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Not the Creative Kind w/ Ania Pilch
25 Plays5 days ago
In this episode, I'm joined by Ania Pilch (she/her) to discuss her journey toward a creative life through her platform, Not the Creative Kind. Ania grew up believing she wasn't a creative person; if art doesn't seem to come naturally to us, sometimes it's just easier to not go there, allowing stasis and status quo to run the show. There came a point when Ania realized she wanted to change up her lifestyle, and when she pictured her ideal life, there was always art involved--but why have a music studio if you're not playing music? She decided it was time to explore a what a "creative life" meant to her.
Thus began her quest to engage in a more creative life. She challenged herself to try one new hobby every month, and Not the Creative Kind was born. Check out the community she's building on IG and WhatsApp!
References:
CreativeMornings Field Trips
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Host Intros
00:00:00
Speaker
the
00:00:19
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sure can too What matters is to do it, let those feelings flow through
00:00:35
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Hello everybody! Welcome back to The Ugly Podcast. It's me, your host, Laura Alexander. use they, them pronouns. As you know, still, that's still who I am.
00:00:48
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um Today I'm wearing a big black t-shirt with a little tree for Lebanon on it. ah And I look otherwise
Meet Anya: Exploring Creativity
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the same. Most of you know who I am.
00:01:01
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My guest today has worked as a producer in events, content and film, as well as a project manager and team lead, and recently has started to truly explore her own creativity through having previously thought of herself as quote unquote, not the creative kind.
00:01:18
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Now she's trying different hobbies and art forms and not waiting for permission or needing to be perfect as part of figuring out what a creative life looks for her. So naturally, i had to have her come chat with me about it because that sounds a little familiar to me.
00:01:33
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So welcome. ah Please introduce yourself with your name and your pronouns and a brief physical description, if you would. Hello. Hi. Thanks for having me.
00:01:45
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My name is Anya. I use she, her pronouns. And um I'm so happy to be here. i also wear a black T-shirt. wear a bla big T-shirt.
00:01:57
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ah orange on it. um So it's black. writing with Blue writing and an orange. an orangea There's an actual orange and it says orange. um Which is is great because I love that word.
00:02:13
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I used to always pronounce it orange. I don't know, just for fun. And then I saw the t-shirt and I had to have it. If you know me, you know that I love to say orange. Yeah.
00:02:24
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So what else? That was my physical description. i don't know. Yeah. Is that enough? Yeah. I mean, you can also say like how your, your, what your face and the hair look like. Yeah. Um,
00:02:35
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yeah um um I am a strawberry blonde person with long hair and a lot of freckles, I guess. um That ah is, guess, wow, I never actually described myself. That's a very, I love that.
00:02:55
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Yeah, I should have prepared that better. I just thought it would come to me. I should have told you.
00:03:04
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Not everybody does physical descriptions in podcasts. So yeah, yeah i I could prepare my my guests more for this. No, it's good. It's more genuine than why.
00:03:16
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Well, I'm so glad you're here, Anya. Thanks for agreeing to come chat with me. i i want to just like jump right in. um Where did that identity of being like not the creative kind begin in your life?
00:03:34
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Um, yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot, obviously, because I'm, um, describing myself as not, not the creative kind. Um, but I actually have to say that I don't think that I had like a particular moment or a couple of like specific moments in my life where this belief
School's Impact on Creativity
00:03:57
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formed.
00:03:58
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I think it was, um, formed over the years. um But I think the closest thing that made me believe this was probably just having a very talented big sister um that I constantly compared myself to, not anybody else, but just me.
00:04:18
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And she was very good at drawing and ah just in general, very talented, I guess, in all fields. And me two years younger, obviously,
00:04:30
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wasn't as good as her um in certain things and most things. And I just, I guess, compared myself to her and saw that she can do things that I cannot, which was maybe because I was younger, maybe it was just, you know, just talent, I guess, even though this word is always a bit tricky, I guess, um it is but um yeah. And over the time I just,
00:04:59
Speaker
kind of got the idea that I'm probably just not creative. And that's, it was always like fine for me, I thought. um And then i guess school where you sometimes also explore these things. So I wasn't like, I wasn't exploring my creativity at home a lot because it was kind of like, oh, this is her thing.
00:05:22
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I better find my thing. And then at school where you have like art classes and music classes, it wasn't really enforced to be creative. It was technically just about being good at it in terms of having one right answer for everything and being good at exams. Right. And that's not what crazy is about. that We know now, right. if There's no right answer. It is just like, um, yeah, kind of more like fun and play, but that wasn't it.
00:05:53
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I guess that's just like a school thing. and, and I think because I kind of already had the mindset of, well, I'm not good at drawing and I want to i don't want to be bad at something in school and I don't want to embarrass myself, I better not try.
00:06:11
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And as like art and music is a selective in Germany, I kind of didn't really go to the classes for a long time.
00:06:25
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Even though I loved art, I loved music. I was listening to music all the time. I was dancing. I loved art. I loved everything. So it was very absurd that I just, I kind of like just, you know, ignored it because I didn't want to deal with why there's this discrepancy of I actually love it, but I'm not doing it.
00:06:49
Speaker
And I just lived like that for a very long time. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I feel like a lot of people just kind of end up there because it's easy, especially when, yeah, it's it's like it maybe doesn't come as naturally or something. And so like, well, yeah, it's just not gonna, I'm just not gonna go there.
00:07:10
Speaker
And it's really easy to just like, just ride out in your lane without trying to explore. Yeah, school too. Yeah. the The whole not having a right, art not having a right answer thing to this day infuriates me because I loved being right on exams.
00:07:28
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yeah I loved getting A's. My favorite. And now I don't get A's.
00:07:38
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I mean, I give them to myself, but you know. Yeah.
00:07:44
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I know. It's such a weird concept, too. I mean, i get and I understand why we need exams in school.
Art Education Limitations
00:07:52
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You know, i get that. yeah But it's just like it just doesn't mix with some subjects.
00:07:58
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And it's just I mean, you can still kind of probably like quiz people on like art history or whatever. But just in terms of I don't know how like art classes are in the US, but yeah.
00:08:10
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you also don't really learn skills. So you don't learn play. You don't really train creativity. You don't learn skills. I, the whole concept is somehow, don't know, maybe just in my experience, it was, uh, I guess for people who, I don't know, it was, is, I think it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's not really encouraging, I would say to, um, to students who aren't, um,
00:08:42
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naturally talented, I would say, or who have the self confidence and just trying things, you know, it doesn't really bring out the, hey, everything is okay here. Everything is fine here. You cannot mess up.
00:08:56
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So, um, yeah. yeah Yeah, I've heard a lot of people, like my sister-in-law in particular went to school to study art and like fine art and graphic design. And she left that experience like very quickly, didn't like, ended up switching her major, like stopped making art, like completely left it because all of the like,
00:09:24
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here's how to do it right grading of her creativity and like the judgment ah just completely left her feeling like, Nope, I'm, I can't do this. And like, to this day, she still struggles to like make visual art.
00:09:39
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um Yeah. It's, it really needs, there needs to be more of a balance of like, yes, we need you to do well on exams. And like, here are some,
00:09:50
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ways that a lot of people have found success in making art, but we also want you to follow that intuition and see what art means to you. And so how can you kind of explore both of those things without making people feel like they can't trust themselves because they're going get a failing grade?
00:10:08
Speaker
Yeah.
Starting a Creative Journey
00:10:09
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And then... now you're on this journey um to explore what creativity means to you now. What what motivated you to start exploring that?
00:10:24
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um Was there like a big shift in your life or an aha moment of some kind? Again, it was, I guess, a lot of different things, but it, yeah, I think it kind of maybe started I mean, it started a little bit during COVID because i just we were at home, I guess, everybody. And I just started to paint a little, which I've never really done before.
00:10:56
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um But it was just kind of a little bit of a play. I didn't have a big mindset shift of, oh, my God, I am creative or whatever. It was just like something I started doing.
00:11:08
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And I realized that I really like the state I go into when I Um, when paint like this flow state, I guess. And I just spend a lot of evenings doing that, but I didn't, um, really have the, um, it didn't really change anything. It was just kind of like a new hobby. And I always had a lot of hobbies. They were never really artistic. They were more like, um, I guess, sporty hobbies or whatever.
00:11:38
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And that was just like one new thing I was doing. um But then um in 2022, I think I left Berlin and because I wanted to move somewhere else and kind of like um ah try to find a new way or a new lifestyle that I liked.
00:12:03
Speaker
um And it's like I changed everything. I wanted to move to a new country. I wanted to start a new job. I wanted to kind of experience different types of lifestyles you know um because i think i was just um um i just kind of stumbled into the oh you have a job you live in the city you have yeah let you know like our normal like kind of the that's yeah i checked all the boxes but i felt like no actually that's not really me but i don't know where to start so i kind of like
00:12:38
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changed everything. And I think, um, a wild searching for how I want to live. I always, you know, you do these things off your picturing your perfect life or you picture your perfect house or your perfect job or whatever.
00:12:54
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And every time I pictured something, I had this vision of me being surrounded by art and music. I always pictured of having like a little music studio or like an art studio. And then I realized, wait a moment, why do I picture myself having an art studio? I don't even paint regularly. I don't either, you know, I'm not even creative. And then it always like came up.
00:13:14
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And I, for some reason, I always thought there will come a time when I can do these you know, but then it just like, um, I think it just clicked at some point that I will never be able to write an album if I never pick up a guitar, you know, and it's just, it's really hard.
00:13:39
Speaker
know it's so dumb, but sometimes we don't have the, I don't know why. And it just came to me one day and I just said, you know what? I'm just going to start. like playing the guitar again, because I used to play it when I was a kid.
00:13:53
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And I'm going to paint more and I'm going to put more effort into these things in terms of not really like learning a skill, but just like accepting that this is a part of me that I love and that,
00:14:07
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is totally fine to just do
Researching Creativity
00:14:09
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for myself. And I think that was the big shift that I accepted that I can do these things without having an ulterior motive. Like it doesn't have to become like success. It doesn't have to be like a financial thing. It doesn't have to be a side hustle. It doesn't have to, I don't have to be good at these things.
00:14:29
Speaker
I can just do them because they are fun to me. And, um, once I understood that, I think I just got super obsessed about like the creativity, talent, genius, all of these like things that have,
00:14:48
Speaker
I guess the societal beliefs around them, right? When we think of um creativity, when we think of talent, of genius, we have this picture ah in our head that this is how you have to live. This is how you have to look.
00:15:00
Speaker
And i just started to research. I love to do this research. I started to research these things and read a lot of books about them. And I don't know. I just...
00:15:14
Speaker
somehow it just came to me that I am creative and that everybody is creative and that we need creativity and that I was oblivious of by not seeing it before. And i don't know, it just came, you know how it is when you go into the rabbit hole and then just like everything kind of shifts and then you see all these different kind of little things that are, yeah.
00:15:38
Speaker
tiny but in this moment feel like massive like the same way as you know like understanding that I'll never make art if I'm if I don't start you know it's like a tiny thing but it kind of like was big in that time and um so yeah um Let me think. Did i answer the question?
00:16:02
Speaker
Where did I start with this? Yeah, I think you definitely did. um hey yeah it was, it sounds like it was like a big buildup and,
00:16:16
Speaker
i do I love that you had the ah the research phase.
Not the Creative Kind Platform
00:16:21
Speaker
um I don't know about you, but I tend to be like a procrastinate learner ah where I will ah just ah read things about something so that I don't have to actually do it. and I want to learn as much as I can so that when I do start, because I'm going to start someday, think, maybe, um but I want to have as much information as I can. yeah So it sounds like you also had a procrastinate learning phase. Although it sounds like you were also doing it while you were doing
00:16:54
Speaker
maybe ah so maybe it was all mixed in together but i do the thing is i'm like i i can yeah i can completely like see myself in the procrastinate procrastinate learner um but i'm sometimes the complete opposite sometimes i'm i don't want to know anything about this i just want to start and for example like with crayons oil crayons i don't know if you have to know a lot about them but I have no idea about any technique, but it's so much fun for me to paint with it that I don't want to know any skills. you know what I mean? Sometimes I'm like, yeah I don't, I'm like, I'm just going to start and I'm not going to give, yeah, maybe it's also some sort of fear based kind of starting because you don't want to have any skills. So you cannot be bad at it, you know? Yeah. Well, I think, yeah, I think that's exactly what I do with like my whole ugly art thing is like, yeah, I don't, I don't want to have instructions because I don't want to let that like get in the way of like how my brain naturally wants to figure things out. um
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, I totally get that.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah i definitely love understanding and little bit more about it and getting I don't know why I got so obsessed about it, but I felt um it was intense. um It was definitely, i don't remember how long the period was, but let's say like six months where i was literally obsessed about just the creativity and like hobbies in general. And I am then started like,
00:18:33
Speaker
different groups with friends where we would like try out hobbies and um I was like constantly reading something about it and listening to podcasts and all of these things so I well yeah but um I think it's yeah it's super interesting and it's just I mean maybe I'm still obsessed about it think I still am it sounds like you are because you have this platform now excellent segue
00:19:06
Speaker
called not the creative kind uh which i love um tell us tell us more about that and how that has come to be and what your goal with that is or your vision i guess maybe a goal but yeah yeah so um i
00:19:26
Speaker
i think um okay let me start like this so I started um different hobbies. Sorry, there's no more I'm going off.
00:19:40
Speaker
Everything good though? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, cool. This is my partner waking up.
00:19:48
Speaker
Okay. um So yeah, i started as I said, I started different like creative things with friends at the beginning. um Just um that came from the urge of me doing more creative things, um making art and getting back into the flow state that I used to love during COVID. And I just wanted to do it more and wanted to do something with my hands because I was working in front of the computer a lot. And I just had the urge.
00:20:18
Speaker
I think that a lot of us have sometimes. And so I started these groups where we would just like do random things and, um but that was at the time when I was...
00:20:32
Speaker
traveling, figuring out my life. I'm still doing that, by the way. um And so I was moving a lot. so i So I started these groups and then I had to leave them again.
00:20:44
Speaker
And I started them again. and it was it then yeah it didn't feel great. So um I realized i that I wanted to do them online um because I was moving so often. um So I started to um, do creative hobby groups online, um, and to make it fun and a challenge for me because I love challenges and that's how I kind of keep me like keep being motivated.
Creative Hobby Challenge
00:21:13
Speaker
Um, I have to finish challenges. I think I'm very competitive that way.
00:21:17
Speaker
And, um, so I set myself a challenge of trying one new artistic hobby every month for a year. um, um I was looking for people online who would join me and that's how i my platform started, not the creative kind where I just, um, uh, ignored my fear of being visible online and started to post about my hobbies and trying to find people who join me.
00:21:47
Speaker
And, um, um Yeah, it kind of, I think my first hobby already had people joining the group and i was it was great. And um so that's part of, that's kind of the reason why I started Not The Creative Council, I guess, to find these hobby groups.
00:22:07
Speaker
And then um it grew into much more than that. It grew into exploring creativity more for me. It grew into realizing that creativity is about self-expression and about mental health and survival, even everything, all the biggest things. And me learning about it more, talking with so many people about it, hearing so many different stories of why people are not creative as not creatively active, I mean, or why people think they're not, or why people have lost it and all these things.
00:22:49
Speaker
um so much more and now I think my platform or my yeah whole journey is shifting towards not only allowing time for creative hobbies but also like figuring out um what a creative life is and that's not just creating art that's so much more it's like kind of living outside of these societal boxes and all of these things that actually is funny now that I'm saying it, it's like where I started as well, but I didn't know that yet.
00:23:21
Speaker
So yeah, it's, it's been a lot of fun and I've been doing it since last year, June. So I have two hobbies left and I've done, then I've done my challenge.
00:23:34
Speaker
So I'm very proud that I, yeah, that I still, that I'm still doing that. Yeah, that's amazing. Have you had like a favorite hobby that's been something that you would just want to keep coming back to? such a tricky question because um I keep going back to crochet, which wasn't my favorite hobby, actually, but it's just so useful. mom i ah that All my other hobbies weren't useful, you know, and I was a little bit...
00:24:14
Speaker
I mean, useful for the world, all useful to me. But crochet is such a good thing to just know and just to take out when you're bored or when you're on a plane or when you're on a train or when you need a last minute gift or a when you, I don't know, when you need a hat, you know? So I've been like taking it out the most often, I guess.
00:24:35
Speaker
But my favorite was sketch, I think. I did one month of sketch. where i yeah it was just so easy you could do it anywhere you just needed pen and a pencil and a paper and um I don't know you just started seeing the world a little differently you know you just started to look at everything in terms of ah Where does the light hit it? And how do I see that in like 2D kind of, you know, like how would you draw that? And it's and it was very it was one of the first hobbies as well. So maybe i that's why I remember it so fondly, but I have to say I'm not doing it that often.
00:25:18
Speaker
So um yeah, but I'm busy with other hobbies, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. That's so, that's so fun. I love just like the playful nature of it. And like, that's like how to do one of those, like a big challenge like that.
00:25:35
Speaker
Like I just, I see so many people pushing to do like these big challenges, but then they end up being challenges that aren't so joyful. And like, but when you are able to like,
00:25:51
Speaker
find the joy and the play in the challenge that you're doing. It's just like something that you want to do. Yeah. That was just important for me. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. Go get ahead. i just I just had to do a disclaimer for all my fellow neurodivergence out there. they like If you try to do challenges all the time and you never complete them, I see you, I am you, and I respect you. ah and don't stop challenging yourself because it's, you know, sometimes something sticks and sometimes it's fun, but also don't get too down on yourself when you're All right. That's my PSA for all the neurodivergence.
00:26:30
Speaker
But I mean, i yeah I kind of wanted to say something similar because I am that person as well if I don't start a challenge. So I start so many things. i have so many plans. I want to learn everything. I want to read everything. so And then what happens is I never actually...
00:26:50
Speaker
I don't never start these things or like just do one thing and then stop. Cause I feel like, Oh, it's hard or whatever. Or I have a new plan or something else. So I'm a very, like, I always have like 10 different projects going on. Um,
Workshops and Ugly Art
00:27:03
Speaker
but these, this challenge actually was a bit easier for me because I'm switching every month and I didn't challenge myself to like do something every day.
00:27:13
Speaker
So doing something in a month can mean that you do it twice. Right. And that's not a lot. Sometimes, sometimes I do these things like every day I challenge myself to like draw something every day for my doodle month or, but um sometimes I had this in December, I had this hobby where I wanted to do a gift card or like little Christmas cards or whatever.
00:27:38
Speaker
And I think I sat down twice to paint them and I was very frustrated at the beginning. um But then I said, you know what? doesn't have to be like a full-time hobby right I mean it's a busy time it's fine if you that's still something that I otherwise would have never done and I think that's what helped me with the challenge because it's it's kind of it's a bit flexible yeah it's not all or nothing yeah
00:28:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's the way to do it. I love that. I want to keep talking about this, but for while we do, I would love to make some ugly art with you if you if that sounds fun to you.
00:28:22
Speaker
Yes, that's something I'm good at. Yeah, I've done ugly art with you before and it was so much fun. Yes, you came to my Creative Mornings field trip, correct? Mm-hmm.
00:28:38
Speaker
but yeah That was so cool. That was fun. I really love Yeah, I want to just quickly plug Creative Mornings um for anybody who's not familiar with them. um Creative Mornings is a group, an international a group that puts on free workshops and they do them in person all over the world. And they also have these things called field trips, which are their virtual ah they're virtual workshops. And you can go learn how to do so many things on their workshops. Some of them are kind of more like therapeutic in nature. Some of them are like how to's. Like I've gone to one that was ah how to write a song.
00:29:18
Speaker
And I've gone to one that was how to carve a potato. ah They can be very silly. They can be very serious. And so I ah put on my workshop through them of subverting subverting your perfectionism using ugly art.
00:29:31
Speaker
um And that was a really great time. And so that's how I got introduced to Anya and everything that she's doing. so How was that for you? the the thing For me, was it was I think it was my second creative morning and I loved it so much. I think I told it every single person. um How was that for you hosting it?
00:29:51
Speaker
I mean, but there were a lot of people. There were a lot of people. It was a little overwhelming. Especially because like i think 500 people had actually RSVP'd. And so I was kind of like going into it. I was like, i know 500 people won't be on this call, but like that's a lot of people. like the most I've ever given this workshop to is like 10.
00:30:12
Speaker
ten So like it was very overwhelming. But Creative a Morning, like the people who run it... um I think their name was think their name was Lauren, ah who was helping me run it. And like they were running they were like, um what's the word? ah man Just like managing the chat.
00:30:30
Speaker
um There's another one i'm looking for, but I can't think of it. ah They were managing the chat, and then they like introduced me and um then kind of carried it over into the after party, which was just 15 minutes of people continuing to chat. And that was really fun to be able to like talk to people after.
00:30:47
Speaker
um I do wish it had been longer because I wanted more people to be able to like share what they made and like have that moment together. But I do kind of pack a lot into that workshop. So I think I might need to like either shorten it ah so that we can have the sharing um or just see if I can make it a longer workshop in the future. But I i loved it. I thought it was really fun time.
00:31:11
Speaker
um And yeah, i just I love making terrible art and... just yeah That whole workshop is really fun for me. um and I've been able to do that in person recently, which has been really fun.
00:31:25
Speaker
I'm in a really great change to get to see people. yeah yeah but yeah it was ah many i think it was over people, right?
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah, like actually present that day. I think yeah something like that. i'm I had to, in order to like get through the workshop, I had to just not really look.
00:31:50
Speaker
it just kind of I looked through the chat when people were doing like the journal prompt and, um, and, uh, the actual art session. So I got to see what everybody was saying and everybody was so kind.
00:32:02
Speaker
One person reached out to me because there there was a typo in my ah in my workshop, which of course there was, there's bound to be. ah But she was like, are you trying to trigger all of us perfectionists by having a typo?
00:32:17
Speaker
And she sent it directly to me. She wasn't like calling me out in the chat or anything. And I thought it was hilarious. was like, wow. There it is. Crazy. Well, I didn't notice.
00:32:29
Speaker
I didn't notice. But yeah. i The concept of ugly art is and not new to me because I've been doing it.
Creativity as a Survival Tool
00:32:42
Speaker
I've been making ugly art, but I never thought about it that way. And it was something that, um I don't know, was... um I don't know. just love it. And since I've done and workshop with you, I've been doing it nonstop.
00:32:58
Speaker
Um, so thank you. oh so happy It's so much better to like, you know, like sit down and say, okay, I'm going to make ugly art because I, it's just, um, it just feels intentional. And sometimes because I'm not so great at some of my hobbies it just feels like a little bit frustrating and but the making ugly art you know has the same benefits of just making beautiful art i think for me at least right and yeah you even pointed out that it has other benefits right um overcoming perfectionism etc so um but for me it's been great because it kind of gives me um i don't know like a sense of achievement that I sometimes don't have from making stuff that is not so great.
00:33:51
Speaker
So yeah, thank you. That's cool. i that big yeah That makes me so happy. That's exactly why i do it. And um and I also, i love that like,
00:34:03
Speaker
I've talked to several people who kind of go along this journey because like ugly art is inevitable. Once you start pursuing a creative life, it just is like, once you decide like, Oh yeah, I want creativity in my life.
00:34:17
Speaker
I'm willing to pursue this. I'm willing to be uncomfortable. Then ugly art is inevitably going to show up and it's inevitably going to change your life in some sense.
00:34:29
Speaker
And I love running into people like yourself who experience that and then are like, I want to invite more people with me because this is a really great way to live and I don't think enough people know about it.
00:34:42
Speaker
Um... And so, yeah, I love what you're doing with like not the creative kind and the and the creative challenges and like the philosophy, like the creative philosophy type discussions that have that are like stemming from it.
00:34:54
Speaker
I'm curious what the most surprising thing has been for you along that journey as you start like inviting people along with you, like what stands out to you as surprising or delightful? Hmm.
00:35:14
Speaker
I think for me, just in general, learning about creativity, creativity, and I think you had a guest on that talked about something similar, but for me, the most surprising thing I learned, ah was how important creativity actually is and how it's actually linked to like survival and survival instinct, because this is something you would never think we kind of always think, ah creativity, yeah, it's something frivolous, whatever, right?
00:35:44
Speaker
And I don't even mean survival in terms of we need art because we need um you know artists, but I mean, like it's in terms of that creativity.
00:35:58
Speaker
helps us see a brighter future, you know, just like individually, not even seeing art itself, but just like having a creative mind, just being open to different um ways of thinking helps us to want to survive, I guess, and like tough times and things like that. So that was really, i don't know, profound to me. And I love,
00:36:22
Speaker
saying that to things, it to people when they're like, why are you doing this? um And, um and I guess what was interesting also is how many people have that mindset that they're not creative and how deeply it is embedded in us. Because even,
00:36:52
Speaker
Like when I speak with some people and those are people mostly that aren't joining my hobby groups, but these are outside people that I then explain them what I do and it's so embedded that they are not connecting with it and at all and i i I was I don't know if I was one of them before but it's yeah it's it's crazy how difficult it is to see that we are all creative and that creativity is not like talent because we confuse it so often with like talent you know um yeah and I think that was
00:37:33
Speaker
really, really, yeah, like interesting to me because I thought, oh, I had this epiphany. So everybody else must um understand. I
00:37:45
Speaker
know that's always the way they're like, we're like, I found the purpose to living and you need to know it too. Exactly. And it's not, this is the right way of thinking.
00:37:58
Speaker
And I just need to tell you and then you will understand. Yeah. Yeah, that's been like the most, ah ah yeah, like one of my things is very much like, i don't know, I just, I have found, i felt so unbelievably stuck and unhappy before all of this.
00:38:18
Speaker
And i just, I see so much of that reflected in people. And
Creativity as Resistance
00:38:25
Speaker
then when I'm like, do this thing, they're like, there's no way, there's no way that what you're saying
00:38:32
Speaker
can fix all these problems. And I'm like, no, of course it's not going to fix problems per se. It's not going to fix the fact that we live in a strangling capitalist society. It's not going to fix the fact that, you know, like at least over here in America, we're dealing with fascism. Like it's not, that's not going to be fixed by making ugly pictures.
00:38:56
Speaker
But like, It's going to allow us to live under these systems in a way that is joyful and resilient and resistant to that idea that like we have to live a certain way and we have to...
00:39:13
Speaker
follow their rules and we have to be productive members of society like no we get to be silly little geese and make silly little pictures that bring us joy and nobody can take it that away from us and i'll be damned if i don't say that a million times until people get it
00:39:36
Speaker
Yes, yes, I 100% agree. I always say like the most radical thing you can do is be unproductive in our meritocracy.
00:39:47
Speaker
But yeah, I 100% agree. It's so, and I think, I mean, obviously it's not going to fix our problems by painting ugly pictures.
00:39:58
Speaker
Right. But it does not, do something to you. it does change. It changes your perspective. It, it, it, it brings connection.
00:40:10
Speaker
and don't want to be like too over but it brings connection. it brings people together. And i mean, we need this connectivity. We need like hope. We need confidence.
00:40:21
Speaker
And we need all of these things to change. I'm not saying that we, yeah, and yeah, no, to change the system, you know? And it, and it, yes, it helps us to live in the system as
Building Confidence Through Creativity
00:40:35
Speaker
well. But I think it helps us to have,
00:40:37
Speaker
this hope and this, um, together we can maybe change something. And, um, yeah. Yeah. So I think, yeah, I'm totally, totally with you on that. I think it's super important.
00:40:49
Speaker
And that's kind of the survival I've been talking about. Cause I, don't want to be dramatic, but I feel like it's, yeah, it's coming to that point where we need, need that.
00:41:01
Speaker
And we are in a, it's not only in the States, right? Um, Yeah, the world world is weird right now. Yeah, it's like meeting. It's wild time. It's wild time. I think, yeah, we just need to...
00:41:21
Speaker
I don't have any answers, unfortunately. But I know this is not a... um if It feels like this brings more like...
00:41:32
Speaker
confidence, more happiness, more joy. And that's what we need more of. Not to like um forget what is happening, but obviously and you cannot do anything when you're just locked, panicked, and procrastinate.
Celebrating Ugly Art
00:41:50
Speaker
hu Yeah. That confidence piece is so important. like The confidence I've gained from making terrible art all the time is... It's kind of hilarious. Like like i I used to be so self-conscious. I still am a very self-conscious person, but like when it comes to just like being silly and embracing whatever my brain wants to do and like put it out in the world and be like, who gets it? I like like i just, I love it. And it also, that confidence makes you like want to engage in the world more, not pull away from it. And that's what we need is we need people to be engaged.
00:42:31
Speaker
ah More than, you know, a blank page, I guess. I don't know. All right, what did you make? um So I actually love it.
00:42:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:49
Speaker
Ooh, yes. Inspired by my orange t-shirt. So I started with an orange and then I just thought I'm going to throw some dot tie-dye colors around it. And it's not ugly at all.
00:43:02
Speaker
It's amazing. I love it. Those are some really vibrant colors. I love it. Was that the the oil crayons? Yes. Yes. I love it. It's so good. I love the shading and everything.
00:43:15
Speaker
What did you make? I made... Let's make sure I can... made a killer butterfly. butterfly. Oh, with orange ah wings, no? They do look like oranges.
00:43:28
Speaker
love it. I love it.
00:43:32
Speaker
um i Well, for so I always just like start with a scribble because I'm like, I don't know where to like what I what my brain wants to do. So I just let my hand do a scribble and then it just slowly started turning into a butterfly.
00:43:46
Speaker
And this is like very much like the butterflies I would make as a kid. And so i was just like, yeah, my kid time. I love it. love it. Yeah, that's good to start with a scribble. Yeah, that's a good thing.
00:43:59
Speaker
Yeah. Amazing. This has been such an awesome conversation. um is there anything you'd like to end on?
00:44:10
Speaker
um guess this is a lot of pressure. You have to get it perfect. know. Wait, let me make an ugly picture and then...
00:44:26
Speaker
and No, I just want to, I guess I just want to thank you. was so much fun being on here. And um I can't wait to explore of what this creative journey will lead me on and will lead you on and everybody else. And yeah, no, that was a lot of fun.
00:44:48
Speaker
Thank you. Amazing. Yeah, thanks so much for being willing to come on a podcast and chat with me and and come to my workshop and make terrible art in general.
Closing Thoughts and Connectivity
00:45:00
Speaker
um So how can people get involved with you? How can they find you and get in touch with you?
00:45:07
Speaker
Yeah. so And I post stuff on Instagram and on Tik TOK, and I always invite people to and talk to me on there.
00:45:19
Speaker
I have a website with a link to my newsletter, which is technically just. announcement of my new hobbies and like how I create the hobby groups, e etc. So you can definitely join there. um i then everybody that joins my hobby groups comes into these WhatsApp groups where we can actually then chat.
00:45:41
Speaker
both ways, not just one way. Like it normally works for newsletters and Instagram. um So you can reach out technically on every platform. um Not on YouTube yet.
00:45:54
Speaker
But and yeah. And I am also hosting um some workshops soon. First in person. I'm in Spain right now. So I'm going to do it here, but soon also online. So watch that space and maybe join thelet so you will know when that will happen um Yeah.
00:46:16
Speaker
Sounds good. but Amazing. Thank you so much for being here. And thank you, everybody, so much for listening. As always, I hope that you go forth and keep everything ugly.
00:46:28
Speaker
All right, bye. The Ugly Podcast is created by me, Laura Alexander of Scribe and Sunshine. It's produced and sort of edited also by me and written and directed by absolutely no one.
00:46:39
Speaker
Our theme song was written and produced by the amazing Zoetronic. If you like the podcast, be sure to rate and leave a review on your preferred platform and share with the creative people in your life. If you're interested in learning more about what I do, head to scribeandsunshine.com to learn more about my ugly art workshops and my editing services.
00:46:55
Speaker
If you have me yet today, i dare you to make that thing you've been thinking about making but have been too scared it's gonna be terrible. Make it terrible. And as always, keep it ugly.
00:47:07
Speaker
You can do it. You can go create.
00:47:13
Speaker
Just get to it. I promise you'll feel great.