Everyday Genius

From Henry Darger's elaborate paintings of young girls caught in a vicious war to the sacred art of the Reverend Howard Finster, the work of outsider artists has achieved unique status in the art world. Celebrated for their lack of traditional training and their position on the fringes of society, outsider artists nonetheless participate in a traditional network of value, status, and money. After spending years immersed in the world of self-taught artists, Gary Alan Fine presents Everyday Genius, one of the most insightful and comprehensive examinations of this network and how it confers artistic value. Fine considers the differences among folk art, outsider art, and self-taught art, explaining the economics of this distinctive art market and exploring the dimensions of its artistic production and distribution. Interviewing dealers, collectors, curators, and critics and venturing into the backwoods and inner-city homes of numerous self-taught artists, Fine describes how authenticity is central to the system in which artists—often poor, elderly, members of a minority group, or mentally ill—are seen as having an unfettered form of expression highly valued in the art world. Respected dealers, he shows, have a hand in burnishing biographies of the artists, and both dealers and collectors trade in identities as much as objects. Revealing the inner workings of an elaborate and prestigious world in which money, personalities, and values affect one another, Fine speaks eloquently to both experts and general readers, and provides rare access to a world of creative invention-both by self-taught artists and by those who profit from their work. “Indispensable for an understanding of this world and its workings. . . . Fine’s book is not an attack on the Outsider Art phenomenon. But it is masterful in its anatomization of some of its contradictions, conflicts, pressures, and absurdities.”—Eric Gibson, Washington Times

Leadership begins from within. It is defined by a mindset, rather than a title or role. Leadership that stems from deep self-knowledge is magnetic, dynamic and authentic. The challenge is knowing how to access the genius within each of us and find peace through self-knowledge so that we can embody true leadership and management. When we accomplish this, leading feels easy and natural. Others follow and engage because the genuine connection that humans crave happens when we achieve alignment within ourselves. This leadership coaching book provides a map to achieving a peaceful leadership mindset. Whether you want to improve your ability to lead teams or simply want a grounded approach to navigating the world around you, this book provides insights and tools to help you find your way. This incredible self-help book is perfect for exp

This groundbreaking work identifies the traits common to everyday geniuses and offers a revolutionary new measurement tool to assess unconventional intelligence.

Facilitating Genius: Illuminating Brilliance in Your Organization is a practical guide for leaders, executives, facilitators, and coaches on the art and science of creative problem-solving. This book is the product of 10+ years of research and the lessons learned from providing professional services to clients from private, public, and non-profit organizations. In Facilitating Genius, the author draws on his experience as a certified facilitator and leadership coach. He briefly introduces the theory of multiple intelligences, shares 25 short vignettes of genius achievement, and offers four case studies where the reader can then test their problem-solving skills as they "consult" with the geniuses revealed in this book. Readers are encouraged to identify the type of "smarts" they possess and can easily do so by way of the links provided in this book. Each of the eight intelligences are defined and at least three representative geniuses for each type are offered in this text. This book is well illustrated and has quotes and prompts embedded into each of the 25 sample stories of extraordinary achievement. And as an added bonus there are worksheets provided for the reader to use individually or in small groups within his or her organization.

An Inc. Magazine business book bestseller: “Positive, insightful, and generous, this book will go a long way in helping you realize that genius is a choice” (Seth Godin). WHAT’S YOUR GENIUS? Forget what you think you know about genius. It’s not a magical, elusive gift — a “lightning bolt from the gods” that strikes people like Einstein or Mozart, but not the rest of us. Everyone’s got genius, but it’s up to you to find it, put it to work, and watch it change your life. This book will show you how to: IDENTIFY YOUR GENIUS Where do your passions and your talents meet? EXPRESS YOUR GENIUS What’s your story, and how do you share it with others? SURROUND YOUR SELF WITH GENIUS Who do you need in your tribe? SUSTAIN YOUR GENIUS How do you feed and care for your genius? MARKET YOUR GENIUS Why are your contradictions actually your largest competitive advantage? The outcome is a profound revelation: You have the tools and ability to realize greatness both in and out of the workplace.

This publication was written in the belief that Leonardo's study of his natural surroundings, his advanced perceptual skills and his continued interest in learning, all played a significant role in developing his creativity. He challenged established mindsets with the conviction that all earthly things are connected. He spent years observing nature's secrets ,documenting his observations and the creative thinking that resulted. While much has been written about Leonardo's incredible scientific discoveries, his futuristic inventions and his great works of art, we fail to realize that Leonardo da Vinci developed incredible creative thinking that needs to be understood and applied in this new creative paradigm where creative ideas are the currency of the future.

When New Mexico became an alternative cultural frontier for avant-garde Anglo-American writers and artists in the early twentieth century, the region was still largely populated by Spanish-speaking Hispanos. Anglos who came in search of new personal and aesthetic freedoms found inspiration for their modernist ventures in Hispano art forms. Yet, when these arrivistes elevated a particular model of Spanish colonial art through their preservationist endeavors and the marketplace, practicing Hispano artists found themselves working under a new set of patronage relationships and under new aesthetic expectations that tied their art to a static vision of the Spanish colonial past. In A Contested Art, historian Stephanie Lewthwaite examines the complex Hispano response to these aesthetic dictates and suggests that cultural encounters and appropriation produced not only conflict and loss but also new transformations in Hispano art as the artists experimented with colonial art forms and modernist trends in painting, photography, and sculpture. Drawing on native and non-native sources of inspiration, they generated alternative lines of modernist innovation and mestizo creativity. These lines expressed Hispanos’ cultural and ethnic affiliations with local Native peoples and with Mexico, and presented a vision of New Mexico as a place shaped by the fissures of modernity and the dynamics of cultural conflict and exchange. A richly illustrated work of cultural history, this first book-length treatment explores the important yet neglected role Hispano artists played in shaping the world of modernism in twentieth-century New Mexico. A Contested Art places Hispano artists at the center of narratives about modernism while bringing Hispano art into dialogue with the cultural experiences of Mexicans, Chicanas/os, and Native Americans. In doing so, it rewrites a chapter in the history of both modernism and Hispano art. Published in cooperation with The William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University

Based on studies by behavioural researcher Eugene Gendlin, this volume explains how to tap into a form of emotional intelligence that takes the form of an inner genius phenomenon. It is said to be an unconscious talent, normally latent in most humans.