Evening: Observation Skill

We have spent several months looking at creative thinking raw materials: ideas from diverse fields we can use in our creative endeavors such as Networks in Ancient Greece, Rise of the Creative Class, and What A Plant Knows.

Its time to get back to some of the basics of ideation skills. A great book describing 13 skills is Sparks of Genius The 13 Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein. ( Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.com/Sparks-Genius-Thirteen-Thinking-Creative/dp/0618127453/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378048863&sr=1-1&keywords=sparks+of+genius) )

A PDF with a brief description of all 13 skills is Thirteen_Thinking_Tools.pdf (http://www.judigarratt.com/resources/thirteen_thinking_tools.pdf)

For this meeting we will review and practice the first skill of Observation. You don't understand something until you actually "see", not just look at it. This is true not only for artists, but musicians, writers, and scientists.

Are you a collector? Or otherwise know about a physical item in its many varieties? (birds, bird song, flowers, stamps, coins, musical instruments, types of music, etc) Then you have actively engaged in Observation. Bring along some examples as we learn how to be more observant and thus become better creative thinkers.

Even if you aren't a collector, please join us - you have observed in a unique way that would benefit others. I want to learn the distinct, regional accents of England. I recall Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor was able to identify the assassin pursuing him by his accent: German from the Alsatian region (Eastern France).