Carol Wiebe

Creativity is a precious gift that need not diminish as you grow older. Tap the picture to see my complete Steller book. #agingartist #creativity #Steller #story

Spilling out, gushing forth, free flowing, cascading — this is how I experience creativity, and wish the same for you. Why would I need any other kind of high? Spilling Out #creativity #CWWOL20120612 #high

I am teaching two classes this summer: Open Book for the Altered Ego at Wellington County Museum (see page 3 of the brochure) and Stitched Paper Explorations at Southampton Art School & Gallery. I am passionate about working with paper. Its marvellous capacity to accept any mark making method I throw at it (sometimes literally), every stitch I take through it, every cut, tear, and fold I put into it, never fails to excite and delight me. I want to share that excitement with y

I am teaching two classes this summer: Open Book for the Altered Ego at Wellington County Museum (see page 3 of the brochure) and Stitched Paper Explorations at Southampton Art School & Gallery. I am passionate about working with paper. Its marvellous capacity to accept any mark making method I throw at it (sometimes literally), every stitch I take through it, every cut, tear, and fold I put into it, never fails to excite and delight me. I want to share that excitement with y

. Of course I HAD to turn my one angel into a host of them . . . . Well, four to be exact (one for each of the four corners). I simply took a photo of the original and played with the result. The Four Corners It is very much a part of my nature to keep pushing whatever envelope I happen to be holding. I have a very difficult time doing the same thing twice. Something always changes. Changes completely. My challenge is halting the creative process, not accessing it. After all,

DON’T GIVE UP! (The world needs what you have to give.) #IraGlass #goodtaste #creativity #disappointment #gap #creativeprocess

. “C’mon baby, light my fire.” Remember that line?  Light My Fire, The Doors, 1966. Do you also remember when you thought it was your job to light other people’s fires? Maybe you still do. Passion is hard to fake. When you try to light the fires you are instructed to light, (under)paid to light, they are often pitiful little flames, birthday candle size, easily snuffed out. Your fire turns to embers, then ashes. Light your own fires, I say. Play your own games. Revel in your

Oh, I hope not. I hope you are not settled down, settled period, opting for the safe road ~ the worn and scuffed, overly travelled path. Don't Settle GO for the light ~  for the crazy and different and risky. Let yourself SHINE! Take your creativity off the leash and chase it to a place you’ve never been before. #risky #path #shine #overlyworn #settleddown #creativity #worn #settled #scuffed #CWWOL20111011 #light

My son sent a link to me yesterday, saying that a Ted Talk he listened to, given by Brené Brown, had affected him deeply. Opening to Vulnerability Feel It All I listened to it, and was struck, immediately, by three things: 1–You can’t pick and choose with emotions, numbing or burying  only the “bad” ones. If you attempt to do this, you will also lose connection with the good ones. 2–Maybe protecting our children from really experiencing their emotions, including the bad ones,

Creativity gives new forms, new patterns, new ideas, new art forms. And we don’t know where creativity comes from. Is it inspired from above? Welling up from below? Picked up from the air? What? Creativity is a mystery wherever you encounter it. ……….~ Rupert Sheldrake Creativity Is a Mystery We don’t know where it comes from, but we are ecstatic when it comes. #ideas #mystery #RupertSheldrake #patterns #creativity #ecstasy #ecstatic #encounter

I took this pic of a wall in an alley in Hespeler–part of Cambridge, Ontario. Part of a wall in a part of an alley in a part of Cambridge. (This is starting to sound like a children’s story.) I wish I could have snapped the whole wall, but a parked vehicle blocked my view. (Can you see the small part of the vehicle in the bottom lefthand corner?) Creativity is . . . I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentical

Listening for the promptings of spirit, and seeking to follow them, has been my way of life for decades. In fact, I have clear memories of experiencing a sense of “the Other” as a young child. Therefore, my attention was riveted upon discovering Katherine Treffinger’s brochure, Art of Transformation. On Our Living Dream, Katherine unabashedly reveals her calling to be a mentor and healer for others: In 1980 I had a profound spiritual awakening. As a result I began seeing spir

This is a wonderful story of how inspiration takes an artist, in this case Toni Cavelti,  in a new direction. Barcelona Media Design has actually produced 12 conversations about creativity in Vancouver, BC, Canada. * Thank you to Robert Genn for this link. #BarcelonaMediaDesign #Inspiration #RobertGenn #creativity #Canada #Anewdirection #ToniCavelti #Vancouver

Some time ago (2007) I watched Sir Ken Robinson on YouTube, talking about creativity, and was blown away by his presentation (it was taped at  TED). This man offers serious ideas, but with a charm and humor that makes them entertaining.  One of the stories he shared was that of a little girl drawing during an art exercise. When asked by the teacher to describe what it was, she replied “I am drawing a picture of  God.” “But no-one knows what God looks like,”  the teacher insis

I have written about her before, because gazing at her photo based illustration makes the spirit within me flutter its wings. Elena Ray’s works are evocative, subtle, multi-layered. And she is humble about the amazing way she intertwines her images, tells her stories, suggests and entices, insisting that: The creative process comes through us, not from us. We are creativity. She channels creativity so effectively because her ego steps aside. Her arms are perpetually outstretc

It’s official! I will have a solo show in the gallery at Greenwood Quiltery October 3-31, 2008. The opening is on Saturday, October 4th, and I’ll be there from 2 until 4 pm. I named the show Quilts Incarnate, and being a writer and teacher, I felt the need to include a subtitle, explaining what my title meant (sigh). So, are you ready for this? Quilts Incarnate: celebrating the evolvement from conception to manifestation. It will include a range of mixed media art quilts. I a

Just the other day I posted a new piece of work. I commented that I wasn’t sure if it was finished. Today, I went to the edge of the abyss, as Carla O’Connor would say: I completely covered one side of my paper quilt with white, so I would have to repaint it. This is the kind of risk that, O’Connor teaches, actually encourages us to grow as artists. It’s when we “let go” of the product, of being afraid to ruin the piece as it is so far, and just get lost in the process. It’s

Creativity leaps when you work with a compatible companion. I’ve been writing lately about my experience with my sister, Barb, during a recent visit, where we created art together. As I noted in the title, creativity leaps when in the presence of a compatible companion. Ideas were shooting out of our heads like firecrackers. I’ll have more to say about that later. Previously, I had shown Barb’s ripped, cut, sewn watercolor canvas. I have included it again, below. Ripped, cut,

How could I write about shrine artists and leave out Michael deMeng? He specializes in “making the unsacred into something seemingly sacred.” Interesting word, “seemingly.” Obstensibly, apparently, seemingly all cast doubt on the authenticity of the item in question. Of course, deMeng uses objects in his assemblages that make hilarious and outrageous connections between the sacred and profane (such as his lightbulb shrine–a “better idea” in shrine making, and his “Head Sea Sc