Interview with Tom Kapanka, administrator of Calvary Christian Schools, a K-12 school
- Your own definition of creativity
Taking work that didn't exist and put them in a form. Creativity is acting out in sensory expressions – visual, audible, all senses... abstract thoughts into concrete.
- What are some creative projects you have done recently?
The most recent thing I built – was for camping where you empty the toilet of the trailer. The bottom side of the trailer there are hollow spaces – I built something that is hinged and drops down like a ladder from an attic, but instead the 15 gallon honey pot comes down the ramp and helps empty the honey pot. Solutions starting from scratch and creatively making a solution work. I get a sense of satisfaction from that. Sometimes I like to write poems or blogs as well.
- What is your creative process
I'll sketch out something that I have to make and go to a building material store and just walk around and look for something that will work for what I am trying to build. Usually I use a part for a purpose it was not intended for. It is fun. In a lot of my writing there is a sense of nostalgia. Like when my mom passed away, I wrote a lot.
- How do you make something beyond ordinary, but make it elegant and well-crafted?
Make sure you don't consider perfection the standard or goal. I have this collection of walking sticks that I have picked up over the years. Almost all of them have something unusual and special about them. Imperfections in the sticks make them unique and interesting. That is similar to us – as humans we aren't perfect, but our quirks and imperfections make us interesting and unique. Well crafted – it has to endure and be sturdy. Is it going to hold up to the task? Also writing can be well crafted – the structure gramatically, tools of language, alliteration, for example.
- How do you decide whether something is aesthetically pleasing or not?
There are some forms of art that they don't care what others think and no criticism will make them alter it one bit. But I like to know if someone else gets it and appreciates it. If I were a painter I would not be abstract. I don't prefer that way of art. I want to talk to others and see how they see it and makes them feel – whether writing or painting. It has to connect to other humans in the intended way you wanted.