Taking Imagination Seriously: Ted Talks

Recently, I was looking up videos from the TED Talks lecture series. While browsing the vast library I searched specifically under the heading "Innovation." The first playlist that popped up was under the heading "The Creative Spark." In this playlist I found 10 videos that all spoke specifically to the idea of being creative, how to hone your creativity and how to foster it. One video that initially stood at to me was Janet Echleman's Taking Imagination Seriously.

In this post Echleman talks about being denied entry into 7 different art schools and her struggle to find her style. Echleman goes on to discuss her search to be creative and express herself through her art.

The short story is that Echleman eventually was searching for inspiration and found it in a standard fishnet of all places. Echleman began by manipulating the fishnets and starting to hang structures made of fishnets around and watch as the wind manipulated the porous surfaces. The result was a beautiful shifting structure that has a calming effect on all that see it.

Echleman's sculptures are now hanging in some of the biggest and most trafficed intersections in the world. Currently New York City has approached Janet to create a fixture for Times Square.

A consistent message through Janet's speech was to never let your imagination become stifled. Even though she couldn't get into art school or was ever classically trained she still found a way to express her vision.  Her no quite attitude and story definitely inspired me as someone who's working in a field without much previous experience. 

If I learned one thing from the talk to apply to my life it's that if you keep searching and fighting for what you want eventually your dream will come to life.