I'm so excited to introduce you to my client, Mioko. Having lived and created art on three continents, Mioko is a multi-faceted artist with a wide range of interests and creative skills.
Her projects reflect the broad variety of her many interests, but one thing Mioko is deeply devoted to is art education, which is the focus of her latest project.
What’s a project you’re currently interested in?
I'm in the process of founding an art education NPO, and this is my sole focus right now. This organization was born out of a wish to bring up global citizens through art education. And I'm hoping to work with public schools and other educational institutions to bring projects and programs that will ignite the creativity and ingenuity in children to help us become better citizens of the world.
What are some of your most enjoyable creative outlets?
I'm just gonna list a bunch of things, not necessarily in order of importance:
photography
drawing
image gathering
graphic design
art direction
production and realizing projects
Where do you find creative joy in your everyday life?
Finding and discovering beauty in everyday life with my children brings me joy. Like, out in nature. It's creative because it's sort of brings me inspiration and is creative juice for me. I need to keep that beauty well full, in order to be creative.
So, it could be a wind or a sky or a light or a flower, or anything around. And I have to remember to make sure I take the time to do it. It doesn't take much, I just have to step out of the house. Right now is such a gorgeous season and it's so easy to find beauty in the world. Like the warm sun on your face.
And it's important for me to verbalize that and share it with my children. They respond really well to that. There was a class letter from my daughter's teacher last year, and they'd gone on a mission to find signs of winter around the school. They went to the school's roof and saw that the pool was frozen. In the letter, the teacher reported that somebody had found that the buds on the trees were bulging and said, "This bud is ready for spring." I thought that was so beautiful. When I asked my daughter who had said it, she responded, "It was me."
My kids and I also like to do this thing where when we see a pretty sky, we hold up a pretend brush and say, "swish, swish," as we pretend to paint the colors. Things like that really fuel my creativity.
How have creativity coaching sessions affected your relationship to your creativity?
This is so major.
For me, when I first approached you, I was in a creative slump, but I don't want people to think you have to be in a slump to find this useful, because you don't. The journey of the coaching process was exactly the same course of my creativity blossoming. I could feel it. There's a direct link between the coaching and the blossoming.
It really helped me along, and I think I really needed it to find creativity again. I didn't even notice that I was in a blocked place! I knew I needed help, but it was so intertwined with other stuff. I realize that it was not just an aspect of me. Creativity is not just one part of you, it's related to the WHOLE self.
Oh, I just realized this is why you're called Whole Self Creative! You need to work on your life sometimes to let the creativity out.
What nurtures your creativity? What shuts it down?
The shutting down one is easy: conflict shuts me down.
What nurtures it is also easy: collaboration. Collaborating with other people really, really nurtures my creativity. I LOVE working with other people. I find energy, and inspiration from other people, and you can always do things way greater than if you were working by yourself. Collaboration is amazing. But the downside of collaboration is that conflict can arise. But it's worth it!
What types of creative events do you like to attend? (Art shows, concerts, etc.)
I host a lot of workshops for kids myself, but on my off days I like to go find nature. I like museums too, but I don't go as much. I like to go to the beach, and I like to make land art while at the beach. Or make bouquets in the forest. I like to make nature bentos with my kids. I'm always making little bentos and packages of nature gifts. We like to make little nature offerings to ojizosan.
I do enjoy photography too, out in nature.
Who do you think creativity coaching might benefit?
Oh, everybody! Everybody.
I want to recommend it to my sister, and all my friends. There are so many of us who think that we're not living out our creative potential.
I think creativity coaching might sound like it's only limited to people who have a creative job, but everyone has creativity and we can all use it in all aspects of life. I think it will benefit anyone who feels they're not living out their full creative potential.
And I think that people maybe who call themselves artists may not see the need for it in the beginning, because if it's our job to be creative, why do we need coaching for it? That's what people may think, but the coaching is not teaching you how to be creative. It sees that you already ARE creative and is a way to sort of access yourself and see patterns in your life that are blocking you from accessing it fully.
It's for everybody, but if people call themselves artists and think that it's not for them, they should just take my word for it and try it!
What inspires you lately?
Oh, definitely just meeting people. As I come to my era of creative blossoming, I'm meeting people and am very inspired by the people I meet right now. It's funny how when you're ready to meet people they come to you.
What's something we did together in our coaching sessions that has deeply impacted you?
I could say so many things. For me, the consistency of being able to talk to you on a regular schedule has really, really helped me. It keeps me in check and on point. And if there are things I want to talk about and can come back to you and talk, it really helps me.
And another thing is that you have allowed me to see things that I previously saw as weaknesses that you flipped around and helped me see in another way. You've shown me a way to access different parts of me. Like, skillsets that I already have, you showed me I can access and frame in a new way. The coaching has helped me access and use different skills that I didn't even know that I had.
I feel like it's a path and we've been on this path together, and each thing we've done has been right for THAT time, and helped me solve what I needed to at that exact time. It's not that we did A, B, and C, but that it was custom-made to my process and my path and my journey.
I really enjoyed the visual journaling, and the mind mapping, and all kinds of other things we've done.
Thanks so much for sharing your insights and your work, Mioko! I always love speaking with you, and can't wait to see where your work leads you next!
Don't forget to connect with Mioko to keep up to date about her latest projects and adventures!