The Importance of Play
Nova Bronstein Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 2:00PM 
Remember that fearless approach to exploration that you had when you were little and attempting something new? You didn’t think about it. You just proudly marched forward. You know what I’m talking about. That fearless exploration where you just started something without making judgements. That initial questioning about whether or not you were finding success with your explorations did not enter into the equation. Now, think about your approach to something new today. No, really! One of the most difficult things to do as an adult is to allow yourself to try new things with the freedom to make mistakes.
Channeling that beautifully naïve approach to tackling something new can be the key that unlocks the door to discovery! Yeah, sure, you are running the risk of failure. You are also broaching a path of discovery that could uncover what may become your best work! You won’t know if you don’t just dive in and try.
There is increasing evidence as to the importance of allowing room for failure. A book by Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, offers support for the power of “unnecessary obstacles that we choose to overcome”, which is how McGonigal defines a game. She explores how video games teach us valuable lessons like setting high goals and being willing to withstand failure, especially while working towards a goal. A large part of this is the desire to approach a difficult task or problem that you enjoy resolving. Doing this fosters attributes such as curiosity and optimism which promote U-stress (the positive kind) and trickle down into your daily life.
Listen to the NPR interview:
Now, ever the jeweler, let's put this in a jewelry/maker context. As a maker you seek to either improve or expand your modes of making, right? And as an adult who “makes” you have pretty high standards for yourself. You do, don't you? So when you seek to improve or expand what you already know you pretty much expect to get everything working for you, right? Looking “successful” pretty much right away is the subliminal expectation.
To best discover how to work with a new material takes trial and error. This means lots of errors with fine tuning in between until things really start to click.
Well, imagine that every time you tried a new technique or a new material you made a point of trying to get it to do something for you that you didn't already know it could do. This is basically applying the game tactic. Would you still expect “success” immediately? So, say you venture into something and it doesn't work. How soon do you stop? Do you see it through to the end? Do you attempt another experiment, or do you revert to something with a more predictable outcome?
I invite you to venture into the territory where things may fail. If you want to create something unique, something uniquely YOURS then you should do this. You should push yourself to try things that might not work out. This is where the greatest discovery happens!
How to apply this? As an adult this is very unappealing if not down-right aggravating to think about making this way. Doesn't being an adult mean that when things don't work out well that you don't continue trying to do them? Well, yes and no. In the beginning of something new, it's extremely important to allow room for discoveries. This means putting the brakes on negative judgments.
Now, if from the outset you judge the progress you are making and stop working on projects which do not unfold the way you hope they will, you'll very likely cut off an exploration that's likely to reveal something to you. Something that works, that you didn't think would, or a combination of elements you weren't sure about. These tidbits, even if no bigger discoveries were made will feed into both your personal aesthetic and your understanding of making.
Imagine you got rewarded simply for trying things, just for experimenting, or even better, actually rewarded for failing. Try doing things that seem weird, then after you have started, try to make it something that looks good to your eye. This is a great way to kick start a new way of looking at or approaching something known. Pick a technique that frustrates you because of the constraints of it. Like for example the super geometric and solid, band-like look of Right-Angle Weave. Try to create a sample using Right-Angle Weave as a base that breaks out of these constraints. To do this effectively one should understand Right-Angle Weave first. Suck it up and deal that you might not like the contained look and get it down. Once that is done, then you can go to town trying to convert, distort, break-up the look and effect of this technique.
When you do this, you are likely to find something that is uniquely yours! Learn the conventions, then break them!!
Interested in making some of your own smashing jewelry? As a jewelry design instructor at the Sheffield School in New York, I encourage you to take the matter of making into your own hands! Check out the newly launched Jewelry Design Course offered at the Sheffield School. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any other school in the world.
- Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.
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