Local Northern Rivers artist Zom Osborne has been teaching art journaling for some years, and she’s found that it’s an ideal way for students to open up to their individual creativity.  Her next workshop is on November 9, so if you’ve been wondering how to unleash your inner artist this could be just the thing…

“There is no such thing as a person who is not creative. It is one of the innate qualities of being human. The common idea that some people are born creative and others aren’t is ridiculous,” says Osborne firmly, talking of how she came to create the idea of art journaling classes.

Osborne,  who has shown in Sydney, Brisbane and throughout the Northern Rivers has also been teaching art journaling classes for the last five years, an art form she defines as “the love child of mixed media art and journaling.” It involves paints, collage, doodling and writing, and is one of her best tools to help people open to their creativity.

“The world needs all forms of creativity, new ideas and new ways of seeing and doing,” says Zom. “We need everyone’s creativity in whatever form and field it arises.” Osborne has also observed that creativity has benefits for the individual. “Being creative builds self-trust,” she says. “It also brings joy, healing, excitement and play and contributes to a sense of purpose. It lessens cravings for material things as our natural desire to create brings fulfillment. And learning how to access your inspiration strengthens intuition.”

Artist Zom Osborne: Teaching creativity

Osborne is leading a workshop called Secrets to Creativity where she will share what she has learned over 22 years of being an artist. The workshop will show how creativity works, how to call in more inspiration, what slows creativity and what stops it completely.  “I call it Secrets of Creativity because much of what I reveal is counter to how we have been taught to do things in our daily lives,” explains Osborne. “My creativity expanded exponentially once I discovered these ‘rules’. The namecame  from students telling me that my classes have changed their life, although of course it isn’t really my classes that have done this, but them opening to their own creativity.”

Art journaling helped Osborne develop from a techncally skillful artist into a creative one. “My own perfectionism was stifling my creativity,” she says,  “but I didn’t realise it at the time. Art journaling was the tool that helped to free my inspiration and make me a better artist, and once my creativity began to really open it brought me many unexpected joys and blessings. I was able to bring a synopsis of what I had learned into six secrets of creativity. That is what I teach in the workshop. We learn and experience these ‘laws’ which are quite different from how we approach other things in our lives. They can be rather counter-intuitive.  I wanted to create the workshop that I wish I could have taken 20 years ago. It would have made a big difference to my life!”

‘Creativity will Change your Life’ is happening through the Byron Regional Community College over two consecutive Sundays, November and November 16 in Mullumbimby. Studentds can register through the College: enrol.byroncollege

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