Seeing the Big Picture

The most creative among us see relationships the rest of us never notice.

 According to Pink, Symphony is about seeing the "Big Picture" and all of us right-brained, creative people see that big picture better than others. This chapter was extremely relevant to those of us who did not initially start out on the career path of Education. Even though Graphic Design and Art Education aren't completely separate disciplines, I had to switch gears and develop my expertise in the field of education to become an Art teacher. When I got my job as the Art teacher at a S.T.E.M. school I definitely had to become a "boundary crosser." In fact, my teaching Art at Benton is all about Symphony. It is my job to find the connections between the field of Science, Technology, Engineering,  and Math AND Art.

In keeping with the "creative people are better than others" idea :), I loved Pink's discussion on how creativity effects gender roles. It always seems like the creative male is more sensitive than his male peers, but I had never thought about how more creative females may be more dominant and tougher than other girls. I think as Art teachers, we have to be dominant in a positive way in order to command the attention of our students and be tough in order to not take things that may happen in the classroom personally.

As the chapter goes on, Pink discusses the importance of Metaphor and understanding one thing in terms of something else. I couldn't help but notice, as Pink described how metaphors are usually considered as "flowery words designed to perfume the ordinary or unpleasant," a connection to Story; it is something L-brained people think of as unnecessary, similar to Story. Metaphor does, however, have a very strong presence in Art. Twyla Tharp was quoted as saying:

Metaphor is the lifeblood of all art.

As artists we create representations with everything we make, and as Art teachers we are teaching our students how to do the same thing, so everything we make and everything we teach is enriched by metaphor.

The last thing I'd like to add, because otherwise my graphic design side wouldn't be satisfied at all, is a logo to the Symphony Logo Collection. Pink used a lot of examples of companies who's logos create Symphony and make connections to their products for the consumer, and here is another one:

 Have you ever noticed how the words Burger and King are two hamburger patties between the top and bottom bun? Clever huh?