Unassuming . Confident . Protective . Expansive . Mysterious . Simple .
All of these words could be used to describe creativity . They could also be used to describe one of the most interesting artists and authors I ’ ve had the pleasure to interview , Austin Kleon .
Austin is the New York Times Bestselling Author of the breakout hit Steal Like an Artist and the follow up , Show Your Work . Currently , he ’ s just released a new journal in the series to help others prompt their own creative thinking and begin busting through the blocks that sometimes cause us humans to stop creating altogether .
In our interview , I wanted to get Austin ’ s thoughts on what role he sees creativity playing in the future , as well as how we can help to foster the creative process in schools without strangling it altogether .
STEAMed Magazine : How would you describe “ what you do for a living ”?
Austin Kleon : I call myself “ a writer who draws ” — I make art with words and book with pictures .
SM : What does your artistic process look like ?
AK : I like to think of it as a process of input and output — I read a lot of books , magazines , and websites , take lots of walks , go on trips , and then I scribble in notebooks , tweet , blog , and write books . Rinse and repeat .
The original brainstorm for Show Your Work . Photo credit : http :// instagram . com / austinkleon
SM : How can teachers help to foster a creative mindset in their classrooms ?
AK : I think being creative is mostly about giving yourself or your students time , space , and materials . So , giving them a space to work in , materials to work with , and a set amount of time , and then letting them go .
SM : What role do you think failure plays in schools and in the arts ?
Creativity is all about process , not product , and I think our educational system , on the whole , is tilting dangerously towards product — students get rewarded for “ success ,” or getting the right answer , and then they do everything they can to avoid “ failure ,” or getting the wrong answer . A lot of the creative process , of course , is getting things wrong until you arrive at something that isn ' t necessarily “ right ” answer , but an answer that works .
STEAMed Magazine
23
January 2016 Edition