February 12, 2024 • 38 mins
Some people have so much creativity in them, it can’t help but come out in so many different ways. And often, these people also seem to have a calling to help others bring out their creative self.
My guest, Karen DeLoach, is on a mission to teach and stir up the creativity in others for their happiness, and for their healing.
Tune in to hear how to tap into latent creativity, how to foster a creative environment and art as self-therapy.
Happy listening!
xo Abi
P.S. For more information about this episode and our guest, head to: www.crispcomms.co/podcast-episodes/mission-not-impossible-inspiring-creativity-in-others
Creativity: Uncovered is lovingly edited by the team at Crisp Communications.
Creativity: Uncovered is a registered Australian Trade Mark.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[MUSIC]
(00:05):
Some people have so much creativity inside them.
It just can't help but come out in different ways.
Quite often, these people also seem to have a calling to help others bring out their creativity.
Hi, my name is Abi Gatling and welcome to Creativity (00:20):
Uncovered.
I'm on a journey to find out how everyday people find
inspiration, get inventive, and open their imagination.
Basically, I want to know how people find and use creative solutions at home,
at work, at play, and everything in between.
(00:42):
My goal for this podcast is that by the end of it,
you'll be armed with a whole suite of tried and tested ways to
someone creativity the next time that you need it.
Today, I'm very excited to be speaking with Karen DeLoach,
who is an artist, an author, a filmmaker, an actor.
(01:02):
She's on a mission to teach and to stir up creativity in others.
This is, I already can tell,
this is going to be a really fun chat.
Welcome, Karen.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, you summed it up and spoke it really well.
I appreciate being online with a fellow creative who understands
(01:23):
and feels this calling and drive as well.
So thank you for having me.
Oh, you're welcome.
I'm really pleased that you have decided to have this chat with me
because I'm very intrigued.
I'm very intrigued by you.
We did have a very brief chat a couple of weeks ago,
and my mind's been running since then about all the questions I want to ask you.
(01:45):
But I think where I would love to start is about
what is your history with creativity and your relation to creativity?
Well, my father is an Irish storyteller.
He just was on vaudeville, loved to tell stories,
and my parents loved musicals.
(02:07):
So there was always, my mom's dad was in the Philharmonic Orchestra
in New York City playing the violin.
So there was a lot of creativity already in the family.
And when I was 10 years old living outside of New York City,
our class went to the New York World's Fair,
where they brought Michelangelo's Piazza all the way from the Vatican in Rome to America.
(02:33):
And I had the privilege at 10 years old to stand in front of this masterpiece
just a few feet away with my mouth open while the rest of the class wanted to go see dinosaurs.
I was astounded that a human being could carve this out of one piece of marble.
And I've been intrigued by art and artists ever since.
I didn't imagine I'd be an artist.
(02:53):
I don't feel like I was born with natural artist talent.
You know, I couldn't draw naturally.
I learned, though, I had some very good instruction and I loved theater and drama
and always had drama production.
So the arts are a big part of my family and who I am.
Oh, my gosh, that's so cool.
I love the fact that when you saw that,
(03:16):
you must have been like an appreciation for art and artistic creation.
Must have been instilled in you by your parents,
whether you knew it or not, the fact that you were so interested in that artwork.
It's true.
Yeah, my father was military.
We moved a lot, but everywhere we went, my mother made sure we went to whatever museums or galleries.
(03:40):
And we were near some big cities.
And I was intrigued and my family would go marching through fast.
And I'd be reading and looking at everything.
I could it's like I couldn't get enough.
So I guess it shouldn't be a huge shock that I ended up writing an art history
appreciation textbook for my college class.
And my mom actually is the one that helped me edit this.
(04:01):
It's 1800 images.
It's all about the pictures because it's a visual art book I teach in college.
And besides that, they have to use my how to draw books
so that they can truly appreciate something they try.
And that is, as you mentioned before, part of my passion,
because I believe all of us have creativity inside of us.
(04:22):
We got half of our brain.
Hello, that's right brain creativity.
And unfortunately, at least in our culture here in America,
it is not the side of the brain that's rewarded in school.
So you have these five year olds when you ask them,
do you like to sing and dance and and bang on the drums?
(04:42):
And they say yes and color with crayons.
Yes. You ask 15 year olds that same question.
And about 90% say no while they're listening to Led Zeppelin on headphones,
you know, music from my generation.
So something happens in those 10 years that is not because they lose it.
(05:04):
It's because it's it's kind of squashed while left brain logic
and critical thinking and in judgment and memorization.
And those are the skills that are rewarded.
And those are the skills you said you're going to need when you find jobs.
And they're the skills that most of us spend our time developing
and not our right brain creative side.
(05:26):
That I mean, what you said there is such a common story
that we've heard on the podcast that people when they're younger,
they have this kind of unbridled creativity
and it's encouraged and at some point it's just sort of stopped
because, you know, external pressures or internal pressures.
Like, did that ever happen to you?
(05:48):
Oh, yeah. I mean, I got totally squashed when I was in college.
I went to art school. I chose art and theater.
And I did OK in drawing.
I'd learned and gotten some good drawing instruction.
And I was keeping up with my peers.
But painting was another story.
By the time I started getting into painting classes,
they were very intellectual oriented, very left brain, abstract expressionist.
(06:11):
And I wanted to paint people and landscapes and things that were beautiful.
And it was so not appreciated to the point of using four letter words
to describe my paintings so much so that this is the tragedy.
I didn't paint, finish a painting for 20 years.
And that's the truth.
They convinced me I was a three dimensional artist.
(06:32):
I went into ceramics, which I love and I still do sculpture and ceramics.
But they did not encourage my ability to paint or teach me how.
So, you know, that's I even though I was already a teenager, upper teenager,
it really did completely squash my ability to finish a painting until.
And it was subconscious.
It wasn't like, oh, I'm going to start this painting.
(06:53):
And this time I'm going to finish it.
It wasn't even it was on my radar. Oh, I want to do this.
I started having children.
I wanted to paint them and and I couldn't do it.
And then all of a sudden I'm moving and I'm looking at all these unfinished
canvases and like, what's wrong with me?
And then I discovered a mentor.
He was an old school painting teacher had been to the Chicago Art Institute
when they actually taught people to paint and he did.
(07:15):
He taught me how to paint.
It was the mechanics I was missing.
It was the foundational color theory and how to mix and match colors.
And because I wanted to be more naturalistic or realistic or impressionistic,
I needed those skills to pull it off, which I didn't have.
And so I understand how it feels when your own personal creativity,
(07:36):
which is the sensitive side of us.
It it's gentle and sensitive.
And so that part of us, it's intuitive and has imagination is easily crushed.
It can't stand up under criticism and judgment and perfectionism.
And all of these left brain bully ideas.
(07:56):
So instead of the left brain serving the right brain,
we have the opposite.
And I think as a human race, we suffer as a result, all of us.
You know, my sons are musicians.
My my husband's a musician.
They they chose music and they have spent their lives
pursuing excellence as musicians, which is hard to find rewards.
(08:20):
And the joy of doing what you love.
And and, you know, I still hope that they get to a point where it pays off.
But meanwhile, they've just done that everything they can to be
excellent at their craft and to write their own music.
They they they do the videos themselves for their music videos.
They do their own illustrations and posters.
(08:41):
And they are full hands on musicians.
And they went to Germany in order to find a way to get produced
and met beautiful German girls and gave me a little half German grandbaby.
So I'm on a mission to go there, too.
But yeah, it's it's a universal human desire to find a way to create.
It's part of our very most inner being.
(09:03):
And if we don't, we feel that lack.
Or maybe we're not all artists or actors, but we we almost all have a poem
or a book or a story to tell or things to weave or knit or or or quilt or
there's so many ways to be creative that's not limited to course, music and dance
(09:27):
and singing. It's hard to find a person that doesn't have something
some way that they can develop to be personally creative.
Oh, I 100 percent agree.
And it absolutely just crushes me to hear that you had that experience.
I had a very similar experience, actually, when I was in high school as well.
And it stopped me.
(09:48):
It pushed me in a whole another career path.
And I finally, you know, I've made my way back again.
But it's just it's so interesting the influence of people around you
have on your creativity, because it is such a sensitive and personal
and expressive thing to be artistic that it can be easily crushed.
(10:12):
So I'm sorry to hear that.
No. So I, you know, make whatever I am as a teacher, as a mentor,
as a safe, no criticism zone, even if it's, you know, Zoom online, wherever it is,
no criticism. And I'll tell you what, the older we get, the harder that is to do.
It's we're so used to that that, like I said, the left brain bully saying, you know,
(10:36):
you're not good, you can't do that.
It just it's just terrifying to most people to try something new creatively,
whatever it is. And that that's just so sad because it is that that inner four
year old, five year old is still there wanting to dance and jump and sing and
spin and and bang on the drums and be be creative.
(10:57):
So and color, even outside the lines, I love to paint big.
And it's just a family story that I would end up painting on the walls because
the paper just was never big enough for me.
And my mom, oh, man, I can't tell you how many times I had to figure out how
to watch the walls ended up doing murals for years.
(11:18):
That's a good solution.
I would say that was practice painting on the drawing on the walls when I was a
kid, but it was like, didn't go over real big when I was little.
I ended up doing murals in homes and restaurants and just love it.
Yeah, create an environment.
That's one solution.
(11:39):
I mean, make it as full.
I meant to paint on that wall now.
Yeah, my husband says our walls are just just canvases for me.
And most of most every room has probably a mural somewhere.
That is so cool.
I would love to see that.
I would love to see that.
So it sounds to me, though, you know, you had that experience and that
(12:01):
experience of being crushed and now you're sort of going out of your way to
make sure that doesn't happen to your kids and and your in your teaching.
So tell me your approach to this.
Like, oh, how do you how did you get into teaching?
Well, you know, as an artist, you think, how am I going to make a living?
Right? So I made a choice to get my master's degree so I could teach in
(12:24):
college. I didn't think I wanted to work with children until I became a mom
my own and opens up a different world when you become a mom, as you know.
And of course, children are so easy to influence in the sense that if you if
you are a creative, you get to try all these things with them and see which way
they're bent, you know, if it's music or art or singing, you know, the joke is
(12:45):
that my children are all studio babies.
And because we ended up homeschooling, we had homeschool children that would
come and do art with me and we had bartered so they could have science or
math, other courses, languages with other other other parents so that I could.
All right, I'll teach your children.
You teach mine and we would do that exchange.
And then if they bring them sometime, I'd let the moms come free and
(13:08):
discovered some beautiful creative moms in the process because usually it's
the moms most of the time.
And they were found some very talented people.
You know, the other thing that started happening is that a lot of creatives,
if we're bent that way, we don't necessarily succeed at a lot of left
(13:29):
brain learning.
And it's not, you know, some people are more balanced, you know, left brain,
right brain, but some people are definitely bent in their label.
They don't sit still well.
They're visual learners.
They're kinetic learners.
So they don't sit in classrooms for seven hours.
They feel like they're stupid because they don't learn well that way.
(13:50):
So we could take them home and do manipulative math where they could build,
you know, and learn structures through, through manipulating the math.
And there was ways to teach that fit for my children.
It turns out I'm not the only one with children that don't do well in those
environments.
A lot of children have learning disabilities.
I mean, they're stupid, you know?
So if they could come to the studio, have success, it really gave them courage
(14:14):
to try other things and to keep persevering with the things that were a lot
harder. So I felt like I was really coming alongside these young people.
And I saw many of them grow up and I've even taught their children.
I've been doing it so long, you know, teaching their children how to draw or
paint and seeing their creativity spark alive and seeing, seeing it work.
(14:36):
And I realized that these, these techniques that I've developed through
how to draw and how to paint and are, are not only based on
historically foundational skill building, but they work 100% of the time,
no matter where somebody starts, whether they have talent or not,
they're going to get better based on these, because that's what they do.
And I have techniques that get you out of your left brain and into your right
(14:59):
brain. And so those are really fun to share with people and see them get out
of that performance orientation, product orientation, that the, the,
the fun of doing it is actually taking over the joy of, of actually doing it.
And now I've been studying the science behind it.
So before I didn't, I just did it and saw it work and didn't understand it.
(15:22):
And now I've been learning about the brain and, and the functionality and
neural, neural pathways that are formed.
And can I give you one example that is really powerful of, of a student of mine
who grew up in my studio and he was, had lots of learning disabilities.
And his mom was an expert at helping him, but he was so good at art.
He even won the largest youth competition here in, in the low country,
(15:46):
not only first place, but grand prize.
Three months later, he got a brain infection that caused a stroke.
And at 17, became paralyzed on one side of his body, not expected to live.
He did live, talked to him yesterday, as a matter of fact.
He had to have a plastic skull put on his head.
(16:07):
My gosh. At first, he couldn't talk, walk.
He couldn't use his left leg or hand, but.
And four months he could shuffle, still couldn't talk.
But his mom brought him back to the studio.
And I would endeavor to teach him to draw with his left hand.
In a very short time, he was as good left handed as he had been right handed.
(16:31):
I get the call from his neurosurgeon.
What are you doing with David?
He is stronger with his weak hand than I am.
And I'm a surgeon.
Not only that, there are improvements happening in his brain
that we can verify on his right side.
Yesterday, he carried on a full conversation with me,
(16:53):
whereas I remember when he couldn't even hardly put two words together.
Now he's talking in complete sentences 10 years later.
And, you know, I might come back to the studio,
I'd come draw with me, I'd come paint with me.
And I see that dance between art and science
(17:15):
that work together, the brain science.
And there's even a category of neuroscience called neuro-arts.
So they're finding, they take veterans, there's whole programs,
where they take veterans suffering from PTSD
and other physical and emotional problems.
And they do art projects with them.
And they're finding just not thinking about their physical problems,
emotional problems, brings healing.
(17:37):
That's so exciting to me.
Wow. I mean, what is the connection there?
I mean, is it, what is the connection there?
I'm thinking that, you know, with the story with David,
he kind of already knew all the sides of creativity
and he had all that sort of sitting away in there.
(17:59):
He just had to train his body again to do it.
But exactly how does that work?
Well, according to his neurosurgeon, there's literally,
because he had already been a creative.
He'd already built up a lot of pathways,
because you're cooperating with your right brain
when you're actually drawing and painting or sculpting or using,
(18:19):
like my sons with their instruments,
they can play them left-handed, right-handed.
You're using a piano with two hands.
It's not like one, you're just using,
gee, I only use my right hand all the time.
They're using, you know, weekends, all ways.
David learned to do that.
So he was already developing these neuro pathways
between his left brain and right brain
before he had this severe brain trauma
(18:40):
that caused the right side to be damaged.
I guess prefrontal area of his brain was damaged.
And he's creating new pathways all the time to function.
He can walk now.
He can talk.
He still, he can use his hand a little bit,
but he still doesn't write with his right hand.
He's still in therapy, but seeing him have a life, a life,
(19:04):
laughter, he has full function of his face and his hand.
You know, he does, people would could look at him
and not know that he had that severe an injury
and the part that art played.
And then there's my friend that came to the studio
with her children and she got diagnosed with a severe,
I guess, category four, stage four breast cancer,
(19:26):
both sides, six months to live.
I brought her into the studio while she was in radiation,
chemo, mastectomy, rebuilding.
Didn't expect to be around for this big show.
It was in, it was a porcelain room installation.
And I had her in my studio working with her hands
(19:48):
the whole time.
And not only was she there, 10 years later,
she's still here and cancer free.
So she says it helped save her life.
Now, how do you explain that?
I can't tell you all the science behind it.
I just know that having a project,
having something creative to do,
something hopeful to look forward to,
(20:08):
and the fun of doing it,
helped her recover from a possibly fatal diagnosis.
I mean, I have a sister-in-law
that died from that same diagnosis last year.
So I know that art had its part to play.
And I believe in it.
It's, it's, it helps people emotionally.
And you described it, it's a way to express
(20:30):
your innermost feelings, whether it's through poetry or dance,
you know, however you want to do it.
It's important because there is a sense of significance
that happens in us.
A child, when they're, they get praised by their parent,
when they're spinning and dancing or banging on the drums,
is going to want to do that again.
They're, they're, they're going to be encouraged to keep doing it.
(20:50):
And of course we see what happens when they're the opposite.
But it's never too late.
And I'm here to tell you, it's, it's not too late for you.
It's, you know, you're not too old to try something new.
And that's part of, part of what I do with people
when I work with them one-on-one,
I find out what their goals are,
what their inner heart dreams and desires are.
(21:11):
Where do they need to go?
Maybe it's not to be an artist.
Maybe it's because there's something else percolating,
a book percolating in them, or some kind of storytelling,
or you never know, it's there.
And I love to see it, you know, and I can,
I can see that happening with the people I get to work with.
Take them where they are to where,
help them get to where they want to go.
(21:33):
Yeah.
Why, why is that important to you to help people on their creative journey?
Well, that right side that is so sensitive,
and for most people underdeveloped and discouraged,
at least if not crushed,
is the intuitive, imaginative, sensitive side of our soul
(21:57):
that connects us with our creator.
I mean, I believe it's very spiritual that we're spiritual beings,
and that as we touch, we're the only part of creation
that can enjoy beauty.
And we look around creation and we see beauty,
and we can acknowledge that we're the ones to see color.
We can see, we can see, you know, the colors as they change
(22:19):
during different seasons, or the, you know,
enjoying the sounds of water that makes,
and all the vibrations and things that happen.
It is amazing that we are the ones that can appreciate this.
Why is that?
Because we're made the image of our creator.
So when that part of us has been diminished,
maybe we chose to be parents or, you know, a career,
(22:40):
we would, we would poured ourselves into our career,
into our families, and now they're older,
some of us are older, we're going,
okay, now what, what else,
how, what else can I do to pour myself into others,
and how can I still feel significant and have purpose,
and not just lay back and say,
my job is done, and turn on the tube, or whatever.
(23:01):
There's still more, there's more to life.
Let's live the whole time we're alive, and it's,
and it's exciting to me, it's not too late.
I'm a baby boomer, and we're a huge generation of,
of people reaching, not necessarily retirement,
I guess some are, but we want to still be fruitful and active.
And it's a way to just keep that part of our brain alive
(23:23):
and awake and functioning in so many wonderful ways.
That's cool, I love it.
It's sort of your way of giving back,
or giving, giving to your community, it seems,
by sharing your talents this way.
So, we mentioned before that everyone is creative,
and it might just, you know, be hidden away somewhere.
How do you think people, anyone who's listening today,
(23:48):
who may be thinking they're not a creative person,
what steps do you think they should take to start to discover their creativity?
That's a really good question.
That's a wonderful question, because, you know,
some people too are afraid of AI, you know,
are this whole, you know, chat GPT and AI is like,
(24:10):
why are they going to take over my job, you know,
all these fears and being scared of it?
And, and that's the anecdote is, okay, I've got this,
I can acknowledge that I have half a brain
that is for the creative that must be there somewhere.
And I know that they, if they examine their hearts
and think what kind of dreams, when I was four, when I was five,
what was in there that really moved me?
(24:32):
And what I mean to, you know, like doing,
I was doing drama productions in the backyard,
you know, and giving money to Jerry's kids,
that was an American fundraiser every year
for children with muscular dystrophy.
So, you put on a play and you invite people to pay a dollar
to come see your play, and then you send it, you know,
the money to him.
And, you know, it was okay, we could do this.
(24:53):
And, you know, we ride them and direct them
and get the neighborhood children to do it.
There's so many ways that this can be encouraged.
And everybody who's ever been a teacher knows
that you're going to be using your creativity
to keep children or even young adults,
whoever, however age group you're teaching active,
or maybe you've got little ones at home
and you're looking for creative ways
(25:15):
to not let your toddlers drive you crazy.
And you just, in little spurts, they like to drum.
You know, there's some children right away,
they just want to drum.
What was driving you when you were little?
What were you thinking about?
Did you notice the trees?
Did you notice animals?
People love animals, and they love to take care of animals
(25:35):
and pour themselves.
There's so many ways to be creative.
It's like an infinite number of ways.
And I've never met anybody that didn't have some type
of creative gift inside of them.
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
I think thinking back to your childhood
and what made you happy and what you were interested in
is such a cool place to start because so often
(25:58):
we just don't remember that,
or we don't see the significance of that.
But I do think that can give you clues for what you could explore now as an adult.
So, yeah, I think that's really cool.
And I just want to ask you one more question.
I think that's a really great practical tip.
(26:20):
Tell me, you've written some practical books.
You've shown us two just before.
How did you get into that?
Because that's a whole other thing.
Like you started with your painting,
then you moved into ceramics and things like that,
and acting and now writing.
(26:40):
That's a whole plethora.
A whole lot of different talents there.
How did you get into the writing of books?
And why did you do that?
That's a good question because it was never on my radar,
but really basically the how to draw book was inspiration from God.
Because it was like, these techniques you've learned
(27:02):
that are helping people,
I want you to write them out, these exercises.
I didn't even know I was going to use them in college, teaching college,
and because I was using these techniques to teach
in the homeschooling world for 30 years.
So it wasn't until I raised my children
and stopped homeschooling that I went to teaching in college.
And then something that bothered me when I was an art student
(27:23):
that every art history course I took,
especially in graduate school,
was taught by someone who was an art history professor.
They might have had artistic dreams,
but they ended up being professors.
And they're the ones that write the textbooks at college.
90 percent.
I haven't seen any in any of the colleges
that I've participated in or I've looked at.
(27:45):
I looked at other publishers' books, many, many publishers' books.
I've been handed them to teach in different colleges.
And they've all been written by professors of art history.
Now, I'm not saying they aren't art lovers.
I'm not saying they aren't very knowledgeable.
They all are.
But I'm telling you, as an artist,
they don't understand us hardly at all.
I really, plus I'm in a more rural state now.
(28:09):
I'm in South Carolina in the school I teach in.
Most of my students are going to college
to learn a practical trade,
maybe in the health services or engineering
and mechanical type degrees.
But they have to take an art class or music class.
So they aren't really there because they love art.
But they're going to leave my class
and they're going to love something about art.
(28:32):
I'm going to, I have a mission.
So this big book came about in 2020.
And it's my heart.
Because I, since I told you I was 10 years old
looking at Michelangelo's piazza.
I have been an art lover, lover of art history.
But from the artist's point of view,
(28:55):
the beauty of what people can create
when they share and express from their hearts.
The cover of my book is a local artist
who grew up on a barrier island in South Carolina
in the Gullah culture.
Gullah are West African descendants of slaves
that were given an island in the Civil War.
(29:16):
They speak some English,
but their language is this unique combination
of West African and English called Gullah.
And they have a culture with incredible arts and crafts,
these amazing sweet grass baskets that they make,
the colors that they wear there.
They created a culture.
And Jonathan Green, who grew up there,
(29:37):
shares the beauty of his culture.
And he chooses not to focus on the fact
that they were descendants of slaves
and the horrors, which were absolutely real.
He chooses to celebrate the color and the beauty
and the vibrancy of the people
who were fishermen and farmers.
And they went to church and they wore big hats
(29:58):
and colorful clothes.
And he celebrates his culture in a way
that is just so appealing.
And most of my students have never heard of him.
They never saw somebody of my color
can make these incredible statements.
And I make them write about one of their favorite artists
in there and very often Jonathan Green is one they choose,
which I made that on purpose.
(30:20):
I want them to find some type of art that moves them.
And I promise you, no matter where you come from,
if you're conservative or like things a little more esoteric
or bizarre or out of the box,
or maybe you just like things to just look like they're supposed to look,
it's okay.
You're allowed your opinion.
You're allowed to feel and think and enjoy what pleases you.
(30:44):
Yeah, I love that.
And yet, why you were saying that,
I was just thinking back to your story about,
you wanted to paint this certain way
and they were trying to force you to do another way.
And how it would have been amazing,
different change in your story
if they had just encouraged you to enjoy
what you like and encourage you at that point
(31:06):
rather than trying to force you into this box.
And I think that also goes back to your other point of thinking about
to what you did as a kid and what makes you happy there.
And trying to refine that now is that sometimes,
it might not be that same thing that you did as a kid,
but you try that and if it doesn't suit you,
you try something else and just keep going
(31:28):
until you find that magic fit.
But that's true, absolutely.
Yeah, because even within the painting world,
as you said, there's so many different styles
and approaches to painting that if you try a painting sip
and it's not the right thing for you,
(31:49):
that doesn't mean that watercolors don't fit you.
Or drawing with a pencil instead or whatever else.
So I just think I love that idea of that,
this kind of constant exploration and testing the waters
and seeing what is the best fit for you.
Yeah, our daughter wasn't musical.
(32:11):
She didn't grow up musical,
although she's picked up some instruments since then.
She's always loved fashion and she can take things
and being a little girl after three big brothers,
we had her late in life, she's been the delight of our lives.
She was given bags of clothes, just dropped on the door
because there's just so many more girl clothes
and there were boy clothes.
They wear them out, that's hard to pass on much,
(32:32):
but girls have bags and bags of clothes
and we had so many clothes
and she would put them together a new way.
She knew, I mean, I'm talking about three, four years old,
she knew what worked for her, what didn't work for her.
And she would just pass on what she didn't want
or she'd mix and match and she just had such a creative flair
with her fashion sense.
(32:53):
She was little.
And then we were in this store
and I'm rolling her along in a stroller,
it was a great big department store
and she's looking at all these racks
and she says, "Mama, what are these?"
I said, "Well, that's where people can buy clothes."
She goes, "People have to buy their clothes."
All plus.
And she made me the best, she designed it
(33:18):
and made this fantastic apron for me to throw
and on the Potter's Wheel with
because I'd had one that had a slit in the middle
but it still would fall off your lap
and you'd get clay all over when you're on the Potter's Wheel.
So she overlapped it, she designed it
so that when I sit at the wheel, it still lays on my leg.
I mean, she knows I like to wrap the straps around
(33:39):
to have the tie in front
so I don't have to stretch in the back.
Deep pockets to keep everything in the...
She designed this for me and it's just so beautiful.
She used hand-boutiqued fabric
because we have taught Batik through the years.
So they all studio babies.
So, you know, she's not a professional artist.
This is just somebody who loves to use her creative ideas
(34:05):
and her imagination and is free to do that.
So I'm grateful.
That's cool.
I think your approach to that is just fabulous
that you have no preformed ideas
about what you want your kids to do.
You're just letting them truly explore and express themselves.
I think that's really wonderful.
(34:26):
Well, thank you.
I'm sure you do too.
And, you know, that's kind of, you know, with the homeschool world,
you're already kind of outside the normal
because we have a state with pretty much the lower end
of the education scores.
And so a lot of parents just didn't want their children
in those schools and, you know, wanted more for them.
(34:47):
And, you know, so we just tried always to just make sure
our children had the best opportunities for them,
you know, what works for them.
And it's all parents feel that way, I think.
And parenting is a creative experience.
They don't come with an owner's manual.
So you're always trying something new,
just even to get them to sleep for goodness sakes.
(35:09):
Using your creative gifts.
I bet continually problem solving.
Right.
Exactly right.
Oh, fantastic.
Well, Karen, how could people get in touch with you
if they want to find out more about the good work
that you're doing?
Well, thank you for asking that.
Yeah, I have a website and I have a free book
(35:29):
that I'd love to give people with my philosophy of creativity
and how you can get healing from it.
It's called Art as Self Therapy,
five steps to a healthier soul.
And it can be accessed through www.carondoloach.com/gift.
(35:51):
And that's a free gift.
And that you can also go to my website,
which is www.carondoloachart.com.
And you can see some examples of my artwork there.
Wonderful.
And I'll--
Let me--
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, I'll like those URLs in our show notes
so everyone can access them.
(36:11):
And ask us that lovely free gift from you.
But thank you so much for joining me today, Karen,
and sharing all your stories.
It's wonderful to hear.
And I don't know if it's just post-COVID,
but I'm still so excited to hear foreign accents.
We didn't hear them for so long, so I appreciate you joining me.
(36:32):
Well, likewise, you have a foreign accent to me, too.
Oh, I know, I know.
We're all foreign here.
But no, thank you very much.
And I also want to say thank you to everyone
who's tuned in to Creativity (36:43):
Uncovered today.
I really hope that this episode has inspired you
to get out there and just try,
try a few different artistic or creative endeavors.
And as always, I really hope that it helps you
some in creativity the next time that you need it.
(37:27):
If you've made it this far, a huge thank you for your support
and tuning into today's episode.
Creativity (37:35):
Uncovered has been lovingly recorded
on the land of the Kabi Kabi people.
And we pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging.
This podcast has been produced by my amazing team here
at Crisp Communications.
And the music you just heard was composed by James Gatling.
(37:56):
If you liked this episode, please do share it around.
And help us on our mission to unlock more creativity
in this world.
You can also hit subscribe so you don't miss out
on any new episode releases.
[MUSIC]
(00:05):
Some people have so much creativity inside them.
It just can't help but come out in different ways.
Quite often, these people also seem to have a calling to help others bring out their creativity.
Hi, my name is Abi Gatling and welcome to Creativity (00:20):
Uncovered.
I'm on a journey to find out how everyday people find
inspiration, get inventive, and open their imagination.
Basically, I want to know how people find and use creative solutions at home,
at work, at play, and everything in between.
(00:42):
My goal for this podcast is that by the end of it,
you'll be armed with a whole suite of tried and tested ways to
someone creativity the next time that you need it.
Today, I'm very excited to be speaking with Karen DeLoach,
who is an artist, an author, a filmmaker, an actor.
(01:02):
She's on a mission to teach and to stir up creativity in others.
This is, I already can tell,
this is going to be a really fun chat.
Welcome, Karen.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, you summed it up and spoke it really well.
I appreciate being online with a fellow creative who understands
(01:23):
and feels this calling and drive as well.
So thank you for having me.
Oh, you're welcome.
I'm really pleased that you have decided to have this chat with me
because I'm very intrigued.
I'm very intrigued by you.
We did have a very brief chat a couple of weeks ago,
and my mind's been running since then about all the questions I want to ask you.
(01:45):
But I think where I would love to start is about
what is your history with creativity and your relation to creativity?
Well, my father is an Irish storyteller.
He just was on vaudeville, loved to tell stories,
and my parents loved musicals.
(02:07):
So there was always, my mom's dad was in the Philharmonic Orchestra
in New York City playing the violin.
So there was a lot of creativity already in the family.
And when I was 10 years old living outside of New York City,
our class went to the New York World's Fair,
where they brought Michelangelo's Piazza all the way from the Vatican in Rome to America.
(02:33):
And I had the privilege at 10 years old to stand in front of this masterpiece
just a few feet away with my mouth open while the rest of the class wanted to go see dinosaurs.
I was astounded that a human being could carve this out of one piece of marble.
And I've been intrigued by art and artists ever since.
I didn't imagine I'd be an artist.
(02:53):
I don't feel like I was born with natural artist talent.
You know, I couldn't draw naturally.
I learned, though, I had some very good instruction and I loved theater and drama
and always had drama production.
So the arts are a big part of my family and who I am.
Oh, my gosh, that's so cool.
I love the fact that when you saw that,
(03:16):
you must have been like an appreciation for art and artistic creation.
Must have been instilled in you by your parents,
whether you knew it or not, the fact that you were so interested in that artwork.
It's true.
Yeah, my father was military.
We moved a lot, but everywhere we went, my mother made sure we went to whatever museums or galleries.
(03:40):
And we were near some big cities.
And I was intrigued and my family would go marching through fast.
And I'd be reading and looking at everything.
I could it's like I couldn't get enough.
So I guess it shouldn't be a huge shock that I ended up writing an art history
appreciation textbook for my college class.
And my mom actually is the one that helped me edit this.
(04:01):
It's 1800 images.
It's all about the pictures because it's a visual art book I teach in college.
And besides that, they have to use my how to draw books
so that they can truly appreciate something they try.
And that is, as you mentioned before, part of my passion,
because I believe all of us have creativity inside of us.
(04:22):
We got half of our brain.
Hello, that's right brain creativity.
And unfortunately, at least in our culture here in America,
it is not the side of the brain that's rewarded in school.
So you have these five year olds when you ask them,
do you like to sing and dance and and bang on the drums?
(04:42):
And they say yes and color with crayons.
Yes. You ask 15 year olds that same question.
And about 90% say no while they're listening to Led Zeppelin on headphones,
you know, music from my generation.
So something happens in those 10 years that is not because they lose it.
(05:04):
It's because it's it's kind of squashed while left brain logic
and critical thinking and in judgment and memorization.
And those are the skills that are rewarded.
And those are the skills you said you're going to need when you find jobs.
And they're the skills that most of us spend our time developing
and not our right brain creative side.
(05:26):
That I mean, what you said there is such a common story
that we've heard on the podcast that people when they're younger,
they have this kind of unbridled creativity
and it's encouraged and at some point it's just sort of stopped
because, you know, external pressures or internal pressures.
Like, did that ever happen to you?
(05:48):
Oh, yeah. I mean, I got totally squashed when I was in college.
I went to art school. I chose art and theater.
And I did OK in drawing.
I'd learned and gotten some good drawing instruction.
And I was keeping up with my peers.
But painting was another story.
By the time I started getting into painting classes,
they were very intellectual oriented, very left brain, abstract expressionist.
(06:11):
And I wanted to paint people and landscapes and things that were beautiful.
And it was so not appreciated to the point of using four letter words
to describe my paintings so much so that this is the tragedy.
I didn't paint, finish a painting for 20 years.
And that's the truth.
They convinced me I was a three dimensional artist.
(06:32):
I went into ceramics, which I love and I still do sculpture and ceramics.
But they did not encourage my ability to paint or teach me how.
So, you know, that's I even though I was already a teenager, upper teenager,
it really did completely squash my ability to finish a painting until.
And it was subconscious.
It wasn't like, oh, I'm going to start this painting.
(06:53):
And this time I'm going to finish it.
It wasn't even it was on my radar. Oh, I want to do this.
I started having children.
I wanted to paint them and and I couldn't do it.
And then all of a sudden I'm moving and I'm looking at all these unfinished
canvases and like, what's wrong with me?
And then I discovered a mentor.
He was an old school painting teacher had been to the Chicago Art Institute
when they actually taught people to paint and he did.
(07:15):
He taught me how to paint.
It was the mechanics I was missing.
It was the foundational color theory and how to mix and match colors.
And because I wanted to be more naturalistic or realistic or impressionistic,
I needed those skills to pull it off, which I didn't have.
And so I understand how it feels when your own personal creativity,
(07:36):
which is the sensitive side of us.
It it's gentle and sensitive.
And so that part of us, it's intuitive and has imagination is easily crushed.
It can't stand up under criticism and judgment and perfectionism.
And all of these left brain bully ideas.
(07:56):
So instead of the left brain serving the right brain,
we have the opposite.
And I think as a human race, we suffer as a result, all of us.
You know, my sons are musicians.
My my husband's a musician.
They they chose music and they have spent their lives
pursuing excellence as musicians, which is hard to find rewards.
(08:20):
And the joy of doing what you love.
And and, you know, I still hope that they get to a point where it pays off.
But meanwhile, they've just done that everything they can to be
excellent at their craft and to write their own music.
They they they do the videos themselves for their music videos.
They do their own illustrations and posters.
(08:41):
And they are full hands on musicians.
And they went to Germany in order to find a way to get produced
and met beautiful German girls and gave me a little half German grandbaby.
So I'm on a mission to go there, too.
But yeah, it's it's a universal human desire to find a way to create.
It's part of our very most inner being.
(09:03):
And if we don't, we feel that lack.
Or maybe we're not all artists or actors, but we we almost all have a poem
or a book or a story to tell or things to weave or knit or or or quilt or
there's so many ways to be creative that's not limited to course, music and dance
(09:27):
and singing. It's hard to find a person that doesn't have something
some way that they can develop to be personally creative.
Oh, I 100 percent agree.
And it absolutely just crushes me to hear that you had that experience.
I had a very similar experience, actually, when I was in high school as well.
And it stopped me.
(09:48):
It pushed me in a whole another career path.
And I finally, you know, I've made my way back again.
But it's just it's so interesting the influence of people around you
have on your creativity, because it is such a sensitive and personal
and expressive thing to be artistic that it can be easily crushed.
(10:12):
So I'm sorry to hear that.
No. So I, you know, make whatever I am as a teacher, as a mentor,
as a safe, no criticism zone, even if it's, you know, Zoom online, wherever it is,
no criticism. And I'll tell you what, the older we get, the harder that is to do.
It's we're so used to that that, like I said, the left brain bully saying, you know,
(10:36):
you're not good, you can't do that.
It just it's just terrifying to most people to try something new creatively,
whatever it is. And that that's just so sad because it is that that inner four
year old, five year old is still there wanting to dance and jump and sing and
spin and and bang on the drums and be be creative.
(10:57):
So and color, even outside the lines, I love to paint big.
And it's just a family story that I would end up painting on the walls because
the paper just was never big enough for me.
And my mom, oh, man, I can't tell you how many times I had to figure out how
to watch the walls ended up doing murals for years.
(11:18):
That's a good solution.
I would say that was practice painting on the drawing on the walls when I was a
kid, but it was like, didn't go over real big when I was little.
I ended up doing murals in homes and restaurants and just love it.
Yeah, create an environment.
That's one solution.
(11:39):
I mean, make it as full.
I meant to paint on that wall now.
Yeah, my husband says our walls are just just canvases for me.
And most of most every room has probably a mural somewhere.
That is so cool.
I would love to see that.
I would love to see that.
So it sounds to me, though, you know, you had that experience and that
(12:01):
experience of being crushed and now you're sort of going out of your way to
make sure that doesn't happen to your kids and and your in your teaching.
So tell me your approach to this.
Like, oh, how do you how did you get into teaching?
Well, you know, as an artist, you think, how am I going to make a living?
Right? So I made a choice to get my master's degree so I could teach in
(12:24):
college. I didn't think I wanted to work with children until I became a mom
my own and opens up a different world when you become a mom, as you know.
And of course, children are so easy to influence in the sense that if you if
you are a creative, you get to try all these things with them and see which way
they're bent, you know, if it's music or art or singing, you know, the joke is
(12:45):
that my children are all studio babies.
And because we ended up homeschooling, we had homeschool children that would
come and do art with me and we had bartered so they could have science or
math, other courses, languages with other other other parents so that I could.
All right, I'll teach your children.
You teach mine and we would do that exchange.
And then if they bring them sometime, I'd let the moms come free and
(13:08):
discovered some beautiful creative moms in the process because usually it's
the moms most of the time.
And they were found some very talented people.
You know, the other thing that started happening is that a lot of creatives,
if we're bent that way, we don't necessarily succeed at a lot of left
(13:29):
brain learning.
And it's not, you know, some people are more balanced, you know, left brain,
right brain, but some people are definitely bent in their label.
They don't sit still well.
They're visual learners.
They're kinetic learners.
So they don't sit in classrooms for seven hours.
They feel like they're stupid because they don't learn well that way.
(13:50):
So we could take them home and do manipulative math where they could build,
you know, and learn structures through, through manipulating the math.
And there was ways to teach that fit for my children.
It turns out I'm not the only one with children that don't do well in those
environments.
A lot of children have learning disabilities.
I mean, they're stupid, you know?
So if they could come to the studio, have success, it really gave them courage
(14:14):
to try other things and to keep persevering with the things that were a lot
harder. So I felt like I was really coming alongside these young people.
And I saw many of them grow up and I've even taught their children.
I've been doing it so long, you know, teaching their children how to draw or
paint and seeing their creativity spark alive and seeing, seeing it work.
(14:36):
And I realized that these, these techniques that I've developed through
how to draw and how to paint and are, are not only based on
historically foundational skill building, but they work 100% of the time,
no matter where somebody starts, whether they have talent or not,
they're going to get better based on these, because that's what they do.
And I have techniques that get you out of your left brain and into your right
(14:59):
brain. And so those are really fun to share with people and see them get out
of that performance orientation, product orientation, that the, the,
the fun of doing it is actually taking over the joy of, of actually doing it.
And now I've been studying the science behind it.
So before I didn't, I just did it and saw it work and didn't understand it.
(15:22):
And now I've been learning about the brain and, and the functionality and
neural, neural pathways that are formed.
And can I give you one example that is really powerful of, of a student of mine
who grew up in my studio and he was, had lots of learning disabilities.
And his mom was an expert at helping him, but he was so good at art.
He even won the largest youth competition here in, in the low country,
(15:46):
not only first place, but grand prize.
Three months later, he got a brain infection that caused a stroke.
And at 17, became paralyzed on one side of his body, not expected to live.
He did live, talked to him yesterday, as a matter of fact.
He had to have a plastic skull put on his head.
(16:07):
My gosh. At first, he couldn't talk, walk.
He couldn't use his left leg or hand, but.
And four months he could shuffle, still couldn't talk.
But his mom brought him back to the studio.
And I would endeavor to teach him to draw with his left hand.
In a very short time, he was as good left handed as he had been right handed.
(16:31):
I get the call from his neurosurgeon.
What are you doing with David?
He is stronger with his weak hand than I am.
And I'm a surgeon.
Not only that, there are improvements happening in his brain
that we can verify on his right side.
Yesterday, he carried on a full conversation with me,
(16:53):
whereas I remember when he couldn't even hardly put two words together.
Now he's talking in complete sentences 10 years later.
And, you know, I might come back to the studio,
I'd come draw with me, I'd come paint with me.
And I see that dance between art and science
(17:15):
that work together, the brain science.
And there's even a category of neuroscience called neuro-arts.
So they're finding, they take veterans, there's whole programs,
where they take veterans suffering from PTSD
and other physical and emotional problems.
And they do art projects with them.
And they're finding just not thinking about their physical problems,
emotional problems, brings healing.
(17:37):
That's so exciting to me.
Wow. I mean, what is the connection there?
I mean, is it, what is the connection there?
I'm thinking that, you know, with the story with David,
he kind of already knew all the sides of creativity
and he had all that sort of sitting away in there.
(17:59):
He just had to train his body again to do it.
But exactly how does that work?
Well, according to his neurosurgeon, there's literally,
because he had already been a creative.
He'd already built up a lot of pathways,
because you're cooperating with your right brain
when you're actually drawing and painting or sculpting or using,
(18:19):
like my sons with their instruments,
they can play them left-handed, right-handed.
You're using a piano with two hands.
It's not like one, you're just using,
gee, I only use my right hand all the time.
They're using, you know, weekends, all ways.
David learned to do that.
So he was already developing these neuro pathways
between his left brain and right brain
before he had this severe brain trauma
(18:40):
that caused the right side to be damaged.
I guess prefrontal area of his brain was damaged.
And he's creating new pathways all the time to function.
He can walk now.
He can talk.
He still, he can use his hand a little bit,
but he still doesn't write with his right hand.
He's still in therapy, but seeing him have a life, a life,
(19:04):
laughter, he has full function of his face and his hand.
You know, he does, people would could look at him
and not know that he had that severe an injury
and the part that art played.
And then there's my friend that came to the studio
with her children and she got diagnosed with a severe,
I guess, category four, stage four breast cancer,
(19:26):
both sides, six months to live.
I brought her into the studio while she was in radiation,
chemo, mastectomy, rebuilding.
Didn't expect to be around for this big show.
It was in, it was a porcelain room installation.
And I had her in my studio working with her hands
(19:48):
the whole time.
And not only was she there, 10 years later,
she's still here and cancer free.
So she says it helped save her life.
Now, how do you explain that?
I can't tell you all the science behind it.
I just know that having a project,
having something creative to do,
something hopeful to look forward to,
(20:08):
and the fun of doing it,
helped her recover from a possibly fatal diagnosis.
I mean, I have a sister-in-law
that died from that same diagnosis last year.
So I know that art had its part to play.
And I believe in it.
It's, it's, it helps people emotionally.
And you described it, it's a way to express
(20:30):
your innermost feelings, whether it's through poetry or dance,
you know, however you want to do it.
It's important because there is a sense of significance
that happens in us.
A child, when they're, they get praised by their parent,
when they're spinning and dancing or banging on the drums,
is going to want to do that again.
They're, they're, they're going to be encouraged to keep doing it.
(20:50):
And of course we see what happens when they're the opposite.
But it's never too late.
And I'm here to tell you, it's, it's not too late for you.
It's, you know, you're not too old to try something new.
And that's part of, part of what I do with people
when I work with them one-on-one,
I find out what their goals are,
what their inner heart dreams and desires are.
(21:11):
Where do they need to go?
Maybe it's not to be an artist.
Maybe it's because there's something else percolating,
a book percolating in them, or some kind of storytelling,
or you never know, it's there.
And I love to see it, you know, and I can,
I can see that happening with the people I get to work with.
Take them where they are to where,
help them get to where they want to go.
(21:33):
Yeah.
Why, why is that important to you to help people on their creative journey?
Well, that right side that is so sensitive,
and for most people underdeveloped and discouraged,
at least if not crushed,
is the intuitive, imaginative, sensitive side of our soul
(21:57):
that connects us with our creator.
I mean, I believe it's very spiritual that we're spiritual beings,
and that as we touch, we're the only part of creation
that can enjoy beauty.
And we look around creation and we see beauty,
and we can acknowledge that we're the ones to see color.
We can see, we can see, you know, the colors as they change
(22:19):
during different seasons, or the, you know,
enjoying the sounds of water that makes,
and all the vibrations and things that happen.
It is amazing that we are the ones that can appreciate this.
Why is that?
Because we're made the image of our creator.
So when that part of us has been diminished,
maybe we chose to be parents or, you know, a career,
(22:40):
we would, we would poured ourselves into our career,
into our families, and now they're older,
some of us are older, we're going,
okay, now what, what else,
how, what else can I do to pour myself into others,
and how can I still feel significant and have purpose,
and not just lay back and say,
my job is done, and turn on the tube, or whatever.
(23:01):
There's still more, there's more to life.
Let's live the whole time we're alive, and it's,
and it's exciting to me, it's not too late.
I'm a baby boomer, and we're a huge generation of,
of people reaching, not necessarily retirement,
I guess some are, but we want to still be fruitful and active.
And it's a way to just keep that part of our brain alive
(23:23):
and awake and functioning in so many wonderful ways.
That's cool, I love it.
It's sort of your way of giving back,
or giving, giving to your community, it seems,
by sharing your talents this way.
So, we mentioned before that everyone is creative,
and it might just, you know, be hidden away somewhere.
How do you think people, anyone who's listening today,
(23:48):
who may be thinking they're not a creative person,
what steps do you think they should take to start to discover their creativity?
That's a really good question.
That's a wonderful question, because, you know,
some people too are afraid of AI, you know,
are this whole, you know, chat GPT and AI is like,
(24:10):
why are they going to take over my job, you know,
all these fears and being scared of it?
And, and that's the anecdote is, okay, I've got this,
I can acknowledge that I have half a brain
that is for the creative that must be there somewhere.
And I know that they, if they examine their hearts
and think what kind of dreams, when I was four, when I was five,
what was in there that really moved me?
(24:32):
And what I mean to, you know, like doing,
I was doing drama productions in the backyard,
you know, and giving money to Jerry's kids,
that was an American fundraiser every year
for children with muscular dystrophy.
So, you put on a play and you invite people to pay a dollar
to come see your play, and then you send it, you know,
the money to him.
And, you know, it was okay, we could do this.
(24:53):
And, you know, we ride them and direct them
and get the neighborhood children to do it.
There's so many ways that this can be encouraged.
And everybody who's ever been a teacher knows
that you're going to be using your creativity
to keep children or even young adults,
whoever, however age group you're teaching active,
or maybe you've got little ones at home
and you're looking for creative ways
(25:15):
to not let your toddlers drive you crazy.
And you just, in little spurts, they like to drum.
You know, there's some children right away,
they just want to drum.
What was driving you when you were little?
What were you thinking about?
Did you notice the trees?
Did you notice animals?
People love animals, and they love to take care of animals
(25:35):
and pour themselves.
There's so many ways to be creative.
It's like an infinite number of ways.
And I've never met anybody that didn't have some type
of creative gift inside of them.
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
I think thinking back to your childhood
and what made you happy and what you were interested in
is such a cool place to start because so often
(25:58):
we just don't remember that,
or we don't see the significance of that.
But I do think that can give you clues for what you could explore now as an adult.
So, yeah, I think that's really cool.
And I just want to ask you one more question.
I think that's a really great practical tip.
(26:20):
Tell me, you've written some practical books.
You've shown us two just before.
How did you get into that?
Because that's a whole other thing.
Like you started with your painting,
then you moved into ceramics and things like that,
and acting and now writing.
(26:40):
That's a whole plethora.
A whole lot of different talents there.
How did you get into the writing of books?
And why did you do that?
That's a good question because it was never on my radar,
but really basically the how to draw book was inspiration from God.
Because it was like, these techniques you've learned
(27:02):
that are helping people,
I want you to write them out, these exercises.
I didn't even know I was going to use them in college, teaching college,
and because I was using these techniques to teach
in the homeschooling world for 30 years.
So it wasn't until I raised my children
and stopped homeschooling that I went to teaching in college.
And then something that bothered me when I was an art student
(27:23):
that every art history course I took,
especially in graduate school,
was taught by someone who was an art history professor.
They might have had artistic dreams,
but they ended up being professors.
And they're the ones that write the textbooks at college.
90 percent.
I haven't seen any in any of the colleges
that I've participated in or I've looked at.
(27:45):
I looked at other publishers' books, many, many publishers' books.
I've been handed them to teach in different colleges.
And they've all been written by professors of art history.
Now, I'm not saying they aren't art lovers.
I'm not saying they aren't very knowledgeable.
They all are.
But I'm telling you, as an artist,
they don't understand us hardly at all.
I really, plus I'm in a more rural state now.
(28:09):
I'm in South Carolina in the school I teach in.
Most of my students are going to college
to learn a practical trade,
maybe in the health services or engineering
and mechanical type degrees.
But they have to take an art class or music class.
So they aren't really there because they love art.
But they're going to leave my class
and they're going to love something about art.
(28:32):
I'm going to, I have a mission.
So this big book came about in 2020.
And it's my heart.
Because I, since I told you I was 10 years old
looking at Michelangelo's piazza.
I have been an art lover, lover of art history.
But from the artist's point of view,
(28:55):
the beauty of what people can create
when they share and express from their hearts.
The cover of my book is a local artist
who grew up on a barrier island in South Carolina
in the Gullah culture.
Gullah are West African descendants of slaves
that were given an island in the Civil War.
(29:16):
They speak some English,
but their language is this unique combination
of West African and English called Gullah.
And they have a culture with incredible arts and crafts,
these amazing sweet grass baskets that they make,
the colors that they wear there.
They created a culture.
And Jonathan Green, who grew up there,
(29:37):
shares the beauty of his culture.
And he chooses not to focus on the fact
that they were descendants of slaves
and the horrors, which were absolutely real.
He chooses to celebrate the color and the beauty
and the vibrancy of the people
who were fishermen and farmers.
And they went to church and they wore big hats
(29:58):
and colorful clothes.
And he celebrates his culture in a way
that is just so appealing.
And most of my students have never heard of him.
They never saw somebody of my color
can make these incredible statements.
And I make them write about one of their favorite artists
in there and very often Jonathan Green is one they choose,
which I made that on purpose.
(30:20):
I want them to find some type of art that moves them.
And I promise you, no matter where you come from,
if you're conservative or like things a little more esoteric
or bizarre or out of the box,
or maybe you just like things to just look like they're supposed to look,
it's okay.
You're allowed your opinion.
You're allowed to feel and think and enjoy what pleases you.
(30:44):
Yeah, I love that.
And yet, why you were saying that,
I was just thinking back to your story about,
you wanted to paint this certain way
and they were trying to force you to do another way.
And how it would have been amazing,
different change in your story
if they had just encouraged you to enjoy
what you like and encourage you at that point
(31:06):
rather than trying to force you into this box.
And I think that also goes back to your other point of thinking about
to what you did as a kid and what makes you happy there.
And trying to refine that now is that sometimes,
it might not be that same thing that you did as a kid,
but you try that and if it doesn't suit you,
you try something else and just keep going
(31:28):
until you find that magic fit.
But that's true, absolutely.
Yeah, because even within the painting world,
as you said, there's so many different styles
and approaches to painting that if you try a painting sip
and it's not the right thing for you,
(31:49):
that doesn't mean that watercolors don't fit you.
Or drawing with a pencil instead or whatever else.
So I just think I love that idea of that,
this kind of constant exploration and testing the waters
and seeing what is the best fit for you.
Yeah, our daughter wasn't musical.
(32:11):
She didn't grow up musical,
although she's picked up some instruments since then.
She's always loved fashion and she can take things
and being a little girl after three big brothers,
we had her late in life, she's been the delight of our lives.
She was given bags of clothes, just dropped on the door
because there's just so many more girl clothes
and there were boy clothes.
They wear them out, that's hard to pass on much,
(32:32):
but girls have bags and bags of clothes
and we had so many clothes
and she would put them together a new way.
She knew, I mean, I'm talking about three, four years old,
she knew what worked for her, what didn't work for her.
And she would just pass on what she didn't want
or she'd mix and match and she just had such a creative flair
with her fashion sense.
(32:53):
She was little.
And then we were in this store
and I'm rolling her along in a stroller,
it was a great big department store
and she's looking at all these racks
and she says, "Mama, what are these?"
I said, "Well, that's where people can buy clothes."
She goes, "People have to buy their clothes."
All plus.
And she made me the best, she designed it
(33:18):
and made this fantastic apron for me to throw
and on the Potter's Wheel with
because I'd had one that had a slit in the middle
but it still would fall off your lap
and you'd get clay all over when you're on the Potter's Wheel.
So she overlapped it, she designed it
so that when I sit at the wheel, it still lays on my leg.
I mean, she knows I like to wrap the straps around
(33:39):
to have the tie in front
so I don't have to stretch in the back.
Deep pockets to keep everything in the...
She designed this for me and it's just so beautiful.
She used hand-boutiqued fabric
because we have taught Batik through the years.
So they all studio babies.
So, you know, she's not a professional artist.
This is just somebody who loves to use her creative ideas
(34:05):
and her imagination and is free to do that.
So I'm grateful.
That's cool.
I think your approach to that is just fabulous
that you have no preformed ideas
about what you want your kids to do.
You're just letting them truly explore and express themselves.
I think that's really wonderful.
(34:26):
Well, thank you.
I'm sure you do too.
And, you know, that's kind of, you know, with the homeschool world,
you're already kind of outside the normal
because we have a state with pretty much the lower end
of the education scores.
And so a lot of parents just didn't want their children
in those schools and, you know, wanted more for them.
(34:47):
And, you know, so we just tried always to just make sure
our children had the best opportunities for them,
you know, what works for them.
And it's all parents feel that way, I think.
And parenting is a creative experience.
They don't come with an owner's manual.
So you're always trying something new,
just even to get them to sleep for goodness sakes.
(35:09):
Using your creative gifts.
I bet continually problem solving.
Right.
Exactly right.
Oh, fantastic.
Well, Karen, how could people get in touch with you
if they want to find out more about the good work
that you're doing?
Well, thank you for asking that.
Yeah, I have a website and I have a free book
(35:29):
that I'd love to give people with my philosophy of creativity
and how you can get healing from it.
It's called Art as Self Therapy,
five steps to a healthier soul.
And it can be accessed through www.carondoloach.com/gift.
(35:51):
And that's a free gift.
And that you can also go to my website,
which is www.carondoloachart.com.
And you can see some examples of my artwork there.
Wonderful.
And I'll--
Let me--
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, I'll like those URLs in our show notes
so everyone can access them.
(36:11):
And ask us that lovely free gift from you.
But thank you so much for joining me today, Karen,
and sharing all your stories.
It's wonderful to hear.
And I don't know if it's just post-COVID,
but I'm still so excited to hear foreign accents.
We didn't hear them for so long, so I appreciate you joining me.
(36:32):
Well, likewise, you have a foreign accent to me, too.
Oh, I know, I know.
We're all foreign here.
But no, thank you very much.
And I also want to say thank you to everyone
who's tuned in to Creativity (36:43):
Uncovered today.
I really hope that this episode has inspired you
to get out there and just try,
try a few different artistic or creative endeavors.
And as always, I really hope that it helps you
some in creativity the next time that you need it.
(37:27):
If you've made it this far, a huge thank you for your support
and tuning into today's episode.
Creativity (37:35):
Uncovered has been lovingly recorded
on the land of the Kabi Kabi people.
And we pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging.
This podcast has been produced by my amazing team here
at Crisp Communications.
And the music you just heard was composed by James Gatling.
(37:56):
If you liked this episode, please do share it around.
And help us on our mission to unlock more creativity
in this world.
You can also hit subscribe so you don't miss out
on any new episode releases.
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