Creative Play

Welcome to studio news for March, 2025. Last month, I started spending some Friday afternoons in my studio with my friend Britt for play dates. Life has felt extra heavy lately, and we both just needed some time to play with clay. 

Play is such an important part of creating, and unfortunately many artists find themselves in profit/making mode with not enough time for play. The act of play in our lives allows us to explore ideas, be more in the present moment, and open ourselves up to more curiosity. Play has been a very important component for me to explore new bodies of work, but there doesn't always have to be an expected outcome to allow ourselves more play in our lives. 

Some things I have found helpful to inspire more play in my artistic practice include:

• Decorating my creative space with whimsical objects. I have several Halloween inspired objects in my studio that bring me joy (image below). 
• Decorating my creative space with other artist's artwork. Some of the works on my walls are from local artists including my friends Britt Malec and Nan Onkka. This helps keep my space feeling inspired.
• Listening to music that inspires me to be more playful at heart. Truth be told sometimes Lady Gaga is played on repeat and dancing might be had. Here is my favorite Lady Gaga album. 
• Journaling about creative goals and sketching ideas that pop into my head. There is always a sketch pad in my studio. 
• Creating idea boards of things I want to work on. These can be as simple as a Pinterest board; something I love doing that currently keeps me away from other social media. 
• Scheduling time for myself to be in the studio uninterrupted with no agenda, just free time to create whatever comes to mind. 
• Collaborative play with others - this can really be a powerful source of inspiration. Watching my friend Britt play with clay in my studio (not her primary medium) helps me see things with a different lens, as does teaching. 
• Lastly, meditation has been a HUGE component of my life for the past 15 years, but especially since becoming trained in Transcendental Meditation roughly 6 years ago. Making sure that I provide myself time to connect inward has been pivotal to my creativity. Often during meditation creative ideas come to the surface and I can't wait to get into the studio to play around with them. 

Another thing that I did in February to incorporate more "play" into my month was taking a beginning knitting class with a group of friends at North House Folk School taught by my friend Dorothy Broomall of Dappled Fern Fibers. Learning something new can sometimes be hard, and learning how to knit certainly was for me. But when we engage in a new activity we are creating new neural pathways in our brains or improving our neuroplasticity (something as a former therapist I would geek out on). This is very important to continue to enhance our memories and focus, and help keep us mentally sharper as we age. Learning a new skill, whether it be a language, craft, or sport (I learned how to play pickleball this past summer too!), in my opinion, is also another form of play. 

I hope you find ways to add more play into your life this year. Keep the creativity flowing, keep creating new neural pathways, stay curious, and keep finding things in life that bring you joy. Happy playing. 

- Adrea