"Many of our high concept, high touch muscles have atrophied.
The challenge is to work them back into shape.”

-- Daniel H. Pink
”Revenge of the Right Brain”
Wired magazine, Feb. 2005

April / May 2006

Welcome again to The Artful Professional , a free newsletter for people who wish to bring greater creativity and meaning to their work. As always, the goal of this issue is to share creative practices and an insight or two, and to generally encourage the Artful Professional in you.

This issue emphasizes the value of bringing visual information into your professional thought and conversation.  Visual information activates the special knowledge of our “right brain” – that part of our intelligence which understands conceptual, contextual, motivational and systemic thinking.  The artful professional embraces professional practices which exercise and develop these right brain muscles.  In this newsletter, I offer very simple but powerful group practices for doing so.  I hope you find them useful, and I hope you Enjoy!

Sue Lebeck, M.S.,M.A.
Founder and Principal
www.working-arts.com

Bringing Art to your Conversations

Visual imagery is a rich medium – concrete while ambiguous, specific while containing endless possibilities.   Imagery conveys both discrete and relational information.  It connects with a subconscious part of our knowing, and invites us to make that special knowledge conscious and available for our use.

Visual imagery, when brought into our personal and professional conversations, can increase both the scope and the depth of understanding in our discussions.  Choosing imagery, and then articulating deeply what we see, is a powerful individual and group mental exercise -- one which can, with practice, continually strengthen our conceptual and emotional muscles.

Invite each participant to choose an image which calls out to them in some way.
Your invitation might be oriented around individual “check-in”,
or around a topic or theme of interest to the group.

Invite each participant to speak to the group about  their chosen image,
articulating what they see, and what their response to it is.
Does the image evoke any insights for them at this time?

How do others respond to the chosen images?
Do additional insights emerge from the responses of others?

You may be surprised to discover how much this simple practice opens, deepens, and expands a conversation.   Social ice is broken, participants become closer while retaining their conventional sense of privacy, and discoveries – sometimes profound ones – are made.

At the same time, the mental drawbridge between the visually-oriented right-brain and the verbally oriented left-brain is lowered into place, preparing the way for creative thought throughout your meeting and beyond.

Creating your Collection

Collecting artful conversational imagery is itself a creative process -- stimulating, potentially collaborative and simply fun. 

Collecting artful imagery is also easy.   We are surrounded in our culture by sources of quality visual imagery.   Artful imagery presents itself to us each day, if we but notice.   Examples include …

Other artful imagery takes a bit of delightful shopping and a modest investment.   Favorite examples include…

“Permanent-collection” cards and postcards from Art Museum gift stores
Postcard books and boxed cards, e.g.,  from www.pomegranate.com
Appointment calendars with breathtaking nature images from
www.sierraclub.org/books/calendar

What favorite sources can you find?   

Might your workgroup create a collection together?   How might you use these -- as a cohort of artful professionals -- whether individually or as a group? 

Share your Thoughts

Share your artful insights and your favorite imagery sources. I'd love to read them and learn from you.  To write Working-Arts , e-mail sue@working-arts.com.

Pass it On

Share this newsletter freely to encourage the Artful Professional who lives within your friends and colleagues.  To subscribe, unsubscribe, or ask a question, e-mail info@working-arts.com.

Working-Arts® Services

Working-Arts offers a range of artful professional services for your organization, including

Artful Problem-Solving
Artful Project-Management
Connecting with your Customer
… and more

Working-Arts can also help you or your work group to seed your image collection.  For information on Artful Professional workshops, off-sites and image-collection services, e-mail sue@working-arts.com.

About the Founder

Sue Lebeck, M.S.,M.A., is Founder and Principal program designer and consultant for Working-Arts . Working-Arts® programs and perspectives are informed by Sue's background in both the arts and the sciences.  With Working-Arts, thinking is informed by feeling, and creative inquiry is facilitated through model and method.

Sue also guides graduate students and professionals in practices which stimulate their inner creativity and knowing.   She is active in the South Bay Organizational Development Network (www.sbodn.com) and serves on the Board of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (www.ieata.org).