Virginia C. Green, Ph.D.
Creativity Unwrapped is for the artists and healing artists among us who have actually finished something, or come close to it, and then put it away, unobserved. It is for those of us whose first really big canvas is rolled up under the bed. Those of us whose illustrated memoir of their experience of surviving breast cancer and how it drew their family together is sitting beautifully tied up with ribbon on the shelf. Those of us whose CD, well mastered and studio quality, sits in a box of a hundred in the garage. Those of us whose gorgeous head shots are in the linen cupboard behind the guest towels somewhere.
The Artists in Waiting.
Creativity Unwrapped:
\ Leads artists to understand the psychological strengths they already possess for promoting their creativity, and where they might need some help.
\ Guides artists into a closer relationship with their audience in ways that will make their work more responsive without sacrificing creativity and innovation.
\ Helps artists to discover their innate entrepreneurial abilities and use them to show their work.
\ Teaches artists how to befriend a calculator, to build a creative business plan, to price their work, to design an idea that is inspiring and efficient.
\ Gives detailed and practical information about advertising, networking, public relations, and other forms of communication, reminding the artist that everyone in these professions is an artist, too.
\ Provides reflection on the value of play, rest, legacy, and giving back in the creative process.
\ Incorporates a spiritual dimension into the artistic entrepreneurial process in an ecumenical and inspiring way.
About the Author
Virginia C. Green, PhD, has spent over twenty years in executive sales and marketing positions in the fashion industry. She ran the $400 million jewelry and make up new product divisions for Avon Products. She introduced the Yves Saint Laurent Jewelry license in the US, and later managed designers and advertising creatives at Monet Jewelers, a $250 million company. As an industry consultant, she was part of the brand reinvention teams for Coach and Banana Republic, turning languishing businesses into billion dollar enterprises.
She has worked with many of the major direct selling companies, from start-up to turn around. She created the Princess House University, using many of the ideas contained in Creativity Unwrapped to train 15,000 Anglo and Hispanic consultants nationwide. Recent projects include the initiation of Touchstones, a DIY bead party concept created for Swarovski, a privately held $2 billion Austrian company.
Dr. Green received her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1993, writing her dissertation on the importance of creativity in counteracting depression. In the mid-nineties, Dr. Green ran a nonprofit day care and adolescent clinic in Long Beach where she provided counseling to gang youth and abused children. She has a private coaching and therapy practice in Southern California where she works with adolescents and their families, and with entrepreneurs. Dr. Green has helped dozens of small businesses (coffee houses, massage therapy practices, yoga studios, hair salons, catering businesses, jewelry designers) create and grow their ideas successfully.
In addition to her PhD, Dr. Green has a Master in Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School. She is on the Board of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and teaches and speaks frequently on the topic of uncovering one’s creative self.
Find some quiet time to take the following quiz, which will give you some insight into your own particular strengths—and more importantly—interests. Since getting your art into the world has to be at least as much fun as creating it in the first place, you need to know what about you makes you the happiest. And you get to be realistic about what is frustrating, scary, even boring to your artist. Then you’ll figure out how to complement your “skillset” with those of your friends and supporters, so you know you don’t have to do it alone.
Pick the answer that works best for you, though you may have an alternate response that works just as well. This is worth noting also, because there are no “right” answers to this quiz, only alternative styles of being.
- Before I go to sleep at night, I am most likely to
- Make a list in my head of all the people I need to call in the morning.
- Read a really interesting biography of someone I admire.
- Read the latest issue of a magazine I subscribe to because it gives me hints about one of my hobbies (i.e., Martha Stewart Living or Popular Mechanics).
- Listen to the new CD my yoga instructor told me about.
- My favorite radio station’s format is:
- Informative, like NPR.
- General current music, not too out there or esoteric.
- I don’t listen to radio. I prefer my iPod.
- The only time I listen to radio is in the car, and I’m usually on my phone.
- When it comes to projects I am engaged in, I:
- Usually complete what I set out to do.
- Begin lots of things, but get distracted or bored before I complete them.
- Work slowly, because I love to be thorough and as accurate as possible.
- Like to get other people involved because it makes it more interesting.
- When I am shopping for a gym, I am most likely to:
- Ask everyone I know which gym they go to and how they feel about it.
- Visit a few gyms, get a tour, and speak to the people that work there.
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