“Creativity is all
about
personal
experience.
It can
come through
art, writing,
cooking,
thinking and
venting:
Anything you
express
is an act
of creativity.”
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In December I was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected interview request from Elizabeth Davies, a freelance columnist for the Rockford Register Star who wanted to talk to me about my work as a creativity coach. She learned about me after a colleague brought up my name to the newspaper in connection with my work at Womanspace and Creativity Portal's mention in SARK's new book "Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper."
We agreed to meet at Womanspace's New Dimensions Studios to do the interview in-person, the inspiring environment where my creative playshops are hosted and the creativity group I help co-facilitate, CreativeSparks, meets each month. I also happened to be running two workshops with Girl Scout troops during that week, so a photographer was scheduled to pop in for pictures as well.
 I planned on taking along a few show-and-tells with me to the interview (books, articles, and other creative tidbits) to help illustrate a context around the many creative things I do, including coaching others. Explaining my dynamic job description as an artist, designer, writer, Web publisher, teacher and creativity coach is much easier when I show examples of how much they're inter-related.
Unfortunately, Chicago's wintry weather that day was boisterous with a messy snowstorm to boot that made commuting long and driving trepidatious. So Elizabeth and I agreed to do the interview over the phone as a creative compromise.
It was a great pleasure chatting with Elizabeth and fielding her questions about my career path, creativity coaching, and why creativity in its many glorious forms is so important to our lives. Our discussions around the Creativity Portal, SARK, and Jill Badonsky's Kaizen-Muse creativity coach training didn't make the final cut in the article, so I wanted to give it an honorable mention here. I also added some link annotations to archived writings I've done to give more context around the answers I gave. Enjoy!
 Aspiring to Inspire
By Elizabeth Davies, Rockford Register Star January 1, 2009
It was supposed to be just another corporate seminar.
You know the kind: stale coffee and store-bought cookies on the back table. Doodling a grocery list on your seminar notes while the motivational speaker drones on and on. A quick group exercise for team-building purposes, and then everyone files back to the office to get the real work done.
Only for 28-year-old Chris Dunmire, one corporate seminar changed her life. As a buyer for Motorola, Dunmire attended her company’s creativity seminar and realized that a certain spark was missing from her life. So with no plan, no backup job — and a somewhat bewildered boss — Dunmire handed in her resignation. [See: The Day My Creative Life Began]
“A lot of the people I worked with thought, ‘I don’t know about this,’ ” Dunmire recalled. “But I did it, and it worked out.”
Today, Dunmire is 36 years old and working from her Belvidere home as a creativity coach. She’s learned the trade primarily by taking courses offered by other creativity coaches, like the one who taught that first corporate seminar. [See: Creativity Coach Training... Check! and Thirty-Four:
Growing]
“Creativity coaching is a relatively new field,” she said. “I take what I learn and then apply it hands-on in the groups I’m involved in.” [See: CreativeSlush.com Workshops]
Much of her work revolves around her Web site, creativeslush.com, and around articles she writes for other creativity sites. [See: Creativity-Portal.com and CoachingYourCreativity.com]
She also does graphic design work — she went back to school and secured a two-year degree in the field after leaving Motorola — and hosts creativity classes for children and adults through Rockford’s Womanspace.
“One of the things I knew I always loved was working with kids,” Dunmire said. “Not so much teaching art techniques, but I’m really into inspiring kids, nurturing the creativity in them.”
So Dunmire began volunteering at a children’s art camp held each year by Womanspace. Now, she is an integral part of that camp and instructs workshops for Girl Scouts earning merit badges through Womanspace. [See: Why
Pencils Have Erasers & Food is Food!]
While children naturally are more creative than their grown-up counterparts, their creative tendencies can be muted “when they’re told there’s only one right way to do things,” Dunmire said. [See: "You Can Draw Cartoony Things!" Kid's Artshop]
That’s why she encourages creativity with unique exercises, like the one she did at Halloween. She handed out pictures of jack o’ lanterns and told her students they could decorate them in any color they wanted — except orange.
Dunmire said many of those who struggle to be creative have to get past a mental block that what they’re doing doesn’t look good.
“Most people say that at some point,” she said. “A lot of people believe that being creative means you’re artistic. That’s not what it’s about, though.”
In reality, perhaps the best part about creativity is that you really can’t do it wrong.
“Creativity is all about personal experience,” Dunmire said. “It can come through art, writing, cooking, thinking and venting: Anything you express is an act of creativity.
“People feel much more fulfilled when they’re able to express their creativity.”
Becoming more creative
Creativity coach Chris Dunmire offers these tips for people wanting to become more creative:
- Do the every day a little different. Take a new route to work, pack a different sandwich for lunch. Break out of those comfortable habits. [See: CYC Articles]
- Act “as if.” If you want to become a writer, act as if you already are one. If you want to be a painter, begin to look and behave the way a painter would. [See: Act As If]
- Collage your thoughts. Memories and life experiences are fodder for creative work. Put them together to see what new inspirations you’ll find. [See: Collage Your Fragments] •
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