Dave Anderson - "Why Man Creates"

For 3 of our conference sessions, we were fortunate to have Dave Anderson, Executive Director of Compass Film Academy and also a trainer in the Disney Imagineering process, as our speaker. In addition to being a Christian in the film industry, Dave also used to be on staff with Campus Crusade. He commented that it has been his prayer, that CCC and other Christian organizations would take a step in the creative direction, seeking out ways to impact our society through the arts (also echoed by a couple of other senior staff attending the conference).

What a treat it was for me to be a part of this first Creativity Summit. Amidst my continued attempts at figuring out what it means to be an artist and designer while working in ministry; how I should balance my desire to be creative with my desire to serve God; and asking myself if there are others just like me, who have these same struggles, questions, and desires.

Image from Pyramid Media

This session was centered on asking several questions relating to "Why Man Creates," a short film produced in the 1970's by Saul Bass...

The first segment of the film was a comical look at the 'time-line' of man in what was called the "Edifice," an animation about creation. One after another, creation was piled on top of itself giving the viewer a visual representation of a tower. One person at the conference compared this idea to the Tower of Babel, and how the people designing this tower were striving to reach God.

Other notes from this session:
"We create because the Creator who created us creates"
Creativity is a process
Adapting what came before (beginning with God)
BIblical references exist in the forms of creativity
Everything affects everything else
The same starting point can lead to many directions
Failure can lead to creativity
"Fooling around" can lead to more ideas because you have more freedom - it's unrestrained and child-like
Just because the process isn't easy does not mean that God is not in it
Art and the creative process tend to focus on persona
How do you handle criticism? - a key part of the creative process
Struggles in the creative process - pain of low or no gain, pride, initial ideas may not work, criticism
Things we can rely on and look up to - celebrating the life God has given us and knowing that our passion to create comes from faith - keep looking forward, look to the Lord...Hope!!

A book about the film industry was recommended to us, The Big Picture, by Edward Jay Epstein.

I have a couple of more entries about the Creativity Summit coming...sorry for the delay in posting, we have been busy!!!