Rediscovering Creativity

"We are all creative, but by the time we are three of four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else." - Maya Angelou

I was creative as a child. As a toddler I loved colouring in but was told my colouring was no good as I wasn't staying in the lines. As a primary aged child I loved dancing but my freestyle dancing was never good enough for the dance teacher; I wasn't following the proper routine. As a high school student I took higher Art and was told my project was too adventurous and to change it to something which bored me. By the time I got to university my creativity had already been drained out of me and it was not until recently that I discovered the cause of this. My creativity, like many others, did not conform to societies guidelines. 
Why couldn't the topic for my Higher Art Portfolio be Tropical Lifestyle? Apparently tropical fruits, cocktail umbrellas and palm trees are not an appropriate art project. Instead I was instructed to draw leaves. Plain, old, boring leaves for a whole academic year. How many leaf projects did the invigilators have to examine that year, and every year before and after? Perhaps my project idea was ambitious, maybe it was a bit eccentric but as an Art teacher you would think they would be excited for a challenge? Perhaps her creativity had also been institutionalised. My individual Art project was far from being unique and individual. There was no originality there at all. And my love of drawing, sketching, painting and crafts was as lost as the original idea of tropical fruits and palm trees. My once full art box, full of bits and bobs and sketchbooks were left under my bed to gather dust and I didn't pick up a pencil for six years. 
That was until a few months ago. My job as a youth worker has recently given me opportunities to start dabbling in creative arts again. My youth group sessions enjoy arts and crafts activities and pinterest became my new best friend in looking for simple activities for them to try. The easier and less messy the better. However, I was just ticking boxes. I had became the art teacher. I was suppressing the young people's creativity without even realising. Then I was awoken. I was given the opportunity to take over the Youth Art Club at a school I work in. I was a bit dubious at first as my art was really rusty but I decided to give it a go. Boy was that the right decision. Our project was to create four murals for the school walls. The woman who was leading the club before had already started brainstorming ideas with the young people for the first mural and the results were jaw dropping. The young people had been given the freedom to explore any avenue for their inspiration; some had chosen sport, some cars, some music. When all their ideas were combined we were left with an amazing, powerful piece of artwork. I was taken aback, their enthusiasm, ingenuity and creativity were so inspiring that for the first time in six years I went back to the office picked up a pencil and just let go. The creativity which had been suppressed for years was back in my control. My love and attention for Art was reignited and not just for drawing but in all walks of life. I find myself seeing opportunities for creative projects wherever I turn whether it be in the kitchen cooking, creating a new bookcase for my flat, scrapbooking, craft ideas for my youth groups or even starting my own blog. Something which I have not had the confidence to do up until now. I am thankful for my Art Club at the school and I am truly thankful for the opportunity to work with young people. There really is no better way to appreciate the art that is life than through the voices of young people and it is now my goal to ensure that every young person I have the chance to meet, will have the opportunities to truly express their own individual creativity. For, as Pablo Picasso once said: "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."