April Fuels: an inspiration toolbox
I asked some members of our team here at the Hive to share with me one thing that has been fueling them in their work or creative processes recently.
Below, a toolbox of sorts, for the next time you need a little inspiration or fuel. Or honey.
Zoë’s fuel: A gem in the inbox clutter
I’ve been really into substacks lately. I’ve been signing up for different newsletters by writers that like to share some of their musings and thoughts and processes.
One newsletter I love reading is “Monday Monday” by Marlee Grace, a writer out of Northern Michigan. I found their work after meeting them in a coffee shop.
The long form style is really giving me more insight into their process and their thought patterns. I also think people are really honest in those long form pieces. They’re like, “actually, this week was really hard for me,” or, “this week was really mundane, I didn’t really do anything.” And that’s inspiring, because it shows me that even the people I look up to don’t have glitz and glam lives 24/7.
Try Zoë’s fuel: Check out substack.com and browse through some of the newsletters! Once you find one newsletter you like, the algorithm will suggest more for you to explore.
Fred’s fuel: Competitively searching for cowboy hats
I was at the airport with my daughter, Claire, yesterday, and we played this game that she invented. It’s a people watching game where you get points for noticing people wearing interesting outfits. In particular, we were looking for monochromatic outfits or cowboy hats, but you could make up anything.
We found a little restaurant bar with a table at the edge, and sitting there with a beer, we assessed people’s outfits as they walked by. We saw some good ones — I spotted someone wearing a double cowboy hat, and a family with kids in matching plaid monochromatic outfits. Claire won the game because she saw somebody who was wearing a completely monochromatic outfit with this amazing pattern that matched her rolling suitcase. So, we decided there’s a market for accessorizing suitcase design. What if your suitcase matched your outfit?
I love looking for patterns and quirky things and laughing about it with someone else, but also then saying, “Oh, that’s really interesting. Maybe there’s a need here.”
Try Fred’s fuel: Next time you’re at the mall, airport, or standing in line at the grocery store, pick a theme and spot some cool outfits!
Linda’s fuel: Raindrops on sidewalks
On my daily runs, I often see things that are perfectly designed. For instance, a sprig of pine needles next to a rock. Or a tree and a flower, and then a rock. I’ll look at it, and I’m like, it’s just perfectly proportioned and composed. When I get home, I have a sketchbook going and I sketch really quickly what it was. And I don’t try to draw the literal thing I saw, I just try to draw the design of how I saw it — sometimes it’s just shapes, sort of abstracted. That practice has made me think about how many things in our everyday lives are so perfectly done. And nobody arranged it, nobody thought about it, it just was that way. I’ve been calling it “design seeing” because it’s everywhere, if you just start looking for it.
When it’s raining on a dry sidewalk, the seemingly random pattern of the wet spots actually isn’t random at all. When you start looking at it, it’s a very asymmetrical pattern. And I was looking at that thinking, if somebody made fabric like that, it would be the most beautiful dress on Earth.
We talk about design so much and we think about it so much and we teach it and when I read articles online about design, it just starts to feel really complicated and full of rules and the “right way.” This practice makes me feel so free to be able to realize there aren’t any rules or processes, because I’m noticing stuff that just happened to be that way. It’s made me feel like I’m becoming a better designer and artist because I’m stripping it down and getting back to really simple things.
Try Linda’s fuel: Next time you see something that catches your eye, sketch it in an abstract form! Linda also recommends picking one word to describe what you observed and drew. For the rain drops on the pavement, she chose “Fade.”
Asha’s fuel: Groovy tunes
Last year, I was lucky to be on the receiving end of my partner’s parents’ vinyl collection, which is probably about 150–200 records strong, all from the 60s, 70s, and very early 80s. My partner’s mom, Cindy, was big into rock and jazz, and her dad, José, was really into disco, R&B, and Brazilian music. We’ve been slowly exploring the collection at home — which is so fun. I’m piecing together so many threads of musical lineage that I had never been familiar with before, getting introduced to artists that sometimes I know, sometimes I don’t, sometimes I know but didn’t know that I know! On top of the music — there’s also the album art — poring over the visual details of the record covers and reading liner notes — some of which are really rich, extensive pieces of writing. I love how tactile the entire experience is — the gift of these records has made listening to music three-dimensional for me, they get my head away from a screen, and have physically and musically filled our home with so much life.
Try Asha’s fuel: Check out three of Asha’s favorite records at the moment (bonus points if you admire the album art and read the liner notes): 1. Best of Steve Winwood 2. Milt Jackson’s “Sunflowers” 3. Samba Discotheque
Wing-Yee’s fuel: Capitalism
Not to be too dark about it, but it is definitely capitalism that is really keeping me creating. (laughs) I started selling my screen printed and hand sewn work at art markets recently, and monetizing your own work really changes how you view your creativity. Everything I make now has to have a purpose and a role in what I’m selling, which has meant making less unique one-time pieces, and instead making a large quantity of one or two designs that tend to sell well.
During high school, you definitely could have asked me, what’s my inspiration? And I would have given you a whole playlist of songs. I think it’s just different stages of my life and my creativity. In high school I was dancing, and a lot of that is about expressing yourself and your emotions, whereas right now, I am expressly making products. The way I view it right now is not necessarily that I’m trying to make a living off of my art because I’m really not. I’m just trying to give myself some supplemental income while still allowing me to create without being a hoarder.
Try Wing-Yee’s fuel: Allow your motivations and inspirations to evolve over time, and take some time to articulate why you value and pursue your creative work.
Jane’s fuel: Staying accountable to causes you care about
One thing that has been fueling me lately is the work that I’ve been doing with the 5C Prison Abolition Collective. This semester we’re working on a speaker series, where we’re inviting a bunch of different abolitionist speakers to campus to share their work with us. Recently, right before spring break, we had an alumni panel that I helped organize which featured three different Scripps grads. It was really cool to see how students from Scripps have gone on to work more broadly in abolitionist organizations throughout California. Hearing from different activists has been inspiring me and fueling me all semester.
The work itself, whether that is submitting public comments or planning events fuels me to keep going because there’s so much to be done. And while it can feel overwhelming, I think it is super important to do a few things every day and stay accountable to my political beliefs. This could even be writing an email to a local representative or going to an abolitionist Instagram account to interact with their materials. Doing this work creates tensions and contradictions for me, as I go to this private college and come from a big place of privilege. I want to center the people who are most affected by the prison industrial complex in this work, and constantly keep this in mind. If I can stay accountable and not just like, give lip service and say that I want to abolish prisons, but actually do things every day, I could make a difference.
Try Jane’s fuel: Check out CURB, a prison abolition organization that Jane admires, here. Or, if you are a Claremont Colleges student, check out a Prison Abolition Collective meeting! The collective meets every Monday in the Scripps Student Union at 7pm.
Linett’s fuel: Verbal portals to new worlds
Yesterday, I was hunting for poetry podcasts in Spanish, and I found one called “Poesía Sin Fin” that blew my mind. It was highlighting Mexican poets from the 20th and 21st century, and the episode I listened to was featuring indigenous women and their poetry. On the podcast, they would read the poem in their native language, and then the Spanish translation. All of the featured poets are language justice activists, and discuss how writing in their native languages helps to promote and keep their native languages alive. I’m super interested in how languages hold so much information, and are a window to a whole worldview and a culture. That always blows my mind. And even though in the podcast you’re hearing a translation, you could tell that this is a whole different way of expressing yourself and a whole different way of seeing the world.
One poem I particularly loved is “Pelota de voz” by the poet Briceida Cuevas Cob. In the poem, Briceida encourages the reader not to throw rocks into a well, but instead play a game with the well, to throw their voice in and let the well throw it back — describing an echo. I think it excited me because it was so different from the poetry I usually read, or that has been accessible to me, and even the way I write. When I write, I ask myself, does this flow, does this sound good? But I don’t think I’ve ever chosen words because of their sounds or textures, the way that this poet did, because they have a certain vowel or the words are cacophonous or sound rough or choppy. But I think what blew my mind the most was just that I would never think of playing with a well. (laughs) That is pushing me to expand my view of the world and the objects that I interact with on a different level.
Try Linett’s fuel: Check out Poesía Sin Fin here! Or, check out a bilingual podcast Linett loves that spotlights Latin American literature and storytelling here.
Shannon’s fuel: Rest
These days, rest has been fueling me more than any book. Some days, that means going to bed at a kid bedtime, and sleeping 10 hours. Other times it means resting my intellectual brain by making art or music with my four-year-old. That kind of collaborative and creative release has been a really good way to rebalance.
I also like to do walks sometimes during the middle of the day, either before or after class. That immerses me in a totally different realm — outside. I think these forms of rest have to do with letting go of my intellectual thinking brain and allowing myself to be rejuvenated by moving in nature, or moving my creative muscles.
Try Shannon’s fuel: Try going to bed at your elementary-school-self’s bedtime for a night! Or, if you’re too much of a night owl to commit to that, try going for a walk and getting some fresh air in the middle of your day.
Olivia’s fuel: Lunch break fashion history lessons and cold brew
Podcast producer and host Avery Trufelman has been inspiring me a lot lately. She came and gave a talk at Pomona last month, and I still reference it all the time. She spoke about her storytelling practice with such genuine enthusiasm and care, and she had the whole room hooked from beginning to end.
After hearing her talk, I started listening to her podcast, “Articles of Interest,” and it is so good. The show explores the history and stories behind the fashion and clothing we see in the world today, and it’s completely fascinating even if you don’t care deeply about fashion in your everyday life. Last week when I was feeling stumped or tired, I would take a solo lunch break, walk into town and get a coffee, and listen to an episode of “Articles of Interest.”
Both her enthusiasm and her expertise are so inspiring to me. As I’m navigating the classic questions of being in my early twenties — What do I want to do next? What do I love? What do I care about? — hearing from someone who truly loves what they do has been really fueling for me.
Try Olivia’s fuel: Check out “Articles of Interest” here. Bonus points if you listen while going on a mid-day walk and drinking a vanilla sweet cream cold brew from Starbucks.
Anika’s fuel: Exploring
Exploring and making use of the platforms that I have access to has been fueling me recently. That’s been pushing me to go out of my comfort zone and create something beyond what I’ve already done. My hobbies recently have been completely new, including dance and guitar, because I have access now to things like that. It’s been fun to express myself in different ways and know that I can get more guidance on how to improve and stuff like that.
This year specifically, I think I’ve just become really aware of the fact that I’ve only got one year left in school, and this is such a unique space. I don’t know where outside of college I’d find a space to go for two hours of ballroom dancing one night and then go to a gym class the next morning. I think that sense of almost gratefulness, of being like, “Oh, shit. This is a very, very unique space.” I think there are certain expectations when you leave school of doing this and that and becoming busy. I want to keep exploring once I’m out of school as well. But just acknowledging or realizing that things will change, to some extent, has given me more drive.
Try Anika’s fuel: Try something new this week! Whether it’s a new food or a dance class, try something a little outside your comfort zone.
What has been fueling you recently? Let us know by leaving a comment!
Olivia Hewitt is a post-baccalaureate associate at the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity (or, the Hive), where she helps run an audio recording studio, and shares stories about the many creative people that pass through the Hive’s doors. Connect with her here!
