What is Intentional Creativity?
Intentional Creativity (IC) coaching and classes are a wonderful way to explore, to grow and to inspire. If you can hold a paintbrush, you can practice IC.
We all have an idea of what creativity means - paint, crayons, canvas, etc. It’s fun for some of us but for many of us, not so much. “I am not creative, I can’t draw or paint”…we tell ourselves —and others. Likely, we had some sort of experience that made us relegate art making to those with talent. As children, we may have had some well meaning adult say to us “that doesn’t look like a tree!” or “No, grass is green and the sky should be blue” or something along those lines. Children up to a certain age have imaginations that are free to explore, embellish, make up, re-make, to create, until those healthy creative impulses were shamed or judged by someone else.
I believe everyone is innately creative. I am not talking about talent, though talent is wonderful. However, talent is not a requirement in order to be creative. Human beings like to make stuff. Our brains are wired that way. Creative acts like drawing and painting, activate parts of our brain that we gain access to when we engage in these activities. Using creativity intentionally takes it all to a new level. When we use it intentionally, we connect with ourselves at a deep level and in a way that brings its’ own magic to whatever we are doing.
We can use Intentional Creativity to problem solve, to tune into ourselves, to learn to listen to and feel our feelings. We can use it to discover parts of our selves we hadn’t previously been aware of. Intentional Creativity can help us see how we might approach our lives and live them with more meaning because it gives us access to our dreams, and our gifts (not necessarily art), and inspires us to consider sharing them with the world. In IC, we use painting and drawing and other art forms to connect ourselves to the realm of the Muse, an entity that each of us can know and be supported by. The Muse can connect us to a greater purpose for our lives, all while joyfully working/playing with art supplies. IC softens the rough edges of looking into the darker parts of ourselves, where we can discover and shed light on what holds us back in our lives and begin to dissolve those blocks as we spread paint on the canvas. Actively creating while working through these challenges lightens the atmosphere of delving into these aspects of self, increasing self compassion and teaching a gentleness so needed for healing. It can improve our experience of life, as well as our relationships. As we get to know and understand ourselves better, our compassion for others, also grows.
Intentional Creativity coaching and classes are a wonderful way to explore, to grow and to inspire. If you can hold a paintbrush, you can practice IC.
My Intentional Creativity Lineage
I really felt drawn to IC and to Shiloh’s painting style when I was first introduced to it through Flora Bowley. Flora got me painting when I took an Intuitive Painting Workshop with her in 2010. I was thrilled to begin my painting journey and could hardly believe I was exploring creating visual art. I had long been a musician/singer but had never thought of myself as a visual artist. I took to it like a fish to water. I was hungry for it!
I came upon an interview of Flora interviewing Shiloh. I was drawn to the consciousness aspect of how she spoke and talked about painting. I had been a yoga/meditation teacher for years and was excited about the notion of accessing and expressing my spirituality through the process of painting.
In 2016 I began another very personal journey — discovering my internalized racism. As I began to learn more about Shiloh’s work I decided to sign up for a year long painting class - Red Madonna. There were 3 white women teaching the course and one focused on Mexican Guadalupe and other Mexican themes. I had spent time in Mexico and was drawn to the work but began to feel uncomfortable as I pondered cultural appropriation.
I ultimately decided to withdraw from the class and instead, to continue to explore my own internal work and education around anti-racism. Upon reflection, that was an important focus for me and though I was sad to shift my focus from painting, I will never regret giving anti-racism my full attention, educating myself over the next few years. It became my full time job and I continue to learn, grow, uncover and to manage my emotions around this intense and important aspect of growing up in America.
I returned to Shiloh in 2022 just when I was contemplating going to Social Work school for a masters. Through the years, I had continued to be on the Musea mailing list. Most of the time, I would glance over them and delete because I had too much on my plate. I had noticed that on Social Media, there had been an recognition of the need for an anti-racist “upgrade” (my word for it) in Shiloh’s community and I was so touched by how she was handling/leading the community in that work.
So when I received the email for the Intentional Creativity Coaching Certification Training — Motherboard, I felt my own inner wisdom nudging me to pay attention… and I read it. I got excited, it felt timely, my internal voice was saying - “ Do this training instead of Social Work school. There will be so many things you have to do going back to school that will feel useless to you, so many hoops to jump through…This path is more direct for you to use the skills you bring and add new ones to help people through coaching.”
And the rest is history…I knew that one of my goals was to paint more so naturally, once I saw how the trainings were handled (they are incredibly well run) I had to immediately sign up for Color of Woman IC Teaching Certification, even before I had completed Motherboard. Since then I have also completed the Origin Certification training which prepared me to be a Guardian of Intentional Creativity Teachings. This work is life changing. I hope you’ll give it a try!
