Seattle Convention Update: Focus on Innovation

By Sandra Kay, EdD, 2011 Convention Program Coordinator

Innovation as 1: the introduction of something new; 2: a new idea, method, or device: novelty (Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, retrieved 5/3/10)

From tubeless toilet paper rolls to the revolutionary concept of a daily logo inspired by Google, innovation drives business. [I am so looking forward to the artist’s talk describing the new logo process by Google!] Yet innovation is often playful. Whenever I see the word ‘innovation’ I smile at the thought of how much a Madison Avenue Art Director influenced the field of creativity in the 1950s. In his seminal book Applied Imagination, Alex Osborn brought brainstorming strategies to the forefront of psychological research influencing researchers for decades.

As an educator, Bob Eberle took the brainstorming techniques that Alex Osborn taught and arranged them into the famous acronym: SCAMPER--Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify, Put to Other Uses, Eliminate & Rearrange (Retrieved from http://litemind.com/scamper). These tools continue to remain useful for generating ideas. Whether the ideas are for new products or new ways of teaching content, whether used by elementary students to stretch ideas, or by business executives altering their products or processes, the SCAMPER technique is still found in new books on the subject of creative thinking. There are other tools as well (those taking the Root-Bernstein workshop will learn quite a few). Many of these ‘tools’ are familiar to art educators but are also often used in creative problem-solving processes outside of the art studio classroom.

Like art directors, art educators need to continue to be innovative. Innovation can include finding new ways to use expertise. Two successful programs that are research-based, and involve teams for creative problem-solving—Paul Torrance’s Future Problem-Solving (FPS) and Destination Imagination (DI)—mirror the 21st-century skills currently in demand and will be introduced to those who have chosen to attend those pre-convention workshops. These creative problem-solving programs provide some ways of connecting the dots between what we know and what we need to know as art educators in the 21st century. Leading by example, an innovative team, comprising an NAEA art educator and a creativity researcher who developed a joint university course for art and engineering students, will conduct the FPS workshop.

The general sessions and invited super sessions are also designed to help Convention attendees make more of these connections—whether it is finding out what a NASA visual strategist does or attending a super session with a multi-disciplinary panel that will address the question: If 5% of art students may become artists, what do the other 95% need to know and be able to do? Your answers to these and other questions posed by the Convention theme and presenters will enrich the multidisciplinary conversations at NAEA.

Innovation is a part of our beings. Novelty excites, amuses, and inspires. We are all looking forward to being a part of the innovative culture of the Northwest and learning firsthand what it feels like to be a part of NAEA in the exciting city of Seattle. No doubt many have employed new methods of obtaining the funding to come to the Convention. I know some graduate students spent some of December selling their art to attend their first NAEA Convention. The promise of new ideas, new materials, and new resources always inspires efforts to attend—as does the likelihood of meeting new friends and acquaintances. And for some of us, new opportunities to reunite with colleagues we have known for a lifetime will bring us to Seattle.

I would like to thank all those NAEA members who answered my request for film suggestions, TED talks, or other resources that address our Convention theme for our new NAEA screening room. I am especially grateful to those who sent copies of their favorite resources to share. As of this writing, we have the requisite permission to show two hard-to-find gems: Andy Goldsworthy: Creating his Storm King Wall 1997-1998 and Sculptors at Storm King: 7 Modern Masters Reveal Their Creative Adventures (Kenneth Snelson, David Smith, Mark di Suvero, Alexander Calder, Richard Serra, Louise Nevelson, and Isamu Noguchi). Other permissions will have been obtained including films about some of the outstanding artists in our Artist Series this year! We do plan to provide you with information needed to acquire any of the resources we showcase for your classroom/library. Please be sure to participate in this new feature and let us know if it is worth making it an annual event at the NAEA Convention.

References
Eberle, B. (1996). SCAMPER on: Games for imagination development. Austin, TX: Prufrock Press.
Osborn, A. F. (1963). Applied imagination (3rd ed). New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Root-Bernstein, R. S., & Root-Bernstein M. M. (2001). Sparks of genius. New York, NY: Houghton-Mifflin.