FACE OF CREATIVITY: THE POLISH VILLAGE OF ZALIPIE 

Creative Thinking Skill:  Make Your World Beautiful!
Creativity sees beauty and creates beauty.

Once upon a time, in a small Polish village called Zalipie, somebody painted a flower on their ceiling in order to cover up a soot mark caused by the stove. Ventilation was poor back then, and soot stains were a common sight in most if not all of the houses, and so other people started concealing the marks with their own little flowers until every house was covered in them.
Eventually everything in town was covered in flowers, from houses and barns to bridges and churches, and every spring since 1948 the village has held a Painted Cottage Competition. The original purpose of this contest was part of a movement to help Poland psychologically recover from the atrocities that the country suffered in World War II.
Today Zalipie is a far cry from those dark times. Situated in the southeast of Poland, just 90 minutes from Krakow, this beautifully bright and colorful village is the perfect location for anybody looking for a unique and memorable day trip.

FACE OF CREATIVITY: ANEZKA KASPARKOVA

Creative Thinking Skill:  Building on Someone Else's Idea

Creativity sees the ideas of others and when it finds something it likes, takes that idea and connects with that idea, making it their own 

Remember the Polish village from yesterday where every house is covered with painted flower?   Well, one 90-year-old resident of Louka, in the Czech Republic, is set out to make her hometown just as charming, and spends every spring and summer adorning window and door frames with majestic designs.
Anežka (Agnes) Kašpárková, a former agricultural worker, picked up the hobby from other local woman who had been doing the same for years. Using vibrant blue paint and a small brush, she creates intricate floral patterns inspired by traditional Moravian (southern Czech) artwork. Despite attaining both local and viral internet acclaim, she has insisted that it’s purely for pleasure. “I am an artist,” she stated to Czech media. “I just enjoy it and I want to help.”
Age really is just a number, especially when it comes to embracing your creativity. 

FACE OF CREATIVITY:  SALAVAT FIDAI

Starting with carpenter and art pencils containing thick leads, Russian artist SALAVAT FIDAI uses an X-ACTO knife to carve miniature statues of hands, buildings, and various characters from pop culture. The delicate process requires a good understanding of how much pressure the lead can withstand, but even then mistakes do happen. This artist is fascinated by all things miniature, and also paints on seeds! Watch the time lapse video below to see his process for carving an entire replica of the Eiffel Tower. 

CREATIVE THINKING SKILL: MINIMIZE & PUT TO OTHER USES

Creativity is great at looking at things in a new way and using an unexpected "medium" for showing that view.

​FACE OF CREATIVITY:  Disney Cast Members

CREATIVE THINKING SKILL:  Creativity knows it takes a lot of work and attention to detail to create "MAGIC!"

Even if you are playing the role of a silly character like Goofy or Donald Duck or a Disney princess, Disney takes seriously the part you are playing and requires an audition. An audition is when you show what you can do in front of a panel of judges. The judges will also ask you questions about your ability and about why you want to be a Disney character.  The role of characters inside the parks is very important --they want the best. Disney auditions can be intense! If you get chosen, you receive a lot of training for the part. 

You’ve got to bring the Magic. Your job as a character Cast Member at Disney World is literally to bring joy and happiness to every Guest with whom you come in contact. No matter where you are, who you’re around, time of day or park you’re in, you’ll be one of many characters working to make children’s dreams come true, so you’ve always got to be in a positive mindset, have an uplifting mood and exhibit that to everyone around you. That ensures that you’re always sharing the Magic with others.

​You’ve got to stay in your story. No matter where you are within the Walt Disney World Resort, if you are portraying a Disney character, you cannot leave your story. That means that if, for example, you are playing the role of Aurora, and a child asks you about SpongeBob SquarePants, you have to act as if you’ve never heard of him since he’s not a part of your story. If you’re playing the role of Prince Eric, and a child shows you her iPad, you’ll have to act as though you’ve never seen one in your life. This is another way Disney keeps the Magic alive and believable.

You’ve got to perfect your autograph. One of the ways Disney keeps the Magic alive in the theme parks is by making sure the character's autograph is the same no matter how many people play the part over the years. No matter how many times you meet Mickey, he’s got to sign your autograph book the same exact way. Because of this, new Cast Members spend quite a bit of time learning the autograph and perfecting it.

You’ve got to think on your feet. You’ve got to be able to handle any comment, situation or scenario that comes your way while you’re in character. Kids (and adults) sometimes say (and do) the crazy things. When they do, there is no script for the character to follow. You have to react in a good way and in a way that seems like your character.

Disney Cast Members are people who play the parts of Disney characters in their parks. They wear the costume and the act just like those characters act. Would you like to be a character Cast Member at Walt Disney World? Do you think you have what it takes? You can make that dream come true, but only if you can meet the requirements for not only becoming a character Cast Member at Walt Disney World, but for being successful at doing so. Here are 10 requirements for being a character in the parks. These 10 requirements will also help you be a better actor if you are in a play such as "Annie!"  They also help you be a better writer, showing you ways to make the characters in your story seem more real.

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You’ve got to exaggerate.
Your movements, that is. Because the costumes that are worn at the parks are very heavy, bulky and somewhat cumbersome, your movements will have to be exaggerated in order to be seen under such heavy costuming. To exaggerate means to be over-the top about all your movements. 

You’ve got to know your story. As a character Cast Member, whether you’re playing the role of Mickey, Minnie, Gaston, Snow White, one of the Seven Dwarfs or Rafiki, you’ve got to know the story your character is part of, the role your character plays in that story, specific sayings for which your character is known, and you’ve got to know about other characters within your story. For instance, Gaston must know all about Belle --such as her love of books --so that he might be able to talk to Guests about that, making him seem like the real Gaston!. 

You’ve got to weather the weather. If you’re going to play the role of a Disney character in the parks, you’ll have to be able to handle all types of weather. That’s because it gets very hot in Central Florida, especially in the late spring and summer months. While it doesn't snow at the Disney parks, it rains quite a lot in Florida, and Disney stays open, rain or shine. You must act like the rain doesn't bother you at all!

You’ve got to keep quiet.  Certain characters like Mickey Mouse and Goofy cannot speak—no matter what. This is because they have a certain voice sound. Disney doesn't want Guests hearing different voices among the different Mickeys or Minnies that Guests meet. Remember, the goal is to keep the Magic alive. Second, you have to keep quiet about the role you’re playing. When you are not working in the park, you are not to discuss in person, via social media or in any other manner, which character you are portraying in the parks. 

​You’ve got to really, really love Disney. After all, if your dream is to play the role of a Disney character at Walt Disney World, surely you’re a Disney fan. You won’t be a successful character in the parks if you don't love all things Disney. 

Are you interested in being a Disney character someday?  Visit this Disney Audition site to learn more!   https://disneyauditions.com

​FACE OF CREATIVITY:  Creative Ideas for PARENTS

Seeing problems that need solved is the most important step in creativity.  Most people think that solving problems is what really matters, but that's not nearly as important as seeing what could be made better. Today we look at easy solutions to big problems that almost all of us overlook.

Pool Noodles For Bedtime Security Worried that your child will fall off the bed? Put a pool noodle beneath the fitted sheets to prevent that from happening.

Shoe Stickers Are your kids having a hard time deciphering which shoe goes on which foot? Cut a sticker in half and put each section in one of your kid’s shoes. It'll help them figure it out.

Untangle A Doll's Hair Fill a small bottle with 2 tablespoons of fabric softener and water to detangle doll hair. Dish soap and hair conditioner works too!

Handy Ice Pack Use a frozen sponge in a ziplock bag as a makeshift icepack for lunches or boo-boos.

Toilet Paper Guide Worried your kids are using way too much toilet paper? Leave a marker on the wall for them to measure.

Lint Roller For Glitter Kids love glitter, but it can be an absolute nightmare to clean up. Many times, it can be almost impossible. But it turns out, running a lint roller over the affected area will pick most of it up.

No Drip Snacks To prevent sticky fingers, put a cupcake liner on a popsicle stick to keep it from dripping.

Pool Noodles...Again Use a bit of pool noodle to keep kids from slamming their fingers in the door.

​The BEREZKA ENSEMBLE -
​Russia's Floating Dance Group

The question on everyone's mind when watching the Berezka Ensemble perform is how exactly the group achieves its mesmerizing floating step. A close look at footage from the group's performances reveals that the floating step is exactly what the name infers, so much so that the dancers' ability to achieve the floating effect is nearly uncanny. 

This floating dance step is so unbelievable that rumors have surrounded the Berezka Ensemble, saying that members of the dance troupe are sworn to secrecy to never reveal the technique. Contrary to rumors, Berezka's current leader Mira Koltsova said, "No one is required to pledge secrecy." However, the method behind the floating step is still widely unknown. 

So how do they do it?  You tell me. One audience member jokingly said, "There must be giant magnets on the bottom of their shoes that are connected to a giant magnet under the floor."  If you notice even their skirts don't move!  Many sources say all the girls have on ballet toe shoes.  However they do it, it is truly amazing!
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CREATIVE THINKING SKILL:  Amaze

Creativity has a lot of fun amazing people --especially when those people have no idea how it's done!

​FACE OF CREATIVITY:  JAPAN --a culture of RESPECT

There are over 9 million people living in Tokyo, the largest city in Japan. The city looks very crowded to the American tourist. Living so close together, in such large numbers, is possible because the Japanese are taught from a very early age to always respect others:  respect their things, respect their space, the list goes on.

Several years ago, Miss Hesse spent three weeks in Japan, two of those weeks were in Tokyo. She says that everything you see in the following video is really TRUE!  Imagine how much better the United States would be if we, too, were a culture of respect. 

CREATIVE THINKING SKILL:  RESPECT OTHERS
Creative people know that showing respect for others creates a better world!

There is not enough space in Tokyo to have the parking garages we are used to seeing. Cars are raised and lowered on a lift that places them in a multi-storied garage. You give the attendant your car's number and the mechanical lift goes up, reaches in, pulls your car out, and lowers it to you.

Many people ride bicycles all over Tokyo. Few people actually own automobiles. Most ride the subway or use their bike. Just look at all the bikes in this bike garage. But guess what! No one locks his or her bike. Japanese people do not steal.

The subway in Tokyo is super crowded, but there is never any pushing. Everyone calmly waits his/her turn. Miss Hesse said that one of the teachers on the trip she went on, forgot and left her purse on the subway. It had her credit cards in it and an expensive camera. The lady was very upset. The manager of the hotel told her not to worry that it would be turned in to the subway office. AND IT WAS! She got it back within a few hours.

The streets of Tokyo had absolutely no litter of any kind. There aren't even any trash cans in public bathrooms or on the streets. Why? People carry a small, cloth hand towel in their purse, pocket, or brief case to dry their hands with, so they never use paper towels. Japanese people also never eat or chew gum on the street or sidewalk, so there isn't anything to even throw on the ground.

Living so close together, the people of Japan always wear a mask that covers their mouth and nose when they are sick. This keeps germs from being spread to others.

​FACE OF CREATIVITY: STEFAN DRASCHAN  

MUSEUMS. are amazing places! You can see things you only seen in books or heard about, but while most are looking Stefan Draschan entertains himself at art museums by creating his own unique art projects.  

One of those projects is “People matching artworks”. Although Draschan’s images seem perfectly staged --that means he goes out and finds people who remind him of an artwork and then picks out the clothes they need to look even more like the artwork -- the truth is none of his photographs are staged.  The secret behind Stefan Draschan's images is actually patience. He sites and waits until the right person happens to come along.

Stefan enjoys visiting different museums mostly in Paris, Vienna and Berlin where he waits for visitors to suddenly match with a piece of art in a funny way. He looks for harmony between people and the artworks they’re facing. It’s usually the outfits that match the art, but there are also people who match with the paintings because of their hair styles and colors, or even beards.  (adapted from Bored Panda)

CREATIVE THINKING SKILL:  PATIENCE

Creativity is willing to wait for inspiration --for the moment when you know you've discovered what you hoped to find.

FACE OF CREATIVITY:  THE SVALBARD GLOBAL SEED VAULT

Deep inside a mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, lies the Global Seed Vault. It is a fail-safe seed storage facility, built to stand the test of time — and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters. The Seed Vault represents the world’s largest collection of crop diversity.

The purpose of the Vault is to store duplicates (backups) of seed samples from the world’s crop collections. 
Permafrost and thick rock ensure that the seed samples will remain frozen even without power. The Vault is the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply, offering options for future generations to overcome the challenges of climate change and population growth. It will secure, for centuries, millions of seeds representing every important crop variety available in the world today. It is the final back up.


The Seed Vault has the capacity to store 4.5 million varieties of crops. Each variety will contain on average 500 seeds, so a maximum of 2.5 billion seeds may be stored in the Vault. 
Currently, the Vault holds more than 930,000 samples, originating from almost every country in the world. Ranging from unique varieties of major African and Asian food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea, and sorghum to European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley, and potato. In fact, the Vault already holds the most diverse collection of food crop seeds in the world.

CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERACTIVE TOUR OF THE VAULT --SUPER COOL!!!!!

CREATIVE THINKING SKILL:  VISION
See into the future and look for ways to safeguard what we take for granted.

​Giant Rice Straw Animals in Japan
FACE OF CREATIVITY:  Musashino Art University STUDENTS

Fall is a season of harvesting, and festivals to celebrate.  We have the Arkansas Rice Festival here to celebrate the end of rice harvest. In Northern Japan, the Wara Art Festival includes a wildly inventive and fun way to repurpose rice straw left over from the harvest.


Wara Art Festival has been taking place in Niigata City since 2008, where it began as a creative collaboration between the city’s tourism division and the local Art University. Rice straw was once widely used in Japan to produce various goods, such as tatami mats, which have now been replaced by wood and plastic in most instances. The art students worked together to fill the fields of Niigata with giant animal sculptures made of bound rice straw, and they’ve been doing it every year since then.  (https://www.boredpanda.com/straw-sculptures-wara-art-festival-niigata-japan/?utm_source=bp_art&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=BPFacebook_)

CREATIVE THINKING SKILL:  Visualization - imagining in the mind's eye what a thing could be.

Russian Air Pano

Walking around towns and taking photos of their places of interest you may not see the whole picture: the view from the ground doesn't permit you to fully appreciate the scale and geometry if architectural memorials. 

If you dream of travelling the world and seeing it all from a bird’s-eye view, these sweeping, epic panoramic photos by AirPano might be one of the best ways to do it. This team of Russian photographers and specialists travels the world to take stunning aerial photos of the world’s most beautiful locations.


“Although we usually photograph from a helicopter, we also like to shoot from an airplane, a dirigible, a hot air balloon, and a radio-controlled helicopter,” they write. 
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The Russian AirPano team of photographers rises to the sky to show you different places of our planet from above.  https://www.boredpanda.com/aerial-photography-panorama-air-pano/

CREATIVE THINKING SKILL:
​                          UNUSUAL PERSPECTIVE

Russian AirPano decided to give us a view we never see as we walk around a city.  They let us see what a bird sees.

Barcelona, Spain

Paris, France --The Arch deTriumph

New York City - Central Park

Dubai

Moscow, Russia - St. Basil's

PARTHENON OF BOOKS

In the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis banned books that were written by authors who were of Jewish descent, or had pacifist or Communist sympathies. The list included such luminaries as Marcel Proust, Ernest Hemingway, and Jack London. Now, some eight decades later, a monument is being constructed in honor of those censored books.


Argentine artist Marta Minujín has created a full-scale replica of one of the world’s most famous structures, the Parthenon in Athens, constructed entirely from censored books. The symbolism is striking, as the Parthenon is the very antithesis of political repression. Indeed, the artist went on to add in a statement that the original Parthenon is "the aesthetic and political ideals of the world’s first democracy."
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The display is part of the Documenta 14 art festival in Kassel, Germany. Now in its 14th iteration, the Documenta was first established in 1955 an attempt to bring Germany up to speed with modern art, after the horrific years of Nazism. For the current exhibition, Minujín created the structure by sourcing 100,000 donated books from around the world. The novels were then secured to the steel structure with plastic sheeting, protecting them from the natural elements while allowing sunlight to filter through the building. The site of the exhibition is noteworthy as well, as the city of Kassel (located in central Germany) was where several thousand books were burned during the Nazi-led campaign to rid the country of books deemed un-German.    (https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/banned-books-have-been-formed-into-parthenon-of-books)

Creative Thinking Skill:  ​Associate - pair up; relate one thing to another; form a mental connection between things. This gets ideas flowing and sparks new ideas that help us get past a creative block.

HIDDEN LOGOS!!

Logos are symbols that represent everything from companies to schools to clubs to countless other things. Our logo is the cardinal with the graduation cap (called a mortar board), who is holding a magic wand.  Some of the logs you see have messages or ideas hidden in them that tell even more about what they represent. If logos could laugh, these hidden logos would probably be doing a lot of laughing, knowing most of us don't see what is clearly there. Let's take a look at a few.

creative thinking skill:  Associate - pair up; relate one thing to another; form a mental connection between things.

This logo reminds us that the Bronx Zoo is in New York City!

Do you see THREE Hershey kisses? This one is ready to eat!

The founder of Wendy's decided to honor his mother in the logo...

This famous ice cream company is proud of all the many flavors of ice cream they offer.

This is the official logo for the sports teams at the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff.

See the New York City skyline with all the skyscrapers?

See the word mom?

Amazon wants you to remember they have everything from A to Z.

Do you see the U for University, and the A for Arkansas and the P for Pine and the B for Bluff in the lion's mane?