II enjoyed reading this week’s articles. It was interesting to learn about the open program proposed by Lynda Barry, which is designed to help anyone, regardless of their artistic background, overcome self-criticism and reconnect with their innate creative drive. The author proposes a multi-faceted journaling routine.
I liked that her program emphasizes physical creation using traditional tools, such as pens, notebooks, and watercolors. According to the author, the simple act of touching paper slows down one’s thought process enough to unlock memories and images that remain inaccessible when one relies primarily on a keyboard. One thing I will take away from this reading is that, through Barry’s approach, practitioners develop a profound capacity to be present and to perceive what is actually before them, rather than what they imagine to be there.
The second reading is quite different from the first. It evoked a different range of emotions. It’s not that I disliked it; it’s just that the first piece felt more compelling, with its vivid imagery and the way it tied into the subject matter. That said, I still found the content of the second piece equally interesting, specifically its reflections on how AI significantly improves technical outcomes, yet at the direct expense of the author’s psychological satisfaction and level of engagement.
Personally, I have never used ChatGPT, so I’m not entirely sure I agree that it has been particularly beneficial for non-native English speakers by breaking down linguistic barriers, though that may well be the case for others. According to my niece, much like what was mentioned in the text, using ChatGPT did indeed help them generate ideas more quickly, make fewer errors, and demonstrate greater conceptual flexibility.
One of the reasons I do not use ChatGPT is that I share the view that, by eliminating the cognitive effort essential to writing, ChatGPT diminishes the sense of satisfaction, the perceived value of the work, and the pleasure of writing. Furthermore, I agree that ChatGPT acts as a creative shortcut; by providing ready-made answers, it hinders the development of profound ideas, critical thinking, and the maturation of original concepts.
Writing, and keeping a journal, have been an outlet for me for as long as I can remember (as I’m sure they have been for most of you). The cognitive and physiological effects/benefits of keeping a journal are vast and have long been studied, but I find it interesting that I also kept separate sketchbooks as a child. I had a main one for my everyday observations; I tried my best to recreate the world I was seeing as I grew up.
My mom gifted me a BlackBerry phone strictly for pictures when I was 10. I still have those drawings of my neighbor’s house and birds I used to think were as romantic as poetry, and pictures of the 4th of July and flowers (simple roses) I thought were beautiful (I still do). After I’d write or sketch, I’d switch over to my fashion book, where I’d draw original dresses over tall, skinny woman figures. I was really obsessed with mermaid wedding dresses.
A lot of my journal entries included tiny doodles of flowers and spiral symbols. My modes of expressing my experiences and interests have always been so vast and healing in the sense that if something wasn’t working for me, I’d try a different thing(s), even if I didn’t comprehend that, that’s what I was doing. I’d be left feeling fulfilled. Like I had just created the next Mona Lisa despite no one ever seeing what I’d create.
I believe this is Maria Popova’s, an essayist, author, and writer, main point in her article “Lynda Barry’s Illustrated Field Guide to Keeping a Visual Diary and Cultivating a Capacity for Creative Observation”:
“…drawing can change our already elastic perception of time…This practice can result in … a wonderful side effect: a visual or written image we can call “a work of art”; although a work of art is not what I’m after when I’m practicing this activity…” She further explains how “our hands, a pen, and some paper — as both a navigation and expedition device, one that could reliably carry me into my past, deeper into my present, or farther into a place I have come to call “the image world.”
My Multimedia Journey
I definitely resonate with Povola’s theory, but I’d like to add my extra take on it:
Later in life (I’d say about six years ago), I fell in love with the visual arts (photography, modeling, fashion, and creative directing). My first ‘official’ photoshoot, called “the Inffable project,’ was when I was 18 for my friend named DJ (an awesome creative, btw, check them out @dirtydiscolovesyou).
My first photoshoot and experience as a model.
Ineffable describes something that is too sacred and intense to be expressed in words (how ironic). Though the project wasn’t writing-focused, the way she explained the concept and even the title introduced language to me in a creative atmosphere. I asked her if I could add a quote on the second slide. I had forgotten my journaling practice around this time, but this would still be the start of my multi-medic journey.
(Photo taken from Pinterest)
Last December, I visited a pop-up shop in Jersey City. I initially went for the fashion and thrift vendors, but I stumbled upon someone who felt like she came at the perfect time. Her name was Ellen Goellner, a visual artist, poet, and professor at OCCCA. I was attracted and intrigued by the journals on her table.
What was she doing here at a place like this? Though I was deep in my English undergrad studies, I still thought writing was kept in its own separate place, away from outside people.
I’d soon discover a world living inside those journals, which she handcrafted, with doodles, prompts, pieces of fabric, paint, postcards, and other small collectables. I felt like I had found the trinket holy ground for diaries.
The journals opening statement.Prompts and visual art.Scraps for you to keep and use.
She told me about the importance of incorporating visual arts in a journal and in everyday life/creative endeavors. I told her about my love for multimedia work and how I want to fully dive into incorporating visual arts with writing. We shared the same enthusiasm, this I knew. Almost a year later, and I have yet to touch the journal I purchased from her (one that I am supposed to be exploring via the prompts inside). It’s just so beautiful; I am not touching it, especially after she told me stories about how she and Bell Hooks would create together (still fan-girling so hard).
Authentic Expression In the face of AI
“the idea that keeping a notebook or a diary, whether visual or otherwise, is one of the most consciousness-expanding ways of bearing witness to our experience and our journey through this world.” -Maria Povolo
I am afraid I’ll have fewer of these encounters as AI continues to eat away at real creativity. There is a space for expressive creativity in all spaces we enter, even at unlikely times. It is why I bring this theory into (almost) every yoga class I teach. This can be done digitally, too. Who’s to say we don’t keep journals via our electronics and apps? Now I am fully passionate about the intersections of visual art and writing.
Whenever I am creating a photoshoot, planning a moodboard in my journal or on Pinterest (whether I am the model or just the creative director), time seems to be lost. It becomes just a concept in a space where everything else is forgotten. It’s just me (or us) and my so-called “work of art” in the making. I know Pinterest as a diary is an extra hot take; but, where do you go to get lost? Is it just one place? Or many places in various modes, mediums, and places in our lives? My boards are private. My journal is private. Both sometimes serve the same purpose (at least for me).
I never knew art could be so diverse, but I’d like to think my upbringing with it, along with different encounters with incredible artists, influences my writing (of all forms) and the kind of art I publish today. I’m excited to keep exploring my journey and letting Povoro’s study be a driving motivation to keep exploring different/more expansive ways of unlocking my psyche.
“She showed me ways of using these simple things — our hands, a pen, and some paper — as both a navigation and expedition device, one that could reliably carry me into my past, deeper into my present, or farther into a place I have come to call “the image world”
I am a doodler. Usually, they consist of a spiral of sorts, only sometimes do they become cats or ladybugs, but that has a lot to do with what’s deemed appropriate within the margins of the page (and leaving room for the notes I should be taking).
I used to draw in my journals (diaries). I’d tell the story of my life, comic style, with elaborate drawing that told the tale in an “easily” digestible manner. Drawing, particularly in that kind of circumstance, reveals a lot about how you’re really feeling. When tied with writing, it reveals a lot about the complexities of those feelings + what that means for you as a person.
Barry’s visual diary enmeshed in enlightenment and discovery made that notion clear to see.
I was especially fond of:
I wonder how different mediums of expression support a different understanding of oneself. I’m back to drilling that same question. Expressions are undoubtedly powerful.
We live in a time where creativity can be easily shortcutted. That’s where I fear things in the creative sphere may take a turn for the worse.
My faith in people waivers each time I come across accounts using AI for creative purposes (like image generation). People want attention. That attention used to come with time, dedication, and a lot of creative thinking. Now you can enter a prompt, post a fruit AI video on tiktok, and hundreds of people will leave comments asking, “when’s the next part?”
It’s scary stuff. It robs us of our ability to analyse, our judgement, our taste, our expectations of the arts, our ability to scroll away (even when in disgust). Sometimes AI art posted on social media platforms is largely consumed in a defiant manner. Meaning, users consume the media for the sole purpose of criticizing in order to fuel the resistance movement within these spaces. That’s still engagement. Influencers or celebrities that are open about not using AI or “hating AI” tend to receive comments that praise them for it. Which is an entire conversation in itself. Why are they rewarded for their abstinence? Should they be rewarded? Is everyone lying about hating AI or do they secretly wish for a world that wouldn’t judge them for it (and/or didn’t have harsh & irreversible environmental consequences).
We know why work that stems from human struggle is more valuable.
And as creatives, we know how much that process to the perfect line or the perfect sentence satisfies us. How much we use it as fuel to continue lightening our path.
There is no true worry of struggle now (and the kind of hopelessness that comes with having only yourself to depend on producing). It’s easy to shrug it off (even those experienced writers, who really do no better, know that they can), because on the sidelines of the treacherous paths towards beautifully constructed creative expression, is artificial intelligence yelling, “I’ll always be there if you need me.”
And once you need it once, there’s always a reason to need it again.
