Jacques Poitras - photo by Diane Cole via Goose Lane Editions

Today at Thoughtwrestling I’m pleased to feature an interview with Jacques Poitras, Provincial Affairs reporter with CBC Radio (New Brunswick) and the author of three non-fiction books. Jacques’s most recent book is called Imaginary Line: Life on an Unfinished Border.  His book describes the history of the Canada/US border between the province of New Brunswick and the state of Maine, profiling different locations on both sides of the border.  It’s a great read and it’s particularly interesting to someone like me who has spent almost all of his life within a fifteen minute drive of that border.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jacques after a book reading event a couple of months ago.  I thought it would be interesting to share some of the background behind his book, and his writing in general, and so I was quite happy that he agreed to participate in an E-Mail interview.  And here it is for your enjoyment!

1. How did you come to write Imaginary Line? What got you started on the project?

I saw some common themes running through the various stories I’ve done as a reporter about the border. These have ranged from cultural links on the Upper St. John between Franco-Americans and francophone New Brunswickers, to cross-border shopping patterns, to road, rail and electrical connections, and to communities trying to maintain their ties despite post 9/11 security measures. Taken together, they’re all stories about people and communities trying to stay connected despite the administrative barrier that might otherwise divide them. It seemed like a powerful message for our times.

From that point, it was just a question of deciding how to put it all together into a book. The history of the border has been told already in several scholarly works; I wanted a journalistic project where I could link key moments in history and present-day events. That’s why I decided to frame the book not chronologically, but geographically, as a journey along the border.

2. Imaginary Line is your third book. Does the book writing process get any easier with each new project?

It does not get easier or harder. I’ve always tried to treat each chapter is the equivalent of a long newspaper or magazine feature, with (ideally, most of the time) a single story to tell. And I’d written many of those before I did my first book. So the task itself does not evolve.

The difficulty depends on the content, not on how long I’ve been at this. A chapter with a very clear narrative direction (for example, the Forest City story in Imaginary Line) is easier to write than a chapter that combines a number of different elements (such as the chapter I wrote dealing with cross-border shopping and business).

What has become easier is the organization of the project. I’ve said often that organization is half the battle: compiling notes, interviews and other materials, keeping track of them all, colour-coding or marking or labelling them so you can pull them together to create chapter outlines: I now have a pretty decent system for doing this. With my first book, I only realized after I’d started that I was going to need such a system. I’m very methodical now, because I know a bit of extra organizational effort at the outset will make for speedier writing later on, because I won’t need to keep stopping and breaking my rhythm to track something down.

3. As a journalist, you have to write on demand. Do you find that same discipline helps you when you’re writing longer pieces (i.e. books like Imaginary Line)?

It does. For a reporter with daily deadlines, bad writing is still better than no writing. So when you’re blocked for some reason, it’s usually worth it to try to splatter something on the “page” (i.e. the screen) rather than stare at it for hours. It may be ugly, but it’s there, and you can always make it better later. Of course, this is my personal approach. Everyone’s different.

I’ve also learned to write very fast. On a good day I can write 2,000 words, and sometimes even more. It’s not always that good. But it’s a start.

With Imaginary Line, I transcribed 90 per cent of all my interviews, something I don’t do for shorter-term, daily journalism. This helped during days when I had writer’s block, because, with my outline in hand, I could cut and paste chunks of interview transcripts into the chapter file. This gave some shape to the narratives within those chapters, which in many cases are driven by lengthy quotations. Often, as the story took shape, I would find myself inserting descriptive paragraphs or transition sentences, and pretty soon the writing juices would be flowing again.

4. Do you ever write by hand or have you converted exclusively to word processing?

I can’t write fast enough by hand, so I don’t. When I’m deep into the writing phase of the project, but in the midst of doing something else — cooking, running an errand — I occasionally write down phrases or sentences that occur to me. So when I return to the computer, I have a pocket stuffed with several scraps of paper, all with scrawled lines on them. Often these are the opening or closing sentences of chapters, or key transitions. Those are important, too, because once I have them, I can write in that direction, with those sentences in mind: how do I point this story I’m telling to that conclusion?

5. How has Twitter changed your work as a journalist and as a writer?

As a reporter, I tweet a lot about New Brunswick politics, and I find that I do reach some people who don’t follow political news on the TV or radio. As an author, Twitter hasn’t had much of an impact. I do have a Twitter account devoted to my book work, @PoitrasBook. I set it up about midway through the writing to try to build interest in the book. I use it mainly to promote book events or link to relevant border stories.

6. What’s the best time of day for you to write (notwithstanding question 3 above)? As a follow-up, do you have a preferred writing location/writing environment?

The best way to answer this is to imagine a perfect writing day, which I’ve had, occasionally, when taking some unpaid leave from the CBC to work on my book. This would be a day free of any other scheduled work or family commitments. On a typical day like this, I am slow to get started: I’m probably in front of the computer by 9, but I would normally spend a good hour reading news online, checking email, and otherwise procrastinating. By 10 I’m ready to start, and normally I’ll work for two to three hours, stopping to eat lunch when I hit a logical point to break, or when I’m having trouble with a particularly stubborn mental block. I’m back at it twenty minutes later and I’m good until 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon, when I start to run out of gas. I’ll often go back at it for a couple of hours at night.

We have a small room in our basement where we have our computer set up, along with bookshelves and the like. We call it “the office” and it’s where I do all my book work. We had a similar room in our previous house. I think it’s good to have a dedicated space free of most distractions.

7. Most creatives (virtually all, really) have had to deal with rejection. How have you had to deal with it as a writer/creative? Any horror stories that you’re willing to share?

I’m loathe to call myself a “creative.” But I understand the premise of the question. I was fortunate that Goose Lane accepted my very first book pitch, which was for The Right Fight. After the success of Beaverbrook, I pitched a couple of books that no one was interested in. I also approached a couple of agents, hoping they’d represent me, but without success. But I can’t complain too much about rejection. I’ve written three books that I’ve wanted to write, and I’m very grateful to be working with Goose Lane.

8. Who are some of your favorite writers?

In non-fiction, I’m a huge fan of Simon Winchester. He blends travel, history and some current affairs in a wonderful way. Similarly, Robert Kaplan also manages to mix journalism and history with some first-person narrative. When I realized that the peculiar challenge of my material for Imaginary Line required me to put myself in the story, I looked to their books for guidance. My all-time favourite political book is Robert Caro’s biographical series on President Lyndon Johnson. And of course George Orwell is where you turn to cleanse your intellectual palate.

9. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?

I can’t choose just one. My former editor at the Kingston Whig-Standard and the Telegraph-Journal, Neil Reynolds, wrote an essay that made the case for journalism as “literature in a hurry,” a Matthew Arnold phrase. What he meant was that journalism can aim to be something higher than just a quick spewing of words and facts; it can aspire to be well-crafted and full of excitement and character. My first-year political science professor, Conrad Winn, always used to tell those of us who were journalism students that the best thing we could do was read books. And he was right. And George Orwell wrote, “To yield subjectively, not merely to a party machine, but even to a group ideology, is to destroy yourself as a writer.” That’s still the best advice of all.

10. What piece of advice would you give to a new and/or struggling writer?

I would repeat all the advice in the previous answer.

 

 

Thanks to Jacques Poitras for agreeing to do this interview!

Tim Hurson does a lot of things.  He is the author of the excellent book Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking.  He is also a co-founder of ThinkX Intellectual Capital and a founding director of Facilitators Without Borders.  Plus he does quite a few other things, including working on two new books!

Tim took some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for Thoughtwrestling readers.  So please read and enjoy our latest Thoughtwrestling Interview!

In a short paragraph, can you describe the contents and themes of Think Better to our readers?

Think Better is simply about a repeatable process we can all use to have more ideas, better ideas, more of the time. It proposes that thinking is a skill that anyone can learn and develop — just like tennis or golf. Everyone knows they can improve their athletic performance with a little training and practice. Well, the same applies to your mind. I use lots of stories, anecdotes, and scientific evidence to support the idea that with a little training and a little practice, every single one of us can think better. Then I present a straightforward, six-step process that people can follow to think more productively and creatively about virtually any challenge. It’s extraordinarily powerful, but very simple. It’s not rocket science. It’s just that most of us have never been taught. Once people learn the productive thinking framework, they often tell me that what once looked like a mystery, now just looks like the next step.

Who is the intended audience of Think Better?

The short answer is “people”. When my I first began working on the Productive Thinking model, I was targeting organizations, both profit and not-for-profit, but it quickly became clear to me that organizations don’t think, people think. Sure, I was interested in helping people solve complex organizational challenges around innovation, capacity building, marketing, and so on, but at its heart, thinking is about people. Shortly after Think Better came out I received a letter from a reader. She said she appreciated how the productive thinking framework could help in her business, but what she really wanted to tell me was that her 14 year-old son had been having problems at school, and one evening she sat down with him and went through the model. After a few hours, two amazing things happened: first, together, they figured out several strategies he could use to deal with his issues at school, and second, they discovered a whole new aspect to their own relationship. I don’t think I’ve ever received a more wonderful letter. So Think Better is for anyone who could benefit from having more ideas, more creative ideas, more implementable ideas, more of the time. It seems to me, that covers just about all of us.

One of the parts of Think Better that I found most interesting was the concept of the “third third” – a point during the idea generation process where you think you’ve come up with all the ideas that you possibly can, but your mind is actually in the best state to be it’s most creative. Can you describe this a bit, including some of the research behind it?

One of the things we know is that we human beings tend to do something called “satisficing”. We’re so uncomfortable with unresolved situations, that we tend to jump whatever will get us out of this state of ambiguity — we satisfice. When we have an unresolved problem, we often stop thinking once get the first “right” answer. We don’t need to think any further, because we’re no longer in that uncomfortable place of irresolution. More often than not, though, there’s a second right answer, and a third, and even a 99th — which are usually much more creative than the first one. But we rarely get there, because we’ve stopped thinking too soon. I often tell people that a conclusion may simply be where you stopped thinking. If we can push through those first right answers and keep searching for solutions to our dilemma, there’s a good chance that we can break through to something much more exciting, innovative, and useful. Several studies have shown that in a good idea generation session (that gets to real innovation), the first third of the session usually produces old-hat answers, ones everyone has already thought of before. They’re okay, but there’s nothing innovative about them. The second third of the session starts breaking away from those conventional responses, and the third third is where the wild, silly, or politically unacceptable ideas come out. And it’s those ideas that often produce the biggest breakthroughs. The third third is where we’ve finally break away from what we know and start exploring what we don’t.

Can you describe the process of writing Think Better? Were you able to assign regular work sessions for the book or did you find yourself working in irregularly scheduled chunks of time?

I’m don’t think this is necessarily true for every writer, but for me, writing means writing. I know that sounds tautological, but for me it’s true. The process of writing requires me to write — not to think about what I’m writing, not to talk about it, not to plan, but to actually write. This allows me to get material down. Usually, it’s not very good. But once I have it down, then I can edit it. For me, the creative part comes in the editing, the rewriting. In that way writing is just like thinking. It doesn’t matter that my original ideas are half-formed, what matters is that they’re formed at all. Then I can work on them and make them better. Oddly enough, that realization takes a lot of pressure off. One of the things that always used to stop me was the unspoken notion that I had to write a final draft, that whatever came out had to be golden prose. No wonder I stared at blank screens so long! Now I don’t care what comes out, just as long as it comes. Once I have the basic material, I can start to work on it. For me, the mantra is “First, get it down, then get it good.”

Can you give us an overview of what thinkx (your company) does? Are there some examples of your work out there that we might not immediately associate with your company?

ThinkX has consulting partners in ten countries. We provide training, facilitation and coaching in productive thinking. We help organizations — including private companies, not-for-profits, and governments — tackle innovation challenges, organizational restructuring, new product development, strategic planning, and marketing issues. Most of our commercial work is confidential. Our most important work, though is through our not-for-profit arm, Facilitators Without Borders, where we provide the same services, pro bono, for communities that can’t afford our commercial prices.

I believe that your company, thinkx, is based in Canada. Do you notice any differences between Canadian companies and work environments than in other parts of the world?

Yes, substantial ones. Canadian companies are usually pretty conservative. I think that’s due both to our national character and to the fact that many large Canadian companies are branch plants without significant authority to stretch beyond the thinking already laid down by their parent organizations. The vast majority of ThinkX’s business is outside Canada. A few months ago I was sitting in the Toronto airport waiting for a flight to Vancouver and I realized that although I fly somewhere almost every week, this was the first time in three years that I’d actually flown within Canada. I find that sad.

Has the current economic climate had a positive or negative impact on ThinkX’s business?

Both! We lost a fair bit of business as companies have chosen to reign in their budgets, especially training and development budgets. But we’ve gained even more business from organizations that have decided that the best time to invest in true differentiation is when everyone else isn’t.

Newsweek’s recent article on “The Creativity Crisis” suggests that American public schools are failing to teach kids to be creative. Do you think they could be doing a better job and, if so, how?

Yes, I do. We have to stop teaching kids what to think and start teaching them how to think. Knowledge is a commodity that is rapidly decreasing in value. That’s not because it’s not important. But because its so readily available. Anyone with an internet connection can access 99.99% of the knowledge human beings have ever generated — most of it for free. So knowing is no longer the issue. We have to be able to work with the knowledge we have and grow more. That means thinking — using our knowledge and our interventions creatively, productively, and wisely. The important skills of the future will be in those areas. In that sense, schools have to transform from being primarily repositories of knowledge to being crucibles of creativity. I have an idea for a book on productive thinking for the 11-13 age group. It’s a project I’d love to do, and I’m looking for a graphic illustrator to work with. If any of your readers are graphic or comic illustrators have them contact me!

One of your projects is Facilitators Without Borders. Can you give us an anecdote or example of some of the work that you’re doing there?

See above.

Do you have plans to write more books?

See above. I’m also working on two other book sat the moment, There is No Box, and Shock of the Possible, both for my current publisher, McGraw Hill.

Any final wisdom to share with our readers?

Eat your greens, and don’t overdo the alcohol.

Thanks so much, Tim, for answering our questions!

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Deb Dorchak used to work under the pseudonym Harrison McLeod for years when she was a part of the Men With Pens team.  Today she is the Founder and Design Director at Sirius Graphix.  Deb took some time to answer a few questions for our Thoughtwrestling readers.  Take a few minutes and hear what she has to say!

1. Do you have a preferred time of day for working?

Graphic designers seem to be nocturnal creatures and I’m no exception. Usually it takes me a while to wake up in the morning, sort through email, plan out the day and such, so by the time I’m wide awake and getting warmed up it’s nearing noon. I’ll usually hit my stride in the late afternoon. Depending on the project I may keep going until the sun rises. Like my partner Wendi is fond of saying “Make hay while the sun shines!”

And it’s true. Sometimes you’ve got to ride that energy for as long as it lasts and get as much done as possible.

2. Do you have a preferred location for doing your creative work? Any other environmental variables that you like to control (i.e. smell, sound, etc.)

My office or the living room with the laptop. If I’m doing graphics, then it’s definitely at the desk with the tower. The laptop monitor is just too small for all the programs and additional windows I have open at any given time. I also have music or the radio playing.

If I’m writing, then it’s usually on the laptop with the TV on. I know many people can’t work with either music or TV, but for me it seems to balance out both sides of my brain. Words and images; graphics and lyrics/written words and video. They seem to go together like PB&J.

3. Where do you find your inspiration to create new designs?

From everywhere. Inspiration can come in the way the toaster is designed or simply looking out my office window at the neighbor’s lawn. If I’m really stuck, I’ll watch a movie or look through a magazine. And for those stubbornly tough cases, I brainstorm with the rest of my team. Each of them are talented artists within their own rights and always offer a unique perspective. Such are the joys of teamwork. And it works both ways.

4. How do you approach problems? Head on, avoid, or work around? (this could be with regards to creating art or in general)

Oh man. Problems? My sun sign is Cancer, the Crab, so I always approach things from the side. If it looks too tough, I’ll back off, come back at it from another angle, circle around again and so on. Some people may view it as procrastination, but I see it as finding just the right starting point.

Then there are the times when I’m very sure of how to approach a situation and charge in full steam. Again, having the team’s backup with other ideas is a huge help. There was a time when I was told “You’re the designer, you solve it!”

Okay, thanks, that wasn’t much help. So for the longest time I was still in Lone Ranger mode. One day Wendi asked me why I was making things so difficult on myself. That’s when it sunk in and I had to recondition myself to ask for a little helping hand when I got mired in the creative quicksand.

5. How did you come to choose your artistic medium? (assuming that you have a single medium)

For websites and print, the computer was the easiest way to go. It’s unavoidable. We do live in a digital world and whether it’s the written word or pretty pictures, it’s done on the comp.

When I do illustrations I use mixed media; a combination of watercolors as a base, then colored pencils and finish it off with pen and ink. Why? Because I’m a frustrated painter. Brushes are not my friend. Not like my Dad and his painting. With a pen/pencil in my hand I had more control. And the way I use watercolors is mostly as a wash (very watered down paint) and then sometimes build up depth with a very, very fine brush stroke by stroke.

6. Do you work in other media or forms besides your primary (e.g. do you create paintings in oil or acrylic; write; sing or compose music, etc.)

Yup, aside from the two mentioned above I write (just finished the first draft of a 500 page novel and working on rewrites now). This book is the first in a very long series and will most likely be published by the end of this year. I love to sing and have been known to venture out for a karaoke night or two.

I also like photography. Back in the day before we had digital cameras (c’mon, it wasn’t THAT long ago!) I loved working in black and white and spent hours in the dark room.

7. How do you typically start a design project?

A lot of thinking. And then a lot of playing. I’ll start it and move things around, play with color pallets, images and so on until I get a composition and theme that appeals to me.

8. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you while you’ve created art?

I can’t think of any one thing in particular, but every so often I discover a new technique from a happy mistake. The Happy Mistake is when you’re rolling along, not paying attention, you suddenly hit a button you shouldn’t have and BAM – you’ve got something wonderful.

9. What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you while you’ve created art?

Trying to remember what I did to achieve that happy mistake.

10. How do you ask for help with creative projects (or do you?) Any good anecdotes to share?

Well, after I’ve banged my head against the keyboard for a half hour and whined for a little bit, someone on the team asks, “What are you doing that for?”

I’m getting better, though.

11. Is feedback more helpful to you while you’re in the middle of a project or after it’s done? I suppose the beginning wouldn’t make sense because there’s nothing to give feedback on.

Ahhh, but feedback is important at the beginning. We always ask our clients a lot of questions before pointer is put to pixel, or pen to paper. Most of the time people don’t know what they want. Or they do, they just can’t express what’s in their heads. So we’ll do a phone call to get things rolling. One of the best examples of this was with our Madrona Mile Hill project. The client wanted something earthy, eco-friendly, but modern and not the usual cliché “green” look.

It wasn’t until the client told me that the company was named after a tree called a madrona. I did some research and used the tree’s leaves as a basis for the design and theme.

12. How important is teaching or instruction to you in maintaining your creative chops? (Do you do any teaching?)

Knowledge is power and the real key to every aspect of creativity and success. We not only educate ourselves constantly to keep up with the latest technology and techniques, but we do the same for our clients.

I’ve done teaching in the past. It’s my nature to teach, I do it all the time. And not only do I teach, but I know how to “do”, too. Knowledge isn’t something that should be hoarded. Like money (if I can paraphrase a line from Hello Dolly) knowledge should be spread around like manure encouraging young things to grow.”

Thanks to Deb for taking part in our Thoughtwrestling interview! Subscribe to Thoughtwrestling so you can keep up to date on more great content!

Jessica Doyle is an artist living in the port city of Saint John, New Brunswick.  She has been making art for years, blogging for half a decade, and is now making great strides in raising her profile and making a living with her art.

We gave Jessica our trusty list of questions and we were pleased to get these great answers.  Check it out!

1. Do you have a preferred time of day for working?

Until quite recently I used to enjoy and rather thrive on working late at night into the wee hours of the morning, however my sleep schedule has reversed and now I’m working in the mornings and afternoon’s due to other responsibilities that I have in life that can only be done during daytime hours.

2. Do you have a preferred location for doing your creative work? Any other environmental variables that you like to control (i.e. smell, sound, etc.)

For computer work; most definitely inside my studio. Their is much natural light and table space for cutting, assembling and writing. I recently posted a studio tour on my blog which can be seen and read here.

When I am painting or drawing I tend to work in my living room. I set up a small area in there for painting and will also sit on my couch when doodling inside my sketchbook. I sometimes put on ambient music or a good video and listen and create to the rhythm of the music or soundtrack. Ninety percent of the time though, I do work in silence when home.

And when traveling to visit with local friends I always carry my sketchbook and pens and create while out when inspired by the environment around me. And upon returning home I’ll refine and explore those drawings more.

3. Where do you find your inspiration to create new works of art?

The internet inspires me. The advent of social media and the life and discussions it has infused into once stale web pages is most awesome for inspiring one to create. I also draw inspiration from life itself. This video interview explores a deeper reason as to why I create and why life inspires me. I’ve met death head on on more than one occasion…

4. How do you approach problems? Head on, avoid, or work around? (this could be with regards to creating art or in general)

Over the years I’ve found the only way to approach a problem is to actually do it. Trying to solve it doesn’t work. One must actually begin the work to finish it. If I’m having a major issue with a custom piece sometimes I’ll try working with a different medium or go for a long brisk walk regardless of what the weather is outside around the neighborhood to get my body feeling energized and return home with a clearer head.

Asking yourself a simple question about a problem you are facing when falling asleep at night can sometimes jump-start your day the following morning with a surprise answer to the question you asked the night before. Rest is important. I nap to when overwhelmed and surrounding yourself with positive people or in the least people who both challenge and support you is important.

5. How did you come to choose your artistic medium

I like using art supplies that are not dangerous to one’s health. I used water based archival mediums mostly such as Windsor & Newton watercolour, Prismacolor coloured pencils, Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens and Kroma arcylic paint. I published an article a couple of years back exposing the dangers of using solvent based markers.

6. Do you work in other media or forms besides your primary (e.g. do you create paintings in oil or acrylic; write; sing or compose music, etc.)

Most of my mediums overlap in some form or other. I flow between working on flat surfaces of Arches, Ingris or Canson papers to painting on three dimensional objects that are useful in every day life such as my box sets. I’ll also work digitally, colourizing black ink drawings to bring them to life and create archival prints of those digitally rendered images.

Since getting my Epson R2880 printer I’ve begun creating smaller runs of handmade greeting cards and art calendars, too.

7. How do you typically start an artistic project?

Wow… I tend to feel very stressed out to be truthful. I have no problem getting the job but actually beginning the job is the hardest part but once begun as I talked about earlier question #4 I seem to be able to begin and finish a project on time for both myself and/or the client.

8. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you while you’ve created art?

I’ve forgotten about the world around me.

9. What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you while you’ve created art?

I’ve forgotten about the world around me.

10. How do you ask for help with creative projects (or do you?) Any good anecdotes to share?

I’ll post little questions to Twitter, Facebook or Google Buzz and to my blog for help and share works in progress. I also talk to those people who know me best both online and offline in email or on the phone just to get any frustrations out and psyche myself up to get on with it!

This makes me think about the the Koan of Creativity and Oriiah mountain Dreamer that I explore in depth in this blog post.

11. Is feedback more helpful to you while you’re in the middle of a project or after it’s done? I suppose the beginning wouldn’t make sense because there’s nothing to give feedback on.

In the beginning when working with a client, feedback is helpful in the form of adjectives, colours and any research material that they’ve done for the project. In the middle or rather the mock-up stage, feedback usually happens after you’ve sent the first proof to the client. At this point of the project, you get the most valuable feedback, and it can and does take 90 degree turns at times when your vision and their vision are completely different. This feedback is vital and will clears the way to finishing the project or custom order.

Feedback at the end of a project is usually found on my blog in the form of the blog post and the subsequent comments.

Positive feedback is always welcome, however it’s the negative or constructive criticism that can give you the push to see a project through to the end.

Feedback on personal projects is different and I tend to take it with a grain of salt as it doesn’t way as heavy on my mind as the feedback being given on those projects being rendered for others.

12. How important is teaching or instruction to you in maintaining your creative chops? (Do you do any teaching?)

I do share techniques on how I create illustrations on my blog. This is one that comes to mind.

And I do my best to answer questions that people may have about materials and the mediums I use on my blog and social sites. Using the internet today is about sharing and growing together. There will always be someone way ahead of you and there’ll always be people behind you. By sharing what you know and understand freely with others it does keep the internet alive, fresh and growing.

Thanks so much, Jessica!  All images in this post are the property of Jessica Doyle.

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At Thoughtwrestling, we discuss the art of making things, including the trials, tribulations, joys and the ecstasies.  We’re pleased to start an ongoing feature about makers (or thoughtwrestlers) called the Thoughtwrestling Interview.  Our first interviewee is a New Brunswick CANADA based artist who is perhaps best known for “sculptural fibre-based works, constructed mainly from found and mixed media, including human hair and bone.”

WhiteFeather is “an artist, arts educator, advocate, writer and administrator.”

WhiteFeather took some time to answer twelve questions.  She gave us some wonderful responses, so please have a look.

Note:  all images in this post are the property of WhiteFeather and represent different pieces of art that she has made – the photos were used with her permission.

1. Do you have a preferred time of day for working?

Typically, I work whenever I can get a spare minute, or around the clock for a few days on end, just before a deadline. Nothing gets my creativity in high gear like pressure/stress. Otherwise, I procrastinate and gestate ideas like mad. That being said, though, my practice includes a lot of research, collecting, experimenting, talking, writing, etc before I actually get to making a piece… and I do all of that all of the time – it’s my life, and those parts of my creative work are so integrated into my existence that they happen constantly, without my even being conscious of it sometimes. I think I’m actually pretty much working nonstop.

2. Do you have a preferred location for doing your creative work? Any other environmental variables that you like to control (i.e. smell, sound, etc.)

I have a fabulous studio that I share with four other artists, in a building with other studios and artists. It’s a great space to work. I also work outdoors sometimes, which I love. Sometimes I work on elements of a piece at home, if I can or need to. I can work in a lot of different conditions, and don’t need to control much about my environment. Being able to close the door on the outside world is always nice, though.

3. Where do you find your inspiration to create new works of art?

I dream a lot – it’s like my other life, just as vivid, involved, complex and real. Many of my ideas come from dreams, partial dreams, in the states of waking up from dream or just before falling asleep. It’s my inspiration zone. Other sources of inspiration are research (I LOVE researching new topics and ideas), or looking at other artists’ work. Sometimes, as well, I’ll get inspired when a new call for proposals for a themed exhibition comes out – then I’ll create a work specifically for the theme. That’s always a fun challenge.

4. How do you approach problems? Head on, avoid, or work around? (this could be with regards to creating art or in general)

I think that when you say ‘approaching problems’, you mean the creative process, and this applies to life as well. My creative process typically involves a lot of dreaming or a light bulb moment (initially), thinking, procrastinating, thinking, research, writing, thinking, sketching, thinking, discussion, thinking, experimenting, thinking, re-visioning and then a nose dive into ‘making’ or ‘resolving’ an idea into completion. It often takes a long time. I do it in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, but when I’m ready to tackle it, it’s full on, fierce and happens fast.

5. How did you come to choose your artistic medium (yours is quite unique to my experience!)

It started out with a dream, of making something out of hair. I was working at an historical site at the time, and was thinking a lot about how women used to save the hair out of their brushes, how their couches were stuffed with horse hair, etc. – so, I dreamt about it and then made something, and then another thing, and then another thing. Each progressive piece has been influenced by research into a historical or anthropological idea/practice. I’m fascinated with both those areas, along with matter or material and also spirituality. I like to play with ideas that carry a lot of tension, such as unusual juxtapositions of contentious dualities in culture (ie. the body and spirituality). My medium, or the materials that I use, stem from this. I like working with materials that already have meaning associated with them, so that I can subvert it in order to get the concept across. Also, I’m economical, and using found or organic materials is a cheap way to make art.

6. Do you work in other media or forms besides your primary (e.g. do you create paintings in oil or acrylic; write; sing or compose music, etc.)

My first love is writing. I’m a writer, mainly of confessional poetry and sometimes articles for art publications, as well as curatorial essays. I’m also a drummer. I learned to play African and Latin hand drums whilst living on the road in my early 20s. I know about 8 different traditional rhythms, mostly African. I’ve painted in watercolour and acrylic, and I can draw well, but those mediums feel too much like work to me. Only writing is my other favourite creative form, my most natural aptitude.

7. How do you typically start an artistic project?

(see my creative process, above – ie. solving problems – I have a lot of light bulb moments!)

8. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you while you’ve created art?

Creating art just is a best thing in life, in and of itself. The moment of resolution of a piece I’ve been working on is always a moment of elation – it’s so gratifying. That “YES!!” moment is a rush.

9. What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you while you’ve created art?

I’ve dumped hot, red wax all over my kitchen floor, studio floor, studio table, shoes, clothes and burnt my hands several times working with it. There are hazards in my world and sometimes I find myself in the middle of a disaster. This usually happens when I am frustrated with failing experiments.

There was also the time I was making a hair pie, and I thought that adding hair gel to the hair stuffing might make it a little more pie-like. I was mistaken – once in the oven on bake, it stunk to high heaven. I cooked it, brought it out of the oven and attempted to take a slice out of it. This task was so much like cutting into a human head that I got dizzy and nearly vomited, then threw it out and started over again.

Another time, I found a deer leg, with some half-rotted flesh still on it, in the woods. I decided to bring it home because I really wanted the hoof off of it. I decided that boiling the half-rotted flesh off might be a really good way to deal with it and clean the bone. Big mistake. The stench that came from the pot was more than I could stand, and it filled my apartment and stayed in my nostrils for a long time. This was before I discovered Borax.

10. How do you ask for help with creative projects (or do you?) Any good anecdotes to share?

I often get help with creative projects. First of all, people bring me stuff all the time, like ponytails and bones. People know that I work with hair and bone, and one time a man showed up at my workplace with an entire garbage bag full of different animal skulls. It was a little bizarre, but I was happy to have them. Students will show up with ‘scalps’, full heads of hair that have been shaved off and are still in the ponytails, or just hacked-off ponytails. I’ve also been brought snake skins, dead bugs, tails, you name it.

Another kind of help I get is with brainstorming and refining ideas. I love to talk to other artists about how to construct things or tear things apart. I also get help with the actual making sometimes, if an artist I know is more skilled at using a power saw, for example, and I need a jaw sawed in half. I also depend very heavily on my networks, and have a great many that have helped my career either through promoting me, my work or vouching for me when it comes to funding, awards, etc. I’d be nowhere without the artists, administrators, students, politicians, etc in my network. I’m a big fan of social networking sites for this reason, and have a fan page on Facebook, a Twitter page, a blog, and I’ve even made a Facebook gift application that sends images of my work to whoever. I ask for help via social networking sites all the time, and the response I get is instant. For example, I just recently asked for a certain item I’m collecting for a new art piece, and I got a dozen immediate hits.

11. Is feedback more helpful to you while you’re in the middle of a project or after it’s done? I suppose the beginning wouldn’t make sense because there’s nothing to give feedback on.

I like feedback during every stage of the process. I kind of see the work I make as something that becomes public property, not anything that belongs to me. It belongs to my audience, for examination, dissection, consideration, critique, integration and dissemination. I’m just a channel, so feedback is ALWAYS welcome, whether it’s positive or negative.

12. How important is teaching or instruction to you in maintaining your creative chops?

Teaching is extremely important – it keeps me on my toes, for sure. My art practice and my teaching career are symbiotic – each feeds into the other. The harder I work at developing my art career, the more I have to offer as a teacher. The more I offer as a teacher, the more I get back from my students, and sometimes they really inspire me. Also, the research that I engage in to develop new courses often sends my own practice in new directions, or allows for me to do some research in an area I’ve always been interested in. For example, right now I’m developing and teaching a course called Myth, Magic & The Human Form. This topic is right up my alley, and I’m having a blast pulling together the content and assignments for the course.

Thanks to WhiteFeather for participating in this interview!