In the middle week of the residency we dived a little deeper into the idea of the imaginal space and what can happen there. Taking space literally, we held an in-person Studio Interlude and set up a table with materials for art-making in the canteen. But the term imaginal space is powerful as a metaphor to characterise creative thinking in project teams and by individuals.
The imaginal space is where
• creative thinking happens
• we catch whispers of possibility
• unknowing is welcomed
• opposites are held in creative tension
• sparks fly
• intuition speaks
• we attend / listen / look
• multiple ways forward reveal themselves and enter into creative tension with what is
If you were to watch me painting in the studio, you would see me in a physical space with resources that support my artwork. You would also notice that the work is marked by pauses and ponderings, periods of sitting and looking, of walking around the room, of doodling on scraps of paper and writing in notebooks. What’s going on in these times is all of the above – I take the painting in progress into my own imaginal space in order to find the next steps. These come out of letting new possibilities arise and holding them in creative tension with what is already on the canvas.
What is possible for a painting in progress
includes choices in colour / shape / line
may show itself through accidents
is sometimes deliberately searched for in my ‘vocabulary’ and previous experience
is also suggested by what’s around – images and colours on the studio wall, in notebooks, photos
And sometimes it is necessary to do something disruptive…
What might imaginal space look like for people and organisations wanting to encourage creative thinking?
For individuals, it might be five minutes staring out of the window at the long view, allowing current issues to sink back into a more realistic shape and reminders of previous expertise to bubble to the surface. It might be plants or images alongside the computer to gaze into. Or taking a little time out at a crucial stage of a project to sit with a coffee, a notebook and coloured pens.
Imaginal space for groups might be supported by workshops sharing creative activities. I suspect it needs less tangible forms too: permission and conditions that nourish creativity. Recognition that projects benefit from injections of solo and group creative thinking and that time needs to be built in for this, meetings without agendas, ad hoc encounters and conversations in surroundings that inspire.
below: collaborative and individual artwork from Studio Interlude
