I first learned about flow when I was reviewing literature on wellness for my masters. I was researching it because it was a characteristic of “work.” I wanted to determine whether work could have a positive affect on well-being or if this was a myth emerging from the capitalist work ethic.
As might be expected, becoming so engaged in an activity that you lose track of time and feel fulfilled does have a positive affect. This is the state you want to achieve when you are learning or creating.
Notes and quotes from the Flow article:
Levels of flow were higher in active classwork than in passive classwork
“It is the subjective challenges and subjective skills, not objective ones, that influence the quality of a person’s experience.”
Awareness of time and self fades
Thoughts, feelings wishes and actions in concert
It is a subjective experience, differentiated and integrated
Too low of a challenge results in boredom or apathy and the attention drifts
too high of a challenge results in anxiety or self consciousness over shortcomings
Possessing skills and interest in an activity is a precondition for experiencing flow in it
Personality is also a factor
Autotelic personality: A person who tends to enjoy life and achieves things for their own sake as opposed to having extrinsic motivation
I read about Ada Lovelace and put together some thoughts and notes.
Ada Lovelace was a brilliant mathematician. She wrote the first algorithm for Charles Babbage’s analytical engine and had the insight to realize it could be used for more than simple calculations.
In her article discussing Lovelace, Sadie Plant asserts that because women were the foundation of the textile industry, they provided the basis for the development of the computer. She draws attention to the contributions of Ada Lovelace-who wrote the algorithm for the proposed Analytical engine-and Grace Hopper-who created the first computer programming language.
She also points out the prejudice and misogyny that prevented the acknowledgement of these contributions as significant.
Freud’s fantasies about female penis envy exemplify the attitudes that Plant attributes to men at that time in general. While, not every man may have justified the social construction of women as less with sexually-based philosophy, it was generally accepted that women were, as a rule, weaker and less capable than men. Evidence from the chapter includes the classification of Lovelace as eccentric, wayward and hysterical. Evidence from outside the chapter includes the women who programmed ENIAC and were not recognized for their work. Software was not considered difficult and programming not prestigious, so women got to do it.
I felt confused by the way Plant associates women with the development of the technology that supports the textile industry.
Spindle and wheel -> basis for axle and wheel and rotations
Canvasses underlie art
Writing is inked onto a woven substrate
Women were the textile artists who were developing the styles and the techniques. I am unsure about crediting them with technological innovations. Did they invent the tech or did they provide the hands to use it? They were part of the motivation to create it, but so was the need for textiles. When I reflected with my friends, they helped me realize that the big inventions that history has attributed to men cannot be considered in isolation from all the small inventions or improvements that the people using the machines the most would have come up with. I still don’t know if I agree with Plant completely, but there is a case for her argument.
I made connections between the textile industry and global systems of economy. The cotton market created a new class of bourgeoisie: merchants and owners. The Industrial Revolution resulted from the knitting machine taking the work out of the individual producers’ hands. While everyone used to make their own clothing, handmade products are more likely to be seen as indie art now.
Prain, L., & Christenson, J. (2011). Hoopla: The art of unexpected embroidery. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press.
Both the Hoopla chapter and the Artsy article note that fibre artists are challenging the notion that the only suitable content for embroidery consists of ducks in bonnets or scriptural verse. While traditional eurocentric content reinforced submissive femininity, contemporary artists embrace stitching as a means of representing imagery typically associated with commercial art and advertising, or work that lies outside the mainstream such as tattoo art, comic book art and even pornography.
Both readings emphasize the time that embroidery requires. Hoopla in particular communicates that it is about slowing down, being present, and sacrificing and investing your time. It endows one’s mark making with greater significance.
I was fascinated by the history of embroidery. Like Sarah, I mostly associated the medium with crossstitch or the fabric transfers my mom taught me to sew. I also thought of folk and indigenous cultures embellishing their clothing and textiles. I now have more respect for the meaning and messages communicated by such rituals.
I was excited to see the diverse methods and materials that have been used by different cultures. The Artsy article shows artists forging new paths, combining embroidery with painting, installation, 3D fabric art, and a variety of substrates. It shows that fibre art is a dynamic and thriving medium.
I didn’t get to read the whole thing, but the part that struck me about idea generation was how they wanted to encourage divergent thinking. I can see why having multiple ideas is good and would try to encourage it in my students by asking them “How many ways can you solve this?” rather than simply “How can this be solved?”
I think in my own creative process I like to have one idea that I get very passionate about. I feel concern that this energy could be reduced if I shifted my focus from the eureka moment to multiple eureka moments. Maybe I would just need to enjoy each one. I wonder if my students would feel the same concern?
Other points that were brought up in class included the flipped classroom, and collaboration. I am going to read this in its entirety over the break.
Kelly, R., (2008). “Longitudinal Creativity: Understanding the Growth and Development of Ideas in an Educational Setting,” In Creative Expression Creative Education (pp. 21 -33) Edited by Robert Kelly and Carl Leggo, Calgary: Detselig Enterprise Ltd.
Wertheim’s goal “to communicate about science, technology, and mathematics in new and innovative ways, focusing on what I consider to be their poetic and aesthetic ends” p278 seems eminently worthwhile. It doesn’t focus on the “big” questions, rather it makes every day science accessible to everyone, even those of us who may not have an understanding of the formulae and terminology that typically frames this kind of discussion. For young students, it is essential for them to develop confidence in their ability to understand science so they may feel wonder and delight when they learn about it. This doesn’t mean that formulae should be rejected, but that they are only a part of science understanding and exploration–a cerebral part–that can be fueled and complemented by engagement through creative disciplines such as literature, art and music.
In describing Daina’s crocheted models, Wertheim says “you can actually see the space, and feel it, and explore it with your hands.” p279
The Method
“…all you have to do is increase stitches in each row: knit-(n) stitches, increase one; knit-(n) stitches, increase one. When you increase stitches every two stitches, for example, you get a model that gets crenellated very quickly; if you increase every twenty stitches, on the other hand, you get a form that is relatively flat and a lot less frilly. That was the complete initial discovery—utterly simple and utterly brilliant. But Christine and I gradually found that when we began deviating from that original formula the models started to look quite different and a lot more organic. For instance, we tried increasing every three stitches for a while, then every four, then every five, then back to three for a while, and we found that the forms changed quite substantially. So, what we’ve come to is that this is like an experiment in practical evolution; you have this simple, underlying code, but slight shifts in the code make radical differences to the morphology of the finished form.” p281
The play tank “literally, physically playing with ideas”
I am not sure if my ideas of knitting and crochet as art have changed, since I already had a pretty inclusive idea regarding what could be considered art. I do know that a lot of people have traditional ideas about art, not realizing that the things they do include were often rejected by the artist’s contemporaries. My ideas around the validity of crochet as a means to represent science, and as a means of furthering research into science and mathematics has changed. I think it is important to point out that while they are playing with ideas that those who are planning to share it with the academic community will be striving to maintain rigour in their process and documentation practise.
Another thing that this has helped me realize is how separate we keep different disciplines.
From an artistic point of view, the crocheted reef is astonishingly beautiful. It is sophisticated, complicated, but the whole work can be experienced without being overwhelmed by the details. The scale is part of what makes it magnificent. It is very effective at communicating what will be lost do to misuse of the planet. I prefer this manner of social commentary over those that show the garbage piling up around us. Rather than using guilt, it is like someone is teaching you to care. Saying “look” “please”
As always, I kinda want to soak them in ceramic slip and fire them up.
Buszek (Ed.), Extra/ordinary: Craft and contemporary art (pp. 175-183). Durham and London: Duke University Press.
I saw this online image of a cozy, little fire hydrant all tucked up in a knitted hydrant sweater. I thought it was one person pulling an isolated prank. It turns out I was wrong; yarn bombing is a “thing.”
It is quirky and makes me laugh. It is subversive in its association with graffiti, but it is cute and mostly harmless. No property is damaged, but a mark is definitely left behind.
I suppose it could get even more subversive depending on the things referenced by the graffiti artists.
Would I ever yarn bomb?
I think I wouldn’t. It seems like a lot of work that I would be leaving behind. Maybe I am more attached to my product than I realize.
Prain, L., & Moore, M. (2009). Yarn bombing: The art of crochet and knit graffiti. Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp Press.
“My ethnicity does not matter to me. Being Chinese or Canadian is irrelevant. I only know that I am an individual living in this world.”
“Nostalgia defeats people. It destroys achievement and makes people lose sight of a better future.”
“If you want to change your life in some way, the path can be a difficult one. But you have no choice but to face such difficulty directly. By doing so you will become a better person.”
“…in this process my ideas are born. None of this, however, can be expressed artistically until the artist has developed technique.”
“Life provides me with experience; art provides me with a way to find my inner self.”
How will identity affect my work?
I put myself … my ‘self’ back together after struggling through 7 years of depression. So much of my art centres around flawed worthiness and I depict it through beautiful, broken things. My struggle with perfectionism competes with this. “The conflict should generate some powerful work,” she muttered in a voice laced with irony.
Gu, X., (2008). “In My Own Words,” In Creative Expression Creative Education (pp. 65-75) Edited by Robert Kelly and Carl Leggo, Calgary: Detselig Enterprise Ltd.
I found Skanda was challenging to follow. I recognize that the inserted lists of textile materials and equipment generated a mood through imagery, but the way I just described it here-flat and analytical-is similar to the way I responded.
I wish it wasn’t. Perhaps a second reading would help. I did feel like the reading traced the history of textiles in a rather selective way, but the author seemed more motivate to mystify rather than clarify. Perhaps I was in the mood for something concrete rather than poetic.
I saw this online image of a cozy, little fire hydrant all tucked up in a 
