Hello. I am so happy to be blogging about my new book, “Jackie and Creativity go to School,”
I am Lynda Hope, the author/illustrator of my first children’s book on the subject of creativity. It was finally published this year but it took over 30 years to get here. When I was in my 20’s attending art school in California, I read an amazing book by Rollo May, called the “Courage to Create.” I was in an extremely competitive art school and felt very challenged to claim my voice. My mother was also an artist and would often tell me that she felt stifled. She was a perfectionist and self critical. We took many art classes together and I admired her and her works. After class we would talk about life and that art was life. What did that mean? Because of my mom, I was hungry to know more about living a creative life. Abraham H. Maslow’s book, “Religion, Values and Peak Experiences,” answered some of my questions. I felt empowered after reading about the importance of brainstorming and the “peak experience”. He writes, being playful and childlike, allows the creative juices to flow because as we age, life becomes “more serious”.
Children are born creative. They see life as a miracle. They are playful, experimental, unafraid, courageous, imaginative, joyful, happy, hopeful and fully alive. Until….situations and people negatively influence them. Research has concluded that positive and negative emotions foster or diminish the creative process and that children begin to loose their creative spark around 6 years old. Understanding how important it is for me to honor and appreciate my inner child, I have made it my life’s purpose to inspire, excite and remind children and adults of their own creative spark.
You can visit my website at www.creativitystory.com to see all of my characters and hear them speak. Along with my television interview from the 70’s, recent cable interview and TED talks about creativity. I look forward to sharing our creative journeys together. I want to hear your creative story!
