Spark Your Creative Coach

It's time for 👇🏽

✨Spark Your Creative Coach's Corner ✨

Check out the coaching question about procrastination and tips about dealing with it this week. Because every creative journey comes with questions!

Whether you're rediscovering creativity at midlife, starting something new, or looking for ways to stay inspired, this series is for you.

Scroll left to see how you can get additional support on your creative journey.

DM me: What's a creative question you've been wrestling with lately?

✨Spark Your Creative Coach's Corner ✨

Check out today's coaching question and tips for this week. Because every creative journey comes with questions!

Whether you're rediscovering creativity at midlife, starting something new, or looking for ways to stay inspired, this series is for you.

Scroll left to see this week's question, tips and how you can get additional support on your creative journey.

DM me: What's a creative question you've been wrestling with lately?

Yesterday I participated in Maryland Citizens for the Arts Maryland Arts Summit and co-presenting with Aimee Olivo Executive Director of Art Works Now on the topic "Creative Aging in Action: Strategies for Engaging Older Adults Through the Arts."

Our interactive workshop introduced arts organizations to the concept and value of creative aging programming and provides research-based insights into its benefits through the experience of Art Works Now (AWN) My portion of this presentation was from the point of view of a Teacher Artist, which I have served in this capacity with AWN for three years. Aimee provided a overall view of AWN's outreach and tips for working with older adults.

AWN is a Hyattsville, Maryland based, 501 C3 non-profit organization who through the Lifetime Arts and The National Guild for Community Arts Education learned best practices for serving students who are 55 years of age and better. Based on this learning, they developed the Creative Aging Program (CAP), a free weekly sequential arts program designed to serve older adults (55+) seeking arts learning that connects them to a creative network of peers,
while also supporting their physical, mental, and emotional wellness.

The Maryland Arts Summit is a statewide conference presented by Maryland Citizens for the Arts and for the Maryland arts sector, which includes, but is not limited to: Arts Advocates, Arts Educators & Teaching Artists, Independent Artists, Arts Organizations, Youth, Community Stakeholders, Arts, and Entertainment Districts, County Arts Agencies of Maryland, Public Artists, Boards of Directors, and Folklife Artists.

It was a great opportunity to share strategies about working with older adults through creativity to such an enthuasitic audience.

Special thanks to the Maryland Citizens For The Arts for inviting us to present.

Today I celebrate another trip around the sun, and my heart is filled with gratitude. I not only do I celebrate my birthday but I also share it with my twin sister Sankofa Mixed Media Studio and younger brother Jonathan Burton (yes it is true!)🎉✨

As I reflect on this birthday, I am thankful for the opportunity to live a creative life and to help others do the same. Being a teacher artist and creativity coach has allowed me to witness the transformative power of creativity in so many lives—from older adults discovering new passions to artists reconnecting with their creative spark.

Each workshop, coaching session, conversation, and creative experience reminds me that it is never too late to create, grow, and bloom. I am grateful for every student, client, colleague, friend, and family member who has been part of this journey.

This year, I look forward to continuing to inspire creativity, encourage curiosity, and champion the belief that creativity is a gift we can nurture at every age.

Thank you for being part of my creative community and for supporting my mission to help others spark, reignite, and sustain their creativity.

Here's to another year of creating, learning, sharing, and blooming. 🌻🎨💜

One of the simplest ways to spark creativity is to become an observer.

Today, take a few moments to notice the world around you. Listen to the rhythm of conversations in a coffee shop, the sound of birds outside your window, or the hum of a busy street. Observe colors, patterns, textures, and the way light moves across a room.

These small details can become inspiration for a painting, poem, story, song, collage, or creative solution to a problem.

Creativity doesn't always begin with making something. Often, it begins with noticing something.

What is one sight and one sound you noticed today that you normally would have overlooked?

See where your observations lead your imagination.