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Fall '22 INT 310:Creativity Project
Professor Ramya Swayamprakash had students in INT 310.01 Creativity
and Innovative Problem Solving create a kolam design, a south Indian
design like chalk painting but with rice flour for their midterm.
Students did this on the walkway in front of Lake Superior Hall.
Students, staff and faculty who walked by were able to watch the
creative process.
Throughout the semester, students had been
considering creativity and innovation through case studies worldwide
and through historical examples. In so doing, they had been critically
evaluating what makes an individual creative or not. A kolam is a
floor pattern usually made with ground rice flour. Originally from
Tamil Nadu, in South India, kolam has passed down generations for
thousands of years wherever the Tamil diaspora went including
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. Traditionally
drawn by women of the family, at least once a day, the kolam is
supposed to bring prosperity to the household. Kolams are very
structured. INT 310 students are studying innovation and creativity in
space and time, applying those insights to innovate and improvise
within the structure of the kolam.
The students did a couple of rounds of iterations on their designs. Students got feedback from Professor Swayamprakash. Students were very receptive to the idea and enjoyed reading about the history of kolams as well as watching videos about how they are made. During the process, they were challenged to work with the medium (wet rice flour and rags) on to the floor. "At the end of the process, they were really impressed by themselves, and so was I", shared Professor Swayamprakash. The students also received feedback from the GVSU Art Gallery as well.
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