In Episode 22 of the Creative Work Hour podcast, the hosts discuss the impact of collaborative sessions on their creative processes and explore a fun hypothetical about choosing one color or material to work with exclusively for a year. Tune in for insights on accountability, motivation, and unique artistic choices!

Greg
00:03
Welcome back to another edition of the Creative Work Hour podcast. My name is Greg. Today's date is November 22nd, 2024. And during the month of November, we are doing an entry for NaPod PoMo. 

Greg
00:18
That stands for National Podcast Post Month. And in the room today, we have myself, we have Alessandra, we have Gretchen, we have Gray, we have Bobby W, Jennifer, and Bailey. And I will ask a question to get the conversation flowing and we will go from there. So today I would like to ask how has joining collaborative sessions like the creative work hour impacted your creative process?

Greg
00:50
I'm gonna go to Alessandra, you're first on my screen.

Alessandra
00:55
I love the question, although the way that I answer it probably won't be what you were wanting. How it's helped my creative process is that I know that the same time every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, I need to be right here, dressed, and in my right mind so that I can do my part of guiding the group in a wee 3 minute meditation and just kind of guide our check-in at the top of the hour and our check out at the bottom of the hour. Because if I go off crazier than usual, I won't be able to pull it all back in and get my shit together by the time it is it's time for us to gather up again because it happens every day.

Alessandra
01:46
So I've got to watch that crazy stuff. How about you Gretchen?

Gretchen 
01:57
I yeah I'm I'm I'm laughing at that 3 minutes. Well okay. I have found it to be really helpful.

Gretchen 
02:09
I have not only this group, but a video creator club and then I have my group with Doc Rock. I have things and it gives me some time, like especially I can sit and listen to somebody else, they're working and they're going through things and I've learned new software to use. I use the time to put together projects that I have to get out on a regular basis for other projects that I have. So it really does help me get in there and say, okay, this is the time I'm going to be maybe in this group and I might be watching somebody else do something, but I'm also able to still finish my task or work along.

Gretchen 
02:58
It's like coworking times. It's great. It has helped a lot. I, you know, have managed to finish almost 3 videos just this week from doing that.

Gretchen 
03:08
So yeah, I think it's helpful. How about you, Mr. Gray Miller?

Gray
03:20
Well this particular group, honestly, I was trying to think about what it was, and I was thinking I could say something like, inspirational or fun or things like that, but instead I would say that what the real effect it's had has been making it more compassionate. I am less likely to beat up on myself for not creating some sort of thing. And this podcast is a perfect example.

Gray
03:43
I started out the month of November with plans of doing a 30-part thing. I even outlined it on my blog and everything like that. And then I realized that would be way too much to do. So I decided to give myself a break, but I still get to participate because you all are doing it.

Gray
04:01
So I can feel like I'm both having a part of it and also doing so. Yeah, giving me a more compassionate art practice has been kind of my experience.

Greg
04:12
Wonderful. How about you, Jennifer?

Jennifer
04:15
That was lovely, Gray. Also, Alessandra, I really appreciate you facilitating all of this. As someone who facilitates lots of groups, it's like a lot of work to admin.

Jennifer
04:25
So I really am grateful and appreciative of you. Thank you. I came here, you also might have seen Legally Blonde, right? You know how Elle Woods went to Harvard to follow that guy?

Jennifer
04:41
Okay, so I came here for similar reasons for Gray. Because to me, so that I, we have time to like, be together in the mornings. And I had this experience in the beginning where like Gray's like, you should come to this thing. And I'm like, yes, I'll come.

Jennifer
05:01
And then he would leave the first couple times. And then I was like, why am I? I was at first being like, why am I cutting this thing and he's leaving?

Jennifer
05:14
But then I felt like I couldn't leave because I was like, I don't want to follow a dude. I can't, I had this gender thing happen and then I was like I guess I'll stay and then I ended up really loving it so it's like a similar arc as like Elle Woods or something but I also really like following 1 like my desire. I don't know, like my Besty once told me that they think that my path to knowledge is libidinal. So I'm also really interested in following that.

Jennifer
05:45
And so I think that's like a creative kind of energy thinking about Audrey Lord's uses of the erotic really impacted by that text. So yeah, that's it. And then I yeah so then being here also I like groups, I like being working in groups and collectives. I think there's something about like yeah like the energy, the presence or something that makes me more present.

Jennifer
06:13
That's my story.

Greg
06:15
I might be the only 1 that has not seen that movie. Maybe I have to go and look that up now. Bailey, I have you next on my screen.

Greg
06:24
How about yourself?

Bailey
06:27
I am not a morning person, like, at all. So, so far, Creative WorkHour has done really good at getting me up and in a seat in front of a screen in order to write or compose or do anything. So, so far, that's the biggest benefit of coming, Because if I don't, I am probably going to sleep in or lay in my bed a little bit longer and watch a TV show.

Bailey
06:54
So, yep, that's what it is for me.

Greg
06:58
Thanks, Bailey. How about yourself, Bobby?

Bobby
07:02
It has been incredibly helpful. I love it. I'm also a morning person.

Bobby
07:07
So it helps me get up, get focused. And, you know, even though a lot of times like in the first hour, being on the West Coast, it's just like getting my day together. That means by the second hour, I am, I'm going. And, and I get a lot more work done in the morning than I do in the afternoon.

Bobby
07:30
And I enjoy it also because everyone here does very different things than I do. So it's so interesting to just see the different personalities. I'm much more in the quantitative world. So it's nice not to have that.

Bobby
07:51
People that are a little more free thinking and less linear.

Alessandra
07:57
What I love about what you said, Bobby, is that you know because we're all so different not only at what we do but we each have 1 or 2 handfuls of things that we do, and they're not all active at the same time. It's like a garden, and some flowers are going to bloom during 1 time but not another. And what I really like about that configuration is 1, it gives the space for Polly Mathie to be a thing.

Alessandra
08:36
Like, you know, because many of us thought, what the hell is wrong with me? Like why can't I stick to 1 thing? We're not built that way! Some people are like God loves them, God loves them, But every time I try to do that, I just feel my sanity slipping.

Alessandra
08:57
And because we're varied amongst each other, and then that's a variable within ourselves, it means there is no comparing ourselves to somebody else.

Bobby
09:10
It helps me, well it's also, it helps me appreciate what like you know Gretchen and her photography and Andy and you know the symphonies and just like these are, and Bailey, right, composing, I'm just, that is some, that is so foreign to anything I have ever and will do. And I like it because it's something I wouldn't normally learn about if I wasn't here or appreciate quite frankly.

Greg
09:41
Right. For me, I would echo a lot of what everyone else has said. It's a constant for me. And I know during that time, even though we may be in cyberspace, we're kind of still in each other's company.

Greg
09:54
And it allows me to be creative and somewhat accountable in a good way. That word accountability again, which can be quite scary, but not in this instance. But I'll ask another quick question to round us out. If you had to choose 1 color or 1 material to work with exclusively, you can't use anything else and you have to do that for a year.

Greg
10:18
What would it be and why? Alessandra?

Alessandra
10:21
Well we were talking about aluminum before. I would, yeah, I can totally live with 1 big ass long roll of aluminum foil for a year because you can mold it you think it's 1 color but I know from having rendered different kinds of metals on paper with you know in different mediums, that with aluminum it's not actually gray. The thinking mind makes you believe that it's gray, but it's not actually gray if you observe it.

Alessandra
11:03
And so I think that that would hold my interest for a year. I think it could. Gretchen, how about you?

Gretchen 
11:18
First off, I'll answer this, but back to the other thing, what we're saying is that in the group, I think 1 of the things that the group coming into a group like this, it also gives you a chance to monitor your own mental health and have other people that are out there, that are checking in with you even when you're not monitoring it yourself because they're there for you. They're there watching out for you and that's a big thing. If you're not used to asking for that kind of help you have a group of support out there that's there for you in so many different ways and you just realize that is pretty impactful for your creativity.

Gretchen 
12:01
But on to 1 material says the woman who has a pen and is drawing and watercolor in 1 hand and a paintbrush in another hand and gouache in the other place and her camera back here, I just, oh, I think if I had to choose for just 1 year, this is too stressful.

Greg
12:33
Don't overcomplicate it. It's hypothetical. Hypothetical?

Greg
12:36
I'm not

Gretchen 
12:36
going to

Alessandra
12:36
be as useful.

Gretchen 
12:37
I don't know if the complexity is hypothetical. I would say. A pen and paper.

Gretchen 
12:43
Because I could draw. I could write. I could sketch. I could copy photos.

Gretchen 
12:52
I could do a lot of stuff with that. Yeah, pen and paper.

Greg
12:57
How about you, Gray?

Gray
13:06
I'm kind of similar to Alessandra, but in a different way. I would say if I could only work with 1 material for a year, that material would be flesh. And I mean flesh because, like Alessandra said, it comes in many different colors and sometimes you think it's 1 color but then it changes to another color and you can shape it into all kinds of different things and forms.

Gray
13:30
And that's just kind of a funny part of it, but honestly, it's entirely serious because my first love and my first art form is dance. And so, you know, being able to move with, you know, make bodies move and put them into shapes. It includes sculpture. It just so happens my flesh also has this voice box and various sounds that I can make.

Gray
13:57
So I can make music. And, I can also, you know, make various other movements and I can also tell stories. So really that 1 material gives me several different art forms to use during a year. So that's what I would do.

Greg
14:15
Right. I must admit when you said flesh, I was like, oh, do we need to be a little bit concerned here and then, but you got that.

Alessandra
14:21
I was like, silence of the lambs, man.

Greg
14:25
There's been knocking on the door and some sirens here in a minute. Braille getting dragged off with some handcuffs on or something like that.

Alessandra
14:33
That's my favorite answer of all the questions that we've done.

Gray
14:37
I'm not ruling that out, but, you know, just thinking of all kinds of different art forms.

Greg
14:42
Final answer, right? Final answer. Jennifer, how about you?
 
Jennifer
14:48
I love that. I was going to say, I was thinking about saying body and then like when graves and flesh, I was like, well, that's very specific. That's like a very specific scripting of the body.

Jennifer
14:59
But I think like the material, I mean, this is a material that I already try to work with, but I would probably work with trauma as a material, just because I'm like really, I don't know, I think that trauma, unacknowledged, unprocessed, unloved trauma is the primary reason that people hold on to extract power and resources. So that's something that I'm always interested in working with.

Greg
15:33
Right. Bailey, how about you? 1 material or 1 color for you?

Bailey
15:39
I'm gonna go with yarn. I've been recently inspired to do some more knitting. And I just find knitting really fun.

Bailey
15:49
But also, there are these tactile artists who make these huge like beautiful nets that are supposed to represent light and all sorts of yarn and string that are like, hung up in the air. I'll put some in the daily chat, but it's super, super cool. And I think it's a little bit more, you can do more things with it than just knitting. So Yeah, that's my answer.

Greg
16:16
Absolutely. Bobby, how about you?

Bobby
16:19
So here's my, it's more a business answer, but I really like Canva.

Gretchen 
16:25
And

Bobby
16:28
I, and it allows me to be creative in different ways and I'm having so much fun with it because it's a skill I'm acquiring. It's certainly something that I'm not an expert at. So that's my answer.

Alessandra
16:41
That's so cool.

Greg
16:43
There are certain aspects, a certain part of Canva this year. What do you enjoy the most in Canva? What do you enjoy doing the most?

Bobby
16:51
I actually am really starting to get into the videos and that's something, you know, who knew, but I would, I would do that. So it's just something new and learning new skills. And then I can still do my documents and business stuff there.

Bobby
17:09
So it allows me that little escape.

Greg
17:13
I've not used the video aspect of it. I have tried, I've used it for photo editing of all things. It's down and dirty quick background remover and things like that.

Greg
17:23
But I've not tried the video editing features yet. Gretchen, you have your hand raised.

Gretchen 
17:29
Sorry, I forgot to lower it. But Bobby, have you tried the voiceover aspect yet on on Canva you can do voiceovers you can I last night when I because I I make a 20 to 40 second video for every 1 of my shows so I have made a lot and it I mean I use the magic move the AI making a movie for crazy things, put in silly prompts? And yes, they don't turn out great.

Gretchen 
17:59
They're very odd, but they're fun for something to just drop in as a little b-roll type thing. Thank you. But you can do voice overs too, that's a lot of fun.

Bobby
18:08
Oh, that's cool. Well, that gives me a new little toy to play with, so thank you.

Greg
18:12
There you go, you heard it here first. Well, it's happened again. You've wasted a perfectly few good minutes listening to the Creative Workout podcast when you could have been doing something different but you didn't.

Greg
18:24
Come back again tomorrow we'll be here but what about you? Let us know what's your favorite material or color to work with? If you had to work with it for a year, what would it be? Come back again tomorrow and we'll be here.

Greg
18:38
Thank you.