating the compelling outcomes of combining childhood crafting with sophisticated style, my film for my senior show piece will blend an array of materials, techniques, and processes in an attempt to encourage a resurface of creativity and playfulness in the act of crafting. Everyday objects like blankets, tin foil, wall surfaces, wood grain, paperclips, bottle caps, transform and move to create images and patterns to insinuate inventiveness and resourcefulness to express creative thinking. Yarn in particular will come to life taking different forms, spelling words, making patterns, and moving with a mind of its own. Using experimental techniques of filming and editing, I will utilize video and its ability to translate time to underline the creative process in order to stretch the boundaries between film, design, and craft in a way that mimics the freedom to scribble beyond the lines.

Inspiration