Mind Mapping: Beyond Brainstorming

Join us for a creative problem solving workshop with Artist Arūnas Ošlapas at Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts & Agriculture on October 17th, from 4 - 6 p.m.

We all want to be creative, innovative, and original. Mind Mapping is a technique to help increase the effectiveness of our current creative process, can guide us past those roadblocks, and permit us to create more usable alternatives.

Mind mapping uses associations to track and record our stream of thoughts in a short period of time without any initial editing. Mind Mapping can be used for organizing information, generating new ideas and seeing things differently, among other applications. Evaluation takes place after the ‘map’ is completed which expands our creative power and minimizes creative roadblocks caused by editing information or making judgements too early. In essence, Mind Maps are an external 'photograph' of the complex interrelationships of our thoughts at any given time.

This workshop will introduce the concept of Mind Mapping to participants, in addition to other creative exercises, capturing flashes of insight and get those ideas flowing!

This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited so registration is required.

More about the Artist:

Arūnas Oslapas has taught Industrial Design at Western Washington University since 1991 torturing his students with solving the world’s problems. In order to maintain his academic sanity, he weaves metal baskets and pieces together scrap metal quilts that are sold at nationally juried art festivals across the country. For color inspiration he raids his wife’s fabric stash (she is a fabulous fabric quilter) and keeps her prized swatches hidden in his studio. When things get too rainy, they pack up the family and head south of the border to dry out. He got a few degrees from Montana State University and the University of Illinois. Prior to teaching, Arunas worked for Haworth designing office furniture, a Chicago architectural firm designing the built environment, and has consulted on many products from carbon fiber snowshoes to children’s museum exhibits. Arūnas recently retired from the academic world and is further tuning his artistic voice and training his growing army of creative grandchildren.

Host or Publisher Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts & Agriculture