Pass It On: Lessons In Giving

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Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr

Sculpture by David Deming

David Deming, Sculptor and past President of the Cleveland Institute of Art, shares stories of passing it on - sharing life's gifts that come to those who create work woven with wisdom, hope, caring, and compassion. As an educator, David's philosophy is to expose people to the power of creativity.

David describes a personal story of unexpected generosity that helped shape his career. As a practicing artist and well-known sculptor of busts and contemporary figures, he's made social connections to people whom he might not ordinarily have met through his work.

This is in a large part because of his interest in connecting with people and a preference to have his art lived with - in someone's home or yard - rather than confined to the isolation of an artist's studio. 

Pass it On: Lessons in Giving from I-Open on Vimeo.

Learn from the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

Leading and Creating - a set on Flickr

David Deming, Sculptor and President of the Cleveland Institute of Art, contributed an interview to I-Open research about his work leading and creating.

The images tell the story of David as an artist, who with steadfast creativity, shapes the three-dimensional likeness of an inner soul with a personal signature that is warm and generous.

But between the stories of leadership and the re-making of spirits with tools and earth, lies the secret to innovation: creativity.

What can we learn from the disciplined habits of creatives? The efficiency? The destructionism? What can we learn from the doers who blindly transform ideas to projects feeling their way forward, to re-create education and re-wire government?

Be alert to the sights and sounds of creativity around you - these jewels, the assets that reside in every community and the most valuable of all social and economic investments to prosperity building.

Photos and their narratives by Alice Merkel

Listen to a series of interviews on
Livestream
Vimeo
You Tube

Learn more about the Cleveland Institute of Art

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA