Alumni Creative Camp

Ideas are Free!
Ideas are vital to a fulfilling life. They prevent our lives from becoming repetitive, and they take us to exciting new places. In this talk, Tina Seelig will show you how to create your own Innovation Engine which will give you concrete tools to jump start your creativity, bringing ingenious new ideas to life.

Presented by
Tina Seelig

Beginner and Intermediate/ Advanced Photo Workshops
Stanford Sierra Camp provides an inspiring setting for these digital photography workshops. Novice photographers will learn creative techniques for getting more out of their cameras with outdoor photographer Forrest Glick. Those with more experience will benefit from working with professional photographer, Joel Simon, who spends approximately five months each year abroad on assignments representing over 100 countries and destinations.

Whether a point-and-shoot camera, or experienced photographer with a DSLR, these workshops will get your creative juices flowing. Both groups will begin in the classroom, but quickly move to the outdoors to explore the principals of composition, lighting, and perspective. Benefitting from the near-instant feedback of digital equipment, we will "slow down" to become more comfortable with the settings on our cameras and develop techniques for discovering inspiration along the shores of Fallen Leaf Lake.

Presented by
Joel Simon & Forrest Glick

Design Thinking Tools to Tap Your Creativity
Participants will tackle a design challenge in small teams, learning the prototyping approach designers use to solve problems. We will explore how this essential aspect of the design process can act as a catalyst for creativity and innovation in many different contexts, from personal to work-related. In subsequent sessions we will focus on additional mindsets and skills of the design thinking process, such as empathy and ideation.

Design thinking focuses on asking the right questions, challenging assumptions, generating a range of possibilities, and learning through targeted stages of iterative prototyping. It engenders a sense of creative confidence that is both resilient and highly optimistic. David Kelley, founder of design consultancy IDEO and Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, says, "My contribution is to teach as many people as I can to use both sides of their brain, so that for every problem, every decision in their lives, they consider creative as well as analytical solutions."

Presented by Leticia Britos Cavagnaro & Rich Cox

Finding Your Mark*
Nothing is more easily available as a subject than the self. While this workshop will revolve around the self-portrait, we will not focus on capturing your physical likeness. Instead, we will explore the other facets and expressions of who you are. Significant memories, where you are from or live, and personality traits will be starting points for a self portrait, with experimentations in visual languages, individual mark making, mixed-media and conceptual design. Alternative drawing and painting techniques will be introduced including collage, image transfers and the use of masking and transparencies. Play and experimentation will be at the center of this work.

*Participants are invited to bring "source" materials to the workshop. This could include personal images or photographs, found objects or surfaces (like handmade paper, an old book, a piece of wood, etc.) that can be used as inspiration, collage material, or the surface upon which the work will be made. Basic materials will be provided so students can show up with just their curiosity and imaginations.

Presented by
Lordy Rodriguez & Julie Chang

Improv Studio
The Improv Studio provides tools that will free you from blocks and open the endless well of ideas inside you. Improv is a pure form of creativity and collaborative storytelling that is fun and playful. Applied improv uses the improv theater art form as a set of learning tools that requires no previous training or acting. Quick wit, cleverness, and being funny are not required or encouraged. In a low-risk, high-impact environment, we will apply these techniques as a means to develop communication, collaboration and creativity skills.

Presented by
Leticia Britos Cavagnaro & Rich Cox

Body UP/Liquid Flow!
Combining Dance Improvisation, yoga and Tai Chi to spring into full creative expression each morning, participants will experience the joy of fluid, juicy movement and playful dancing, with freedom and ease.

Presented by
Aleta Hayes