Curiosity, Creativity, Science & Art

“The experiment I am living right now is: can you use that storytelling of science in art, to give it extra dimension, with the goal of inducing…people to explore and learn…to be more curious?” ~ Soren Meibom

Soren Meibom, scientist turned visual artist, situates himself at the intersection of curiosity, creativity, art and science. His work blends the techniques of visual arts with the tools of science: data, formulae, charts, and graphs…. His unique combination – what he calls “SciArt” – seeks to trigger our curiosity and ignite our joy of discovery.

Now that I have realized the existence of curiosity [in myself}, I am starting to learn how complicated a topic it is and I am thinking deliberately about how I can call [it] forth.

Choose to be Curious · Ep. #215: Curiosity, Creativity, Science & Art: "SciArt" with Soren Meibom

Listen to Choose to be Curious #215: Curiosity, Creativity, Science & Art: “Sci Art” with Soren Meibom

Soren, the highly-educated professional astrophysicist, has only recently come to think of himself as curious. I think he’s not alone in this regard, so I appreciate his willingness to articulate his emerging appreciation of what curiosity offers him — and the rest of us. Now, he’s off working to use this combination of art and science can help unleash curiosity in all of us. 

Pretty cool.

Check out Soren Meibom: sorenmeibom.com

Soren is artist in residence with the Global Curiosity Institute, working with founder and CEO Stefaan van Hooydonk. I had a great conversation with Stefaan about diagnosing curiosity in the workplace.

Want to learn more about the Center on Longevity and that New Life Map? Check them out here.

I really enjoyed and learned a great deal about storytelling (of all sorts…) from George Saunders‘ book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. Passage used with permission of the author.

Hungry for more on curiosity, creativity and art? Try these from the C2BC archive: AJ Smith on Creativity; Rebecca Kamen on Curiosity, Creativity & Dyslexia and Reimagining Scientific Discovery;  Andi Cullins on Blending & Normalizing; Crys Matthews on the Courage of our Questions; Bryan Jernigan on Curiosity & Color; Erin Foreman-Murray on Dance and Embodied Curiosity.

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Celestial Navigation” by Aeronaut, via Blue Dot Sessions.

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on Apple Podcasts and now on Spotify. 

Wear your curiosity on your sleeve. Check out the Choose to be Curious shop.

Curiosity & Genealogy: The Stories We Tell

“What I know how to do well is follow an information trail. And that’s where people usually trip up. They just don’t go far enough.” ~ Jennifer Mendelsohn

We tell stories to ourselves, and to one another. 

We tell stories to entertain, to educate, to enlighten, to indoctrinate. Some stories are heartwarming. Some are designed to dissemble, others to hurt. 

All seek to connect — some one, to some thing, in some way.

Journalist and genealogist Jennifer Mendelsohn likes to make those connections. She helps rediscover and tell stories that might otherwise be lost. Jennifer specializes in helping Eastern European Jewish families shattered by the Holocaust reclaim their history. In 2022, she co-founded the DNA Reunion Project at the Center for Jewish History, which seeks to promote DNA testing as a tool for helping Holocaust survivors find family.

Her curiosity practices have deep journalistic roots and she’d be the first to tell you: it’s not magic.

And then I think, “What made me say that?” And I always make myself go head to toe and figure out the details that made me come to that conclusion.

Choose to be Curious · Ep. #214: Curiosity & Genealogy: The Stories We Tell, with Jennifer Mendelsohn

Listen to Choose to be Curious #214: Curiosity & Genealogy: The Stories We Tell, with Jennifer Mendelsohn

Find Jennifer Mendelsohn on Facebook and The Association of Professional Genealogists. 

If you liked this episode, you might enjoy finding out what became of my husband’s grandfather and my conversation with storyteller Ronald Young, Jr.

Check out this great story about Jennifer’s work in The Washington Post, December 2023.

Help Holocaust survivors find family through the DNA Research Project at the Center for Jewish History.

Read up on narrative psychology and master narratives, from Jonathan M. Adler, at Olin College.

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Homegrown” by The Pine Barrens, via Blue Dot Sessions.

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on Apple Podcasts and now on Spotify. 

Wear your curiosity on your sleeve. Check out the Choose to be Curious shop.

Poetry: Curiosity Emerging

“Curiosity is not so much the practice, as the writing is the practice.” ~ David Keplinger

If you think poetry isn’t your thing, spend some time with David Keplinger.

David is the author of eight books of poetry and a professor at American University, in Washington, DC. We got to know one another through a humanities workgroup that was looking at how curiosity might be more effectively woven into the fabric of life at AU. He was a warm and profoundly thoughtful participant in the group — one of my favorites.

His new book, Ice, starts with the melting permafrost in Siberia, which has begun to reveal the bodies of 40,000 year old animals, from the last Ice Age.

The poems about frozen animals segue into poems about our own bodies under the “ice of forgetting”—and how the light of poetry, for him, melted that ice away and helped him remember.

“I’m always thinking about the material, and how the visual, oral, and rhetorical qualities of the form are in conversation. And eventually you hit it and you just know: that’s the one.”

Choose to be Curious · Ep. #213: Poetry: Curiosity Emerging, with David Keplinger

Listen to Choose to be Curious #213: Poetry: Curiosity Emerging, with David Keplinger

Joanna Macy, an environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism, wrote: “Keep watch for David Keplinger. His poems, with their exquisite immediacy and valor, confront us with what we need to see: our intimate part in the fate of our planet. Yet even in the anguish, we experience the beauty of it, and feel a kind of redemption in the truth telling.”

”Confronting us with what we need to see” feels to me like an ultimate invitation to the practice of curiosity, pushing aside what we want to see, or have been told to see, and resting with our full attention on what really is, finding the redemptive balm of truth telling. 

It is what David calls “the mixed experience of mourning and wonder.”

I spent a weekend immersed in Ice. I think you’ll see why.

Find David Keplinger’s work here: http://www.davidkeplingerpoetry.com

Listen to my first conversation with David on Solitude. 

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Snow Melt” by Glacier Quarter, Araby, via Blue Dot Sessions.

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on Apple Podcasts and now on Spotify. 

Wear your curiosity on your sleeve. Check out the Choose to be Curious shop.

Slow Down

Happy 2024, friends! I hope the new year is landing gently for you.

I thought it would be nice to kick things off not in overdrive, but in a conversation about taking our curiosity out for a leisurely ride, and I figured Justine Ickes was just the person for it.

Justine is an instructional designer, facilitator, trainer, and ICF-certified coach. She has a special place in my heart because she’s been the source of inspiration for more than a few of my guests and topics. 

As I hoped and imagined, the lines between her gig as a coach and her joy as a creative are blurry, at best. It was, perhaps more than anything else, a conversation about reframing.

Okay, you’re calling it a problem. What else might it be if you didn’t call it a problem?

Choose to be Curious · Ep. #212: Slow Down, with Justine Ickes

Listen to Choose to be Curious #212: Slow Down, with Justine Ickes

Here are some of Justine Ickes’ tips and tricks for a re-set and slowing down:

Start with something small – Settle in, give yourself time to ease into whatever it is you’re doing next. Justine has taken classes with Esté MacLeod, who likes to start with asemic writing, sketching, and mixing colors. Justine likes to do simple things with paper, like easy origami, or meditative mandalas.

Meditation – Meditation is the focused pause that refreshes. I start my mornings with the Headspace app, but you don’t need anyone to guide you. Just close your eyes, focus on your breath, and let go of the rest.

Noticing – Rob Walker has a delight-filled book, newsletter and website all called The Art of Noticing, which will have you looking at people on the subway and your own socks differently. Justine counts on her tree guide to help her notice the dormant trees around her in winter. Once you start noticing, it’s hard to stop…and it’s hard to go fast.

Pruning – Lean in to “less is more”. Justine wrote about “disbudding” to manage energy and literally help flowers bloom. I had a terrific conversation with engineer Leidy Klotz about his book Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less. Jusine likes the creative focus of limitations on her art; try just using blue, or only working with curvy lines. What new emerges when you prune back?

Self-Awareness – Self-awareness just keeps coming up! Andres Marquez-Lara talked about it just a week ago and (spoiler alert!) ultra-trail runner Addie Bracy will do so as well in an upcoming show. Justine says you have to be willing to ask yourself the hard questions; coaches can help you do that. Get to know what brings you back to re-set.

Sobremesa – Literally “over the table” in Spanish, this is a cultivated cultural appreciation for kicking back and having a conversation after a meal. No more eat and run. Find your own rituals that help you slow down.

Build in your own mental resets – Justine and I have a mutual friend who likes to read a new Pema Chodron book each year; Justine has her sights on Don Quixote. Much to my surprise, I’ve found Malcolm Gladwells’ audiobook  Miracle & Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon relaxing, inspiring and affirming, even after about six listens. Put reading and your other breaks into your schedule so you’ll honor them.

And don’t forget: we’re all learners here. As Justine says, “You are allowed to have learning aids on this curiosity journey!”

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Slow Toe” by K4, via Blue Dot Sessions.

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on Apple Podcasts and now on Spotify. 

Wear your curiosity on your sleeve. Check out the Choose to be Curious shop.