Author Archives: admin

Wonderball Q & A with Roman Holowinsky of The Steam Factory

Posted on by

SteamFactory

Our first-ever Wonderball party is one week away! On Saturday, January 31 the museum will be alive with creativity, artistic performances, and the best of Columbus’ food and drink scene.

As we gear up for the event, we’ve been chatting with some of our event committee members about wonder and creativity. Today we are featuring Roman Holowinsky and The STEAM Factory team.

How do you incorporate creativity into your life?
My career as a math professor in Analytic Number Theory is all about creativity.  One is constantly searching for new methods of proof in establishing previously unknown mathematical truths. Finding a successful way of thinking about a particular problem, when no one else in the world had previously considered it or when others have tried and failed, can be a pretty daunting task sometimes. It’s important to be working on multiple research problems simultaneously, because you can definitely get stuck along the way with each one (a recent problem that I worked on took roughly six years to complete).

Therefore, I’m always searching the world around me for creative inspiration.  Working and talking with people who have different perspectives is terribly important.  In particular, I get a lot of energy from hearing about research people are doing in other disciplines.  I believe a significant proportion of faculty feel the same way.  We’re lifelong learners that appreciate the quest for knowledge.  That’s why several of us founded The STEAM Factory at Ohio State in December of 2012 to get out of our disciplinary silos every now and then and help facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration. We’ve now grown to a group of roughly 60 members spanning more than 40 disciplines.  I’ve learned a tremendous amount from my colleagues.

What is your version of Wonder?
Wonder for me is a combination of things. It can be truths that are yet to be discovered. It can be human feats or accomplishments previously unimaginable.  It can also be the sum total of all that exists in nature, in knowledge and spirit.  Let’s face it, each of us will individually experience and understand only a tiny fraction of our universe, and I find that to be quite humbling.

I do have to add, however, that I’m in awe of many of my fellow Columbus community members.  I moved here 4.5 years ago, and I’ve never seen so much passion for a city.  There are so many great projects and programs going on, and I absolutely love it!  Columbus has changed dramatically over the time I’ve been here already, and I wonder what great things the future has in store for us.

Roman Holowinsky is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at The Ohio State University and is Chair and cofounder of The STEAM Factory.

Advance tickets are $100 ($125 day of), and include a tasting reception, two drink tickets, valet parking, entertainment, and surprises throughout the night. All proceeds benefit CMA’s Center for Creativity.

Purchase Wonderball Tickets here.

Wonderball On Air: Q & A with WCBE and WWCD

Posted on by

Randy700

Shake off the cold and grey of January and indulge your imagination at our first-ever Wonderball party on Saturday, January 31. Wonderball celebrates creativity in our community, and features the best of Columbus’ food and drink scene, beats by DJs Charles Erickson & Donnie Mossman, engaging performances, and surprises throughout the night.

In the lead up to the party, we’re speaking with some of our planning committee members about creativity and wonder. This week we’re taking to the airwaves with Jim Coe of 90.5 WCBE and Randy Malloy of CD102.5

Randy Malloy
President / General Manager
WWCD 102.5 FM

What is your version of Wonder?   Wonder is the sense that one gets when something new and different is introduced that creates awe and generates questions.

How do you incorporate Creativity into your life? Creativity allows me to do 500 5 minute jobs, thinking outside the box and being able to view the normal and mundane in new and different light.

JimCoe700

Jim Coe
Community Relations / Business Development
90.5-FM WCBE

What is your version of Wonder?   The awareness I have when I see an object or hear a sound or repeat an experience that I’ve had many times before, but it manifests as my first encounter…NEW-ness.

How do you incorporate Creativity into your life?  I don’t make that choice…a creative moment is one that overtakes me, jolts me out of my pattern of the moment.

Tune into 90.5 WCBE next week for a chance to win Wonderball tickets!

Advance tickets are $100 ($125 day of), and include a tasting reception, two drink tickets, appetizers and late night bites. All proceeds benefit CMA’s Center for Creativity.

Purchase Wonderball Tickets here.

Celebrating Creativity with Lego

Posted on by

Jayson Mangis Sometimes one museum visit can have a tremendous impact. Enter Jayson, a teenager who is a LEGO® enthusiast. Jayson and his family visited CMA for the first time on a recent Friday. None of them had ever been to Columbus before. They traveled all the way from Virginia to see his entry in the 2014 LEGO® Design Challenge exhibition. I had been in contact with them months before to coordinate mailing Jayson’s design from Virginia when he was selected as a finalist, and I was thrilled to finally meet them all on Friday.

Jayson is a huge LEGO® fan, and when the 2014® LEGO Design Challenge popped up in an online search he said “it was irresistible.” Jayson was selected as a finalist due to his imaginative concept of a COTA Union Station. He combined new and traditional technologies to think about solving the issue of limited public transportation in Columbus. In his design he built a spiral escalator that is wheel-chair accessible, an on-site daycare center complete with ball pit, and a magnetic levitated trolley. “As a fan of model trains, it was not hard to decide on imagining New Columbus with a rail system that includes a classic rail as well as magnetic levitation. We have a family friend who uses a wheel chair, and an accessible spiral escalator seemed like a natural innovation.”

Jayson and family

At CMA we believe museums have the capacity for transformative experiences. We can make a positive impact. In this case, Jayson and his family were able to celebrate Jayson’s creative accomplishment by viewing his design in the exhibition. They all enthusiastically embraced a new experience by traveling to Columbus for the first time. They also spent time together during their visit; they went on a docent led tour, played in the Center for Creativity, and of course, built with LEGO® bricks.

Jayson’s mother reflected on their visit: “We loved visiting Columbus Ohio; the CMA is a beautiful facility. Just entering the building through the oval garden, you feel you are somewhere special. It was great to travel to a place specifically dedicated to creativity.   It really resonated with our family that someone would build a Center for Creativity. We cannot wait to return in the future once the renovation is complete.”

Be sure to catch Think Outside the Brick exhibition and display of finalists in our 2014 LEGO® Design Challenge before they close January 25, 2015.

New Wonderball Party: Q & A with The Kitchen

Posted on by
KitchenWonderball
Expect the unexpected, and indulge your imagination at our new Wonderball party on January 31. Wonderball celebrates creativity in our community, and features the best of Columbus’ food and drink scene, beats by DJs Charles Erickson & Donnie Mossman, and other inspired experiences.
In the lead up to the party, we’re talking with some of our planning committee members about creativity and wonder. To kick things off we talked with Anne Boninsegna and Jen Lindsey of The Kitchen.
How do you incorporate creativity into your life?
For Jen and I, we incorporate creativity by taking something that isn’t necessarily culinary related and removing it from its original context and reconstructing it in the world of food. We try not to be too formulaic with interpretation, but let our mind rethink a theme in a broader way and apply it to our passion, cooking and dinner conversation.
What is your version of Wonder?  
Wonder is discovery. It might be a new way of presenting a classic dish or it may be using a new ingredient for the first time, the excitement that comes with that discovery brings spice to our lives.
You can sample some of The Kitchen’s delicious food and more of the local Columbus food and drink scene during Wonderball on January 31.
Advance tickets are $100. All proceeds benefit CMA’s Center for Creativity.
Purchase Wonderball Tickets here.

2014 LEGO Design Challenge: Reimagining Columbus

Posted on by
LEGODesignWinners2014
Here at CMA we geek out about LEGO® bricks. They are a great material to explore, play with, and use as a tool to express ideas. On view now in CMA’s Center for Creativity are the finalists from a community design competition, the 2014 LEGO® Design Challenge. This year’s challenge was inspired by The LEGO® Movie: imagine what building, structure, or mode of transportation a new Columbus would need.
In October a panel of local creative professionals judged all submissions and selected 17 finalists based on the creative application of LEGO® bricks, imaginative design and concept, and difficulty of execution. Anyone was eligible to participate. This year’s finalists range from children, to OSU architecture students, to family groups, to high school students. The 2014 LEGO® Design Challenge highlights that creative ideas can live within anyone, and that creative thinking can be fostered through playing with LEGO® bricks.
Finalists include five designs by students from Metro High School in Columbus. The freshman class participated in a LEGO® launch party to promote the design challenge and jumpstart student creativity.
Former Mayor Greg Lashutka got the creative juices flowing at Tremont Elementary by leading a discussion about community, and what he thinks Columbus still needs. The entire 3rd grade at Tremont Elementary sketched ideas, collaborated to build in small groups, and submitted designs. Two designs were selected as finalists.
10-year-old finalist James Sisson had to come up with creative solutions during his building process as one of his arms was in a cast due to an injury. His design includes a subway system with two stacked rails underground.
Finalists Nick Armstrong and Christian Moore, from OSU’s Knowlton School of Architecture, were inspired by The LEGO® Movie to think outside of the box. Their creative Double-Decker Cityscape features vertical gardens, giant mushrooms, various modern art pieces, and a suspension-style bridge. They spent about 10 hours building their design.
Come check out all the innovative and fantastic designs by people in the Columbus community. The 17 designs on display were created by Nick Armstrong, Zeke Bolon, Alisa Feng, Adeline Foley, Emmett Foley, Coco Gonzalez, Jett Gonzalez, Kathy Gonzalez, Ricky Gonzalez, Jayson M., Christian Moore, Gavin Niles, Celeste Reheiser, James Sisson, Zach Stewart, Ben Weaver, 3rd graders at Tremont Elementary, and freshman at Metro High School.
You can also:
• build your own LEGO® creations
• Vote for your favorite design from the 2014 LEGO® Design Challenge
• See CMA’s third annual Think Outside the Brick Exhibition
The 2014 LEGO® Design Challenge will be on view at CMA until January 25th, 2015.
Congratulations to all the finalists, and a big thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s challenge!

Creativity Calisthenics

Posted on by
Creativity For Everyone
At the Columbus Museum of Art, in the Center for Creativity, we believe that everyone has the capacity for Creativity. We believe that creativity is for everyone, can live within anyone and can take any form. But rather than talk about why or how we at the CFC champion and celebrate creativity, I want to take a bit of time to talk about how we (and more importantly how you ) can cultivate creativity. Creativity is a skill, just like drawing or bowling or building card houses…. sure, some people may be naturally talented at it, but everyone can practice and improve. Recently, I asked a few of my colleagues for their recommendations for ‘Creativity Calisthenics:’

Like any exercise, we start with a warm-up…

  • Find inspiration everywhere (look at picture books, take photos around the house, collect natural items in the park)
  • Respect everyone’s ideas, even if they sound crazy or might not make sense
  • Let everyone share their ideas
  • Collaborate on ideas, work as a team
  • Don’t be afraid to make a mess

If you’re brain’s feeling a bit stiff and sore, start with something you know and do something new with it…

  • What else could you do with a common comb? plunger? salad spinner? shoe lace?
  • What does it look like to paint with a spatula? Make a shaving cream sculpture?
  • Get creative with chores you have to do: Work together towards a common goal (what if EVERYONE from baby to dad helps make dinner?)
  • Ask “What else?”
  • Use different items together (what kind of game can you invent with supplies from 5 different games?)

Story-telling: the intermediate workout…

  • Go someplace new and people watch. What could their story be?
  • Start a story during a car ride. Someone starts, and everyone takes turns adding ideas and characters.
  • While eating out, pick a neighboring table and guess what kind of food everyone will order. What makes you say that?
  • Tell stories together- One person can start, and someone else can pick up the tale, campfire-style

Now it’s time to really feel the burn!

  • Have a 10 minute dance party
  • Talk to a friend on the phone in an accent during the entire conversation
  • While cooking dinner, pretend you’re a Food Network host
  • While brushing your teeth, pretend you’re on a commercial selling toothpaste
  • Build a fort together. Everyone has 5 minutes to run around the house and grab materials.

Have you tried any of these ideas? How did it go? How do you practice creativity at home? Leave us a comment and let us know!