THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511220294
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Norma Bradley has a theory of creativity:
``It's an energy that connects the body, mind, emotion and spirit.''
Bradley spends a lot of her time teaching people how to unleash creativity. She brings her ``Freeing Your Creative Spirit'' program to Kitty Hawk on Friday and Saturday.
``Everybody is born with creativity,'' she said in a recent telephone interview from her Asheville home. ``But we're so busy doing left-brain stuff that we forget about the right side.''
Scientists tell us that the left part of the human brain is the thinking part, the part that handles balancing the checkbook, for instance. The right side has more to do with personality.
``This is the part that says what you are,'' Bradley said. ``Not what a book says you are.''
In what Bradley describes as ``a playful, supportive and non-judgmental atmosphere,'' the workshop incorporates music, visual art, writing, drama, dancing and ``whatever comes up in the group'' to help participants rediscover the right side of the brain. It's a way to jump-start the dormant creative process.
``I like things to be spontaneous,'' she said. ``How we create says a lot about our feelings.''
Another way that Bradley helps participants get the creative juices flowing is through art. She has group members paint or mold clay. The finished product says as much about someone as the actual creating process.
``What colors and materials someone uses says something,'' Bradley said. ``I teach people how to read that information.''
Originally from New York, Bradley moved to Asheville in 1980. She holds a master's degree in psychology and expressive art from Vermont College. In 1986, Bradley had a chance to use both sides of her brain in a major way.
That year, the U.S. Department of Energy selected the nearby town of Sandy Mush as a potential site for a high-level waste facility. Bradley and her neighbors wanted no part of it.
She used her artistic expression as a way of making a statement about how the community felt. The result was an ``earth quilt,'' a living artwork that symbolized the earth and the community's connection to it. The peaceful artistic demonstration attracted positive media attention. The dump never came to Sandy Mush.
Since then, Bradley has been invited into numerous towns to work with community members and school children to create similar works of art. She started the creative workshops in 1990.
``My whole theme is building self-esteem,'' she said. ``And knowing ourselves so that we can choose what we want for ourselves and our communities.''
Bradley stresses that her workshops are not just for aspiring or working artists, but are for people seeking the creative self.
``I've seen people who attended a workshop several years ago,'' she said. ``And they say it was a turning point in their lives.'' by CNB