This series of images comes from a project I did for the the Sketchbook project / Brooklyn Art Library. The theme for the sketchbooks was thought box a variation on the thought bubble. This sketchbook illustrates how images can and do function as thoughts. In this case the series of images is an articulation of my own creative process.

​In my most recent practices as both a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner and Creativity Coach / Facilitator I utilize the visual image in very different ways, as a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner the visual image is an obvious vehicle for creative wellness. As a Creativity Coach / Facilitator the visual image is used as a vehicle to explore and facilitate personal growth and development. For this post however, I am just going to focus on my practice as a Creativity Coach / Facilitator and return to my practice as a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner in the future.
 
My practice as an arts + strengths based Creativity Coach / Facilitator has not just happened over night. I have done my coach training receiving my Certified Coach Practitioner and Certified Flourishing Creativity Coach certificates. I have also completed other professional development training related to coaching. This training is also informed and supported by a diverse educational background that includes, a Master of Education in Adult Education, Bachelor of Education (Visual Arts Specialist), Bachelor of Fine Arts in fine arts, Certificates in Photography, Advanced Design Thinking, Non - Profit Sector Management, PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition) and a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner Certificate. Along with these credentials I am also an Accredited Certified Strengths Practitioner.
 
It is not just these earned credentials, but also the twenty plus years of designing, facilitating and even managing arts based / arts infused learning programs for a diverse range of learners that has  provided me with the practical experiences to move into and engage in an arts + strengths based coaching practice.

​The services I provide today as a Creativity Coach / Facilitator enable clients and participants to explore and discover their creative strengths through the Creative Strengths Recognition Process, collectively design communities of practice through the Drawing Connection Process, and engage in community arts programs through the Community Arts Facilitation services. All three of these services are supported by the Creative Learning Design Framework. The Creative Learning Design Framework is an arts based / arts infused learning design process comprised of three components, Visual / Creative Knowing, Visual / Creative Connections and Visual / Creative Effects. On the surface, this framework may seem simplistic, but this framework has emerged as a result of an interdisciplinary mashup that has really been in development over the past ten years.
 
The Visual / Creative Knowing component derives from my studies and experiences in the Visual Arts, Arts Education, Design Thinking, Positive Psychology and even uses theories and methods from my newest practice as a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner. The Visual / Creative Connections component comes from studies and experiences in Adult Educations, Non - profit Sector Management, the Community of Practice framework and other learning organization models. The Visual / Creative Effects component utilizes theories and methods from Arts - based Evaluation, Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition processes, Appreciative Inquiry and various strengths assessments. In many ways each component is a framework within itself. This ever evolving framework is now the stage on which I can engage in my practice as an arts + strengths  based Creativity Coach / Facilitator.

In my most recent practices as both a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner and Creativity Coach / Facilitator I utilize the visual image in different ways, as a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner the visual image is vehicle for creative wellness and as a Creativity Coach / Facilitator the visual image is used to facilitate personal growth and development. For this post however, I am just going to concentrate on my practice as a Creativity Coach / Facilitator and return to my practice as a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner in a future post.
 
My new practice as a Creativity Coach / Facilitator has not happened over night. Yes, I have done my coach training and have received my Certified Coach Practitioner and Certified Flourishing Creativity Coach certificates, as well as other professional development training related to coaching. In so many ways, my practice as a Creativity Coach / Facilitator is already situated outside of the “traditional coaching practices”. This is very much a result of my formal studies in the arts, such as my Certificate in Photography, Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Education (Visual Arts Specialist) degree. Even during my studies for my Master of Education in Adult Education, I explored visual literacy and arts based learning. Obviously all of these credentials have provided me with not just a foundation, but whole framework for knowing about and working with images, as well as how to work with people within different learning and development contexts.

​It is not just my earned credentials, but also the twenty plus years of designing, facilitating and managing arts based / arts infused learning programs for a diverse range of learners that has  provided me with the practical experiences to move into and engage in an arts based coaching practice. In many ways I have been working for so long outside of the frame of the “traditional” that arts based coaching is a natural progression. This is not to say that the arts based coaching practice I am engaged in is an easy one. I have to remind myself that I am not doing art education in this new practice, but instead providing a space for present and future clients to discover their creative strengths using visual images and photography as the primary vehicle.

​This practical experience, along with my credentials that has led me to the development of the Creative Learning Design Framework. The Creative Learning Design Framework is the underlying framework for the services I presently offer as a Creativity Coach / Facilitator such as the; Creative Strengths Recognition Process, Drawing Connections Process and Community Arts Facilitation. The Creative Learning Design Framework is an arts based / arts infused learning design process comprised of three components, Visual / Creative Knowing, Visual / Creative Connections and Visual / Creative Effects. On the surface, this framework may seem simplistic, but this framework has emerged as a result of an interdisciplinary mashup that has really been in development over the past ten years.
 

​The Creative Learning Design Framework really had it start In 2014, I was hired as the Creative Process Facilitator for the Creative Collaborative Communities Initiative, which was led by the Canadian Mental Health Association - Halifax Dartmouth Branch. My primary role within this initiative  was to design and facilitate a creative process that could function as a vehicle for bringing as many mental health stakeholders together to create a community of practice. This community of practice would then establish a more person centred mental health service in the community. To facilitate this I created the Creative Communities Engagement Process. The Creative Communities Engagement Process was comprised of three components. VISUAL KNOWING: Community collaboration assessment , VISUAL CONNECTIONS: Co – design of a Community of Practice and VISUAL EFFECTS: Future impact of a Community of Practice for those with lived experience.

​Ten years later in 2024 the Creative Communities Engagement Process has evolved into and has been renamed the Creative Learning Design Framework. Like the Creative Communities Engagement Process, the Creative Learning Design Framework came about through an interdisciplinary mashup. The Visual / Creative Knowing component derives from my studies and experiences in the visual arts, art education, design thinking, positive psychology and even borrows from my newest practice as a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner. The Visual / Creative Connections component comes from studies and experiences in adult educations, non - profit sector management, the community of practice model and other learning organization models. The Visual / Creative Effects component utilizes theories and methods from arts - based evaluation, prior learning assessment and recognition processes, appreciative inquiry and critical theory. Each component, becomes a framework in itself. This ever evolving framework will now become the stage on which I engage in my practice as an arts based Creativity Coach / Facilitator.

“The medium of photography is more often than not a medium of the found image. There is also a long history of manipulating and transforming photographic images. I find myself straddling the fence between these two aesthetic practices as the photographs and photo – based works I create are derived through a kind of dialogue between the found and the constructed. As my primary subject matter is the urban landscape, these landscapes hide and reveal themselves. I can walk down the street one – day and see nothing, two days later I walk down the same street and ten plus images emerge. Some of these images will stand on their own, while others will be transformed either digitally or physically. The transformed images become the constructed images. During the process of constructing these images new concepts or ideas for a new series of images emerge. How I determine what photographs are manipulated and what images remain unchanged becomes an intuitive thing.”
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Working with these frames has required me to frame my creative process so as to better articulate it.
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These frameworks are then used in the design and delivery of learning experiences. Many of these learning experiences are then facilitated through the use of images
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“I believe that teaching, facilitation and coaching are as every bit a creative act as making images. In many ways, the ever - evolving creative processes utilized in my practice as a photographer and artist, has also found its way into my practices in education and coaching. Instead of working with found and constructed images however, my practices consists of working with existing theories and methods from various disciplines as well as constructing new programs through the fusion of theories and methods from disparate disciplines. These constructed or fused programs are different from the found and constructed images. The viewers of my images may be fully engaged with my images, or they can just ignore them. How these viewers are impacted by my images is not always known. The learners / clients in the programs I design and / or  facilitate have been, and will continue to be affected at some level through their learning and engagement experience. As a result of this I have to ensure that the learning programs are inclusive and always put the learner / client at the centre, to ensure an optimal learning and engagement experience.”
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Almost everyday for many years the young boy now a man would enter the black box and open up the window to see what images he could gather. Some days he would find hundreds of images and other days just a few. Some of the images would be transformed into other images and others would never leave the black box at all. At times the black box became a place to hide and lose himself, while there were other times when he never wanted to go inside.
 
Many years later the man found himself showing others the secrets of how to enter the black box and gather images. This became just as important and rewarding as gathering the images himself. In sharing this knowledge, the man found new challenges and adventures that he thought he would never take.
 
Today as an old man, the black box has changed, and he does not spend as much time in it as he use to. But when he does, he is happy when an image comes through the window that he has never seen before. This becomes a sign to him that there are many more places and spaces to explore.
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