DOUG AND EILEEN LEUNIG

This coming October 2021 will be our 7th year writing this column. Every month we have written straight forward articles about art and creativity. We have spent little time talking to our reader about how to become more creative and the tools that artists use to generate new ideas. The common phrase that is often applied to creativity is to “think outside of the box.” Thinking outside the box is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. One of the ways to achieve this is through the use of divergent thinking.

Divergent thinking is thinking that moves away in diverging directions so as to involve a variety of aspects and which sometimes lead to novel ideas and solutions. It is sometimes referred to as “right brain” or imaginative thinking. The following exercise is taken from the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. The Torrance test assesses how creatively a child’s mind works. It is often given to children to determine advanced placement or as a part of an entrance examination. Children are scored on a number of aspects, but we have chosen only a small part of the test to serve as an example of divergent thinking.

Torrance Test of Creative Thinking: These results are from a family night. Not all images are shown in the orientation they were drawn. They are represented here in alignment with the original shape. (IMAGE BY EILEEN LEUNIG, DOUG LEUNIG, VICKI PHILLIPS AND YORK PHILLIPS)

We adapted online info about the Torrance test to create this simple activity. Start by drawing three 3”x3” black squares on a sheet of paper. Draw a simple line shape in each square. This does not have to be the three basic shapes shown here. Try out something new. Now switch to a different color pen or marker and draw what the shape represents to you.

Divergent thinking is evident in Marisa Bernotti’s mural in Peoria’s Warehouse district on the “Hello Peoria” building curated by Bradley professor Heather Brammeier.

Professor Heather Brammeier stands before the public art her students –– Cassidy Kraft, Aaron Hagan, Hannah Weiler, Ronald Walter and Madeleine Martin created on the “Hello Peoria” building in Peoria’s Warehouse District. (PHOTO BY DOUG LEUNIG)

Heather has been working with Bradley students in her painting class to give them a real world opportunity for their art to have an impact on the community. She invited international mural artist Marisa Bernotti from Uruguay to Peoria to add an additional measure of diversity to what is now Peoria’s first public art building covered with painted art.

Heather posted on Instagram about the work –– “Marisa Bernotti’s artwork is about identity. She likes to explore the strong contrast between what others want to see in us and what we really are, what we know about ourselves. Others have preconceptions about us, and even when we explain our true nature, they continue to impose their perceptions. Marisa’s mural for Big Picture Initiative expresses the precarious striving to assert one’s identity in the face of denial or even aggression. Bernotti embraces frivolity, ridiculousness, and discomfort through the use of bold abstraction. Overall, her message is unconditional acceptance.”

From Bernotti’s writings: “Even if you want to hide in darkness, your light will appear. You must show who you really are, no matter who that is. Each individual has their own light.”