Tag: art

Tapping the Creative – Tesz Milan

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

Creativity is a soulful expression. A spiritual practice, even.

We’ve seen or heard it in visual arts, music, and songs, even in dance. For many centuries, people have used the creative to express spirituality, faith, and belief. It was actually through this that it was passed on to the succeeding generations.

When I encountered this episode’s guest, Tesz Milan, she had left singing for over a decade but she had just finally come into owning that she was creative.

To Tesz, being a creative director for other businesses is very much like a musical—you have a story that you’re telling as a singer and you’re creating that story for others. It was her way of connecting to all of what’s unseen. And she’s using her creative output as a way of drawing that energy and creating things for others to feel that for themselves in whatever shape that is in their lives.

In this podcast, we give light to the realities and practicalities of and around the artistic expression. Behind every awe-inspiring act, work, or sound is a whole being poured in in the process of its creation.

Tesz narrates how at the beginning, when she was starting off as a singer, difficult conversations about compensation and the struggle of finding a balance between that and cultivating the creative.

In places like finance or medicine or these more easily understood professions, we have a concept as a society of how we’re going to compensate for those services, whereas for artists, it’s so tough. So one has to know what they’re going into when venturing to art and the creative as a full-time commitment–it takes a lot of time, energy, perseverance, and courage to continue doing what artists do and not get paid right away.

And as an artist, especially with as quickly as digital has taken over our world in the way that we express and communicate our artistic and creative abilities, putting oneself out there to connect with others has been both challenging and exciting at the same time.

Catch this enlightening “insight from the inside” by Tesz Milan! Only here at the Outer Travel, Inner Journey podcast!

Links mention in the podcast

Pocket Quotes

  • Let me listen to your message. I bridge what you’re trying to communicate to your audience to who you are and what it is that they want and need in their lives. – Tesz Milan
  • Every time I’m being creative, it is a spiritual practice. It’s something that I do to feel connected to all of what’s unseen. And I’m using myself and using my creative output as a way of drawing that energy and creating things for others to feel that for themselves in whatever shape that is in their lives. – Tesz Milan
  • It’s so easy to have dreams and visions, but it’s very hard to bring them into this world and stimulate the subconscious. There’s always a sense that if I say my mantra often enough, I probably am going to get it. But it takes real action to get things down. – Tesz Milan
  • Music is a part of our spiritual makeup or our spiritual being. – Tesz Milan
  • The easiest way for me to feel discouraged is when I don’t feel like what I’m doing is actually reaching anybody. – Tesz Milan

Guest Bio

Tesz Milan, formerly a singer and performer, is a Creative Marketing Director and Copywriter. Her creativity helps businesses communicate their purpose and the value they bring to the world.

Jörg Reckhenrich – Art Thinking for Coaching

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

To this episode’s guest, Jörg Reckhenrich, coaching, and deep self-inquiry can come through art. You can apply and implement art thinking for business, entrepreneurship, everyday problem-solving.

Artists not only create works of art. History has shown the important role they played in shaping our consciousness and environment. Every piece of art will resonate with someone, somewhere. It initiates dialogue and conversations; it stimulates action; it inspires change and growth.

While Jörg is an artist himself and became a gallery owner, he didn’t like art books or theories in his younger days. Observing artworks and going deep into conversations about perceptions was what drew him into this lane. To him, it’s not about the artwork itself, it’s about the resonance of the person who’s looking at that piece of art.

Experiencing the power of art, it became important for Jörg to share it with people and spread positivity. Combining art coaching, positive psychology, and systemic attitude has become his wonderfully pieced together work-of-art to scale learning, education, and leadership.

Coaching through art starts with a free conversation about a general topic before questions are posed. But it’s not like the conventional coaching process—the coach doesn’t always have to be the one who asks and the coachee answers. It’s a multidirectional learning process; from observation to context and real-life questions and problems.

And as the landscape for learning is changing, especially these days, coaching through art has become even more relevant and effective. Especially because in art, it’s not about knowing better, but daring to be out there and just doing it; trying to shift the world with the simplest notion.

Links mention in the podcast

Podcast Highlights

3:00 – 6:47 Discovering his love for art and perceiving art

8:00 – 10:30 Understanding Art for Therapy, Learning, and Leadership

11:00 –  20:10 Coaching Through Art

20:30 – 28:00 Digital Art Solutions for Growth and Empowerment for Young Women of Uganda

Pocket Quotes

  • It’s not about the artwork itself, it’s about the resonance of the person who’s looking at that piece of art. – Jörg Reckhenrich 
  • Many artists, especially visual artists, are incapable of telling about their art. Always start with pure perception and the dialogue will emerge. – Jörg Reckhenrich 
  • Let go of the things why you observe an art piece. The choice you do has so much to do with your own ideas, questions, your involvement. – Jörg Reckhenrich 
  • It’s not about knowing better, but daring to be out there and just doing it. Trying to shift the world with the simplest notion. – Alexandra Kreis.
  • Have the courage to try out before you think too much. If you see and sense something that interests or stimulates you, go for it. Do and make a new experience, and then learn from it. That’s the artist’s way. – Jörg Reckhenrich

Guest Bio

Jörg ReckhenrichJörg Reckhenrich is an artist, systemic consultant, and business coach. He is the founder of PParts, a consultant company that combines positive psychology with Art Thinking. Jörg is a member of the faculty at CEIBS (Zürich Institute of Business Education) and visiting lecturer at IMD Lausanne, London Business School, ESMT, and ESCP Berlin. Reckhenrich has been listed as one of the world’s “top 25 management thinkers” by the journal Business Strategy Review. He is a member and network driver of the BMW Foundation, responsible leader network, and BMW Alumni foundation. He is also a member of the advisory board of the MBA program at the Quadriga University Berlin and holds a permanent teaching position at the coaching and leadership academy, Berlin.

Art and Science – It’s a Tie – Philipa Daria

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

Art and science, indeed, can become one. Daria’s journey tells us that. 

This heartwarming conversation with Philipa Daria Filip traces back the strokes of that interesting moment of discovery of her art. It also dances us to the intricate details of how her artistry has been married to her world of science and philosophy of living sustainably. 

Her moment of truth was that long journey from Poland to Paris—almost like an exposure trip to her unlived childhood days captured in countless photographs in an attempt to vividly store its beauty intangible memory—that went straight to a vernissage. But Daria’s art and science started even way back. 

Although Paris, and its beauty and promise of sustainable living, is the cradle of Daria’s art, her motivation to marry art and science transcends beyond her artistry and this city. It is actually about her philosophy. Inspired by David Rocks’ Quiet Leadership, she lives by the lesson that we don’t learn on a linear curve; it’s more parabolic. We have to focus our attention to make the space to make mistakes until we hit the curve. More like in art. 

Coming from the logical corner—from studying and practicing engineering to teaching math and physics, and coming from a family who did the same—Daria found herself grabbing the camera and pouring out all her artistic side into it as her way of expression. But not only that. It is also her way of communicating details and of teaching science to the public eye. She has brought all these things together and calls it art is science and science is art. 

To Daria, we can use common knowledge to understand the foundational principles (in math, science). And by slowing down and paying attention to the details—not doing shortcuts—we get so much more and higher quality understanding. In a way, sustainable learning. 

Beyond Daria’s mind for details, she leaves an important trick to muster: Know when to focus on the detail and when to be a master of the subject to be able to appreciate and teach it. Know when to pull back and look at the big picture and how all pieces fit together. Not being a specialist in anything and trying to work and teach on it is equally dangerous as being a specialist in just one thing. 

And above all, Daria inspires listeners to apply artistry to life: “Do not be afraid to try something new. Let it flow. Do not be afraid to take a chance.” 

Links mention in the podcast  

Art

Podcast Highlights 

  • With art, I’ve never felt so refreshed and rejuvenated. It further bolstered this concept of arts and science and how it impacts life. – Philipa Daria Filip 
  • The symbol of the delta, which means change, appears everywhere in science. We can use the common knowledge to really understand the foundational principles. By slowing down and really paying attention to the details, not doing shortcuts, you get so much more and higher quality understanding. – Philipa Daria Filip 
  • The trick of life is knowing which quote to follow when. When do we need to focus on the detail and be a master of a subject to be able to appreciate and teach it and when to pull back and look at the big picture and how all pieces fit together. Not being a specialist in anything and trying to work and teach on it is equally dangerous as being a specialist in just one thing. – Philipa Daria Filip 
  • Do not think that you have to choose one or the other. Just dabble in your art or artistry and however, it shows itself. See how that makes you go about your day to day life. You can find ways to combine it. – Alexandra Kreis 
  • Do not be afraid to try something new. Let it flow. Do not be afraid to take a chance. – Philipa Daria Filip 

Guest Bio 

Philipa Daria Filip is a teacher at the American School of Paris. Born in Toronto, Canada and to parents who emigrated to Canada from Poland/Ukraine after WWII, Daria had always longed to revisit her roots and explore Europe. She grew up in a family with an inclination to science—her mother always wanted her to be an engineer. She worked for three years in Western Canada and had a lot of experience working in industrial plants and factories. But in 1998, she switched to teaching math and science in high school and since then taught in different schools until she found her way to the American School of Paris.