A Creative Mix - What Is It?

The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. Robert Henri

This past year I facilitated two afternoon art classes where participants could explore creativity without needing any drawing or painting skills.  In “Creative Collage” and “A Creative Mix”, I wanted students to leave their worries behind and engage in a sense of play.

The class exercises included, a continuous line drawing of a still life, not taking the pen off the page, which some said felt very freeing.  As well, there were a variety of collages, including an autobiographical collage, a black and white text collage and what I call the, “Go for It” collage.  This medium was popularized by the Surrealist artists in the 1920’s and 30’s because of its direct connection to the unconscious mind.   Using intuition as their guide, participants also explored mark making with India ink.  In the end they tried mixed media – combining line drawing, collage and ink into one piece.

I encourage students to not be afraid to make an ugly picture.  I find the less they are trying to control the outcome, the more enjoyable the process and the result may be unexpected.  The image has a chance to speak. Sometimes the picture gives insights into our current life events, state of mind or thoughts.  It could also lead to an idea we want to explore further.  We may decide not to show it to anyone else.

I’ve seen surprising pictures from these classes, where it was like a participant’s hands were working independently of their thoughts.  For example, in “A Creative Mix”, a woman painted diagonal ink brushstrokes from top to bottom.  They lead to an area of solid black ink on the right side of the page where she pasted the words from a magazine: “a private joke between myself and myself”.  Two eyes (on the shells from an underlying continuous line drawing), looked the opposite way.  It was like the collage was leading her into her own private space, where no one was looking.  There’s also a collaged picture of an abstract expressionist drawing, an art movement that prioritized unconscious expression.  The pasted words “what is it?” were funny and maybe also part of the private joke.   I believe she created this with no particular thought in mind.

Sometimes you must make a few (sometimes ugly) pictures to get in the creative, right-brained mode.  Like everything, it takes practise.  In the end, the real benefit of doing a collage or playing with materials – or any type of play, may not be in creating a beautiful picture or experience.  It may be about spending time opening the dusty treasure chest of our imagination and allowing the unexpected to emerge.  With more practise, the treasure chest becomes easier to access, and creativity may spill into other areas of our life.  We may, as a result, start to become more curious about the world and ask more open-ended questions like, “what is it?”

Image:  Mixed Media piece by H.B. in “A Creative Mix”, 2026