I've found that as a magician whose job is to bring amazement and wonder to my audiences, I NEED to keep the creativity flowing. So I thought I'd share with you my dear blog reader what I do to keep the new ideas coming and fresh perspective for my magic.
Firstly, I surround myself with things and people who remind me of creativity and previous experiences that fed my creative side. Two examples that come to mind you'd find on my nightstand. My two friends Figment and the Maker Bot
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Figment of course is a Disney character who speaks about the importance of IMAGINATION, and the Maker Bot is one of the logos and representation of the Maker Movement, the ultimate in using creativity, art and science to solve problems and improve the world.
On the dresser there are two small busts of two other inspirational men, Houdini and Ben Franklin. Both were important to their times, and innovative in their fields. There are also a number of my Steampunk items, like the lamp and light switch. I feel the Steampunk genre is one of deep creativity and imagination which is why I've embraced it in my current magical performance persona. Lastly there are the many Star Trek items I keep to remind me of the philosophy behind the stories and themes of that universe, which I find very inspiring.
Then of course there are my notebooks. I take one of these everywhere with me. I write down ideas and thoughts about magic and routines and even notes about how performances went. The other is more of a dream journal which I learned to keep after learning about it from a Jeff McBride class back in the early 90's. In the morning after waking if I had an interesting dream I write notes about it and then write the whole story later. Some of the memories that come out in dreams are really cool and a few times I've remembered something from my childhood which was an absolute thrill.
Once in a while I'll refer back to these notes to help come up with routine ideas.
The other source for ideas are books. I read books about magic, history, science, philosophy, and science fiction. Reading in many areas and exploring other ways of thinking are a very big influence on the creative process.
As time goes by and magic and performance take up more of my professional time, its very easy to get set in my ways and lazy. When a performer does the same thing for long periods of time its easy to get jaded. Sometimes the performances begin to lack enthusiasm and it will really show to your audience..this is when your creativity and need to recharge your creative batteries is really important. So What inspires you?
Feel free to post a comment about this, and please if you find anything I've written enjoyable or thought provoking go ahead and post a comment.
Also please let your friends and followers know about my blog, every post I enjoy seeing more and more readers.
Until the next post.......Keep being inspired,
Be Well and Keep 'em clean
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