In the early 1990s, I was a member of an exclusive club of creatives. Once a month we would randomly pick a word out of the dictionary (a book, not an app) as the basis for art development. The word, its definition or an association of some sort. led to amazing works in 2-D, 3-D, written, recited, song, performance or any means of communicating and interpreting the artistic approach. Words like Ruction, Portevangelium, Dypolstamulium, Crystal were some of the challenges which forged more creativity. (Excuse my spelling… the dictionary used in selecting words was several volumes and in great depth of origin and explanation. Spell checking for this article, my Dictionary App did not have a couple of these listed).
The hand full of artists, architects, graphic designers, writers and creative folks came together and discussed their interpretations. The interpretations, explanations and demonstrations by each individual provided conversations about philosophy, environment, psychiatry, engineering, lighting, color and always humor. Creativity does transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns and relationships. Its the basis for new ideas and expressions.
I am reminded of this special club because I recently sold an original piece of artwork that I painted in 1993. It is one of in the Crystal series, which employed techniques generated of the club. My current work entitled Ethereal Environments is actually an outgrowth from the earlier series.