Creative Thought Space |
Patricia June Vickers, PhD | British Columbia, Canada | www.patriciajunevickers.com
Artist, Teacher, Psychotherapist and Spiritual Director
What do you think being creative means?
Language is always interesting to me and inquiring into the meaning of a word became important as I searched for the meaning of transformation in my Grandmother's language of Sm'algyax (Tsm'syen First Nation). When home is not a safe place and childhood is full of adverse experiences , we could possibly say that the child is imaginative and creates exits–doorways to where safety can be found. Sometimes the creative escape can be alone in the branches of a fruit tree or can include a younger sibling together in a secret garden. Imagining love rather than neglect or abuse is powerful and underestimated. Generally, the expression of adverse experiences manifests in the cycle of adversity. As an adult, habitual escaping behaviours from the impact of adverse childhood experiences has, for me, required intervention from the Supernatural world. My life purpose rests in the need to express hope for others who struggle in cyclic existence. The focus is not on what is created but in the power of transformation.
How do you include creativity in your life?
I experience creativity because of gratitude and communion with a force for the good that is greater than myself. When I was a church-going-person, I referred to the Source for the Good as God. Now I tend to use the term Creator God because inspiration comes from the experience of healing, of transformation, of understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, and the choice to love. The need to express hope through words, painting, drawing or sewing–working with my hands–is a meditative intentional action.
What are your thoughts on how your life has influenced your creative imagination, and how your creative imagination has influenced your life?
Perhaps being born into a minority and experiencing discrimination and a history of atrocities has me paying attention to the underlying (often unconscious) socialized beliefs of statements and questions. I tend to think of creativity as a result of gratitude, of understanding that there is a greater force for the good that has and continues to blanket me. Sometimes, there is a need to express a truth but I don't quite have the idea of how to express that energy. It is then that I turn to colour theory and play in abstraction until either the composition or colour combination opens a doorway to clarity. I'm grateful for not only the creative expression in childhood, but also for the adversity that has given me compassion for others who also struggle to find freedom from a history of adversity.
What, if any, exercises do you do to get into a creative mode?
I started to explore with my hands through crocheting at 14 years of age. I taught myself and quickly learned to read patterns, then at 16 I learned to sew. I sewed clothes for myself and then, with the birth of my children, their clothes and toys. Then I learned to quilt. In my mid-thirties I learned traditional Northwest Coast appliqué. I also wanted to learn to use colours more effectively in quilting and took a series of watercolour classes–I was hooked. I partnered with my brother appliqueing his traditional Northwest Coast designs onto regalia for over twenty years. I continue to explore texture and expression using one or a combination of media rather than staying within one medium. All pieces are learning exercises that arise from ceremony (sweat lodge, fasting lodge, bathing in streams or the ocean, and spiritual brushing).
How important do you think creativity is in life?
Creativity is an energy that moves through me. Creativity is communal between me and myself, me and Creator, and me and others. Creativity is one of many blossoms on the tree of the Supernatural.
Language is always interesting to me and inquiring into the meaning of a word became important as I searched for the meaning of transformation in my Grandmother's language of Sm'algyax (Tsm'syen First Nation). When home is not a safe place and childhood is full of adverse experiences , we could possibly say that the child is imaginative and creates exits–doorways to where safety can be found. Sometimes the creative escape can be alone in the branches of a fruit tree or can include a younger sibling together in a secret garden. Imagining love rather than neglect or abuse is powerful and underestimated. Generally, the expression of adverse experiences manifests in the cycle of adversity. As an adult, habitual escaping behaviours from the impact of adverse childhood experiences has, for me, required intervention from the Supernatural world. My life purpose rests in the need to express hope for others who struggle in cyclic existence. The focus is not on what is created but in the power of transformation.
How do you include creativity in your life?
I experience creativity because of gratitude and communion with a force for the good that is greater than myself. When I was a church-going-person, I referred to the Source for the Good as God. Now I tend to use the term Creator God because inspiration comes from the experience of healing, of transformation, of understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, and the choice to love. The need to express hope through words, painting, drawing or sewing–working with my hands–is a meditative intentional action.
What are your thoughts on how your life has influenced your creative imagination, and how your creative imagination has influenced your life?
Perhaps being born into a minority and experiencing discrimination and a history of atrocities has me paying attention to the underlying (often unconscious) socialized beliefs of statements and questions. I tend to think of creativity as a result of gratitude, of understanding that there is a greater force for the good that has and continues to blanket me. Sometimes, there is a need to express a truth but I don't quite have the idea of how to express that energy. It is then that I turn to colour theory and play in abstraction until either the composition or colour combination opens a doorway to clarity. I'm grateful for not only the creative expression in childhood, but also for the adversity that has given me compassion for others who also struggle to find freedom from a history of adversity.
What, if any, exercises do you do to get into a creative mode?
I started to explore with my hands through crocheting at 14 years of age. I taught myself and quickly learned to read patterns, then at 16 I learned to sew. I sewed clothes for myself and then, with the birth of my children, their clothes and toys. Then I learned to quilt. In my mid-thirties I learned traditional Northwest Coast appliqué. I also wanted to learn to use colours more effectively in quilting and took a series of watercolour classes–I was hooked. I partnered with my brother appliqueing his traditional Northwest Coast designs onto regalia for over twenty years. I continue to explore texture and expression using one or a combination of media rather than staying within one medium. All pieces are learning exercises that arise from ceremony (sweat lodge, fasting lodge, bathing in streams or the ocean, and spiritual brushing).
How important do you think creativity is in life?
Creativity is an energy that moves through me. Creativity is communal between me and myself, me and Creator, and me and others. Creativity is one of many blossoms on the tree of the Supernatural.
