The Creative braid

French Braid

A triadic braid is a common motif that crosses many cultures throughout the world. It can be seen in everyday life in diverse places such as hair styles, rugs, and rope manufacture. In fine art it is used as an element of ornamentation. The idea of braiding or entwining various strands stems from the need to make one strand stronger by adding another strand and another etc. The manner in which these strands are entwined is very creative since the element of colour and texture can be used to create variety in the braid.

Fish Tail Braid

4 Strand Braid

Figuratively braiding can be seen in society where the different cultures mingle yet maintain their identity like in multi-cultural Trinidad and Tobago, there are East Indians, Africans, Europeans, Chinese, Syrians, South Americans. Yet we all celebrate Divali with our Hindu brothers because they are a part of the national culture.

The hair braiding varies from 3 strands to 5 strands and is used from everyday hair styling of kindergarten school girls to elaborate high fashion hair styling. Throughout time we can think of epic images of Star Wars character Princess Leia, Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and numerous musicians Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Janet Jackson, snoop dog, all of whom have made a mark on the hair styling scene because of their fame.

Three of my students were given an assignment to use the elements of line, colour and an achromatic colour scheme to depict a triadic braid made up of common materials such as wire, ribbon and cord. The flexibility of the braid and the various degrees of the tightness of the woven strands are aptly depicted using the mediums of pencil, colour pencil, pen and markers.


 These dry media allowed the artists good control of the subtle value changes due to the circular nature of the strands. The use of different coloured pens captures the fragility of the lace strand in the braid with ribbons and lace. One can almost feel the smoothness of the wire used in the green coloured braid, this artist showed good skill in his use of media. The artist created good composition in her arrangement of positive and negative space where she allows the braid to weave across her canvas creating a variety of angular negative shapes; the flexibility of the braid is well showcased in this composition.

Function and creativity

Clay Monkey Jar

Function is the driving force behind creativity. 

The creation of an object stems from its purpose, how will it make our lives easier. The aesthetics of the creation must blend well with its purpose. From a business perspective a creative designer will create an aesthetically pleasing object with minimum use of materials yet fulfill a purpose. From the earliest forms of pottery the need to preserve and protect our food and drink from animals were the function of our clay jars. The potters created the clay jars from necessity but aesthetically created them from observing the natural environment like the monkeys and so the monkey jars were created. The handle of the monkey jar imitates the tail of a monkey, the medium of the unglazed clay facilitated keeping water cool. 

 
Glass as a medium allowed us to create lighter objects enabling us to hold them in one hand to be able to drink liquids. The different type of liquids determined the design of the glass such as a wine glass has a wider opening than a champagne fluted glass because the wine needs to breathe and the champagne needs to keep its bubbles, both designs are based on the function of the glass. The aesthetic designs seen on glasses facilitates us being able to grip a glass with ease. A water glass is thankfully much bigger than a shot glass, a brandy glass is rounded with a short stem to fit snugly in the palm of your hand because the warmth of your hand warms the brandy which is how it should be drunk.
 
The previous examples of glasses and crockery were created to facilitate the function of preserving and enabling us to drink cool liquids. The medium of glazed clays or ceramics allowed us to create containers to facilitate warm liquids like tea and coffees. A teapot has a rounded body, an elegant extended handle and a sloping spout to allow us to pour the hot liquid slowly. All of these characteristic forms of a teapot are created based on function.

A lot of these different glass and crockery examples have been around for centuries where their function determined their creative form, the aesthetic appearances may have changed due to the stylistic trends of the different art periods such as the different glazes used to create Majolica  and Wedgwood ware. However new designs are being created by altering older designs to create an object that now has a new function. I stumbled across a new creation recently which combines an eating utensil, a mug and a soup bowl.

A modern day ceramic creation that has multiple functions and represents the fast pace of the 21st century lifestyle......eating on the run. The use of contrasting value and colour makes this creation aesthetically pleasing to look at and trendy. The contrast in value between the matt black finish on the outside and the glossy clean green which is echoed on the spoon creates an eye catching combination. The similarity of the rounded shapes of the spoon, handle and opening sharply contrasts with the sharp gradient of the body of the vessel.

Colour attracts the eye, it is one of the simplest yet most dynamic elements in design. This Blog will look at analyzing how people and nature create unique images and objects. Some creations may be mundane while others may exist in an art gallery or museum but they are all expressions of creativity. 

Forest Spirits Ballerinas

The elements and principles of design are the basis of how artists create objects that are attractive to the viewer's eye. Understanding the elements of line, shape/form, colour, texture, value, variety and space enables the artist to manipulate these elements by the principles of design which are balance, unity, emphasis, proportion, contrast, repetition and rhythm/movement to produce a very visually pleasing product.

My first example of creativity is the acrylic painting of Forest spirits ballerinas. This piece shows good use of the elements and principles of design in the contrast of value in the white dresses and the dark greens of the trees. The contrast of the fragile nature of the human body compared to the strength of the trees can be observed in the light airy movement of the main ballerina. The focal point is achieved by the use of texture and proportion making the main ballerina almost pop off the canvas.

This painting links the performing arts and the visual arts two areas of creativity that I am most familiar with which is the reason for this painting being the subject matter for my first critical analysis of creativity for my blog.