Design, Activism & Being a Conscious Creator
Grace Kress | Design, Activism & Being a Conscious Creator
Bristol-based Artist and Activist Grace Kress uses design and her art to create social change. She’s passionate about how the environments we live in can shape our work, and our outlook on life. Grace grew up in a communal house and attributes her upbringing in a large deal to why she sees the world the way she does and how she navigates it. Grace explores her own values in relation to conscious creation, how her work aims to bring about social change and what mental tricks she uses to be an effective creator. Grace is a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and workshop facilitator, with a focus on art and activism.
“Change your own ‘world’ before going out and changing the wider world. You must enact change within yourself before you can act them out in the world. ”
Key Highlights
0:30 Conscious creation is being connected, to yourself and the wider world.
1:45 Maya Angelou on connection “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
2:00 Must enact change within yourself before you can act them out unto the world. Change your own ‘world’ before going out and changing the wider world.
3:00 Recognising your own values.
✏️ Exercise to explore your own values - How do your values impact the work you do?Grace’s Top Values
- Community – linking it back to my upbringing living in a commune
- Activism – living with immigrants and reversed gender roles
- Creativity – from a really young age I witnessed the power of creativity
- Positivity – linked to my outlook on life, the difficulty of social campaigns
- Education – living in a diverse community growing up, stronger togetherMy parents took me to political meetings. The creativity of banner sparked my creativity and as a child, those were the things I could relate too.
Inspiration: The Art of Revolution and Artists Manifesto
“The role of the artist is the make the revolution irresistible” - Toni Cade Bambara
“It can be scary and daunting. A win or learn attitude is the most beautiful outlook to have.”
10:00 The Personal is the Political
12:30 Location is really important. Consider where your work is going to live. Is it portable? How will people interact with it? Can you bring your work to them? On streets, on their screens…etc?
15:20 Be conscious of your social bubble. -
Don’t forget to out and engage with people face-to-face. Can always follow on online. Community engagement.
19:10 – 21:00 Collaboration with artist friends to pull off a big project.
25:00 “Trust me, I never lose: I either win or learn.” – Tupac Shakur “It can be scary or daunting. Win or learn is the most beautiful outlook to have.”
26:00 If you don’t know what you want to do as a job think about what you would enjoy doing everyday. That’s the first question you need to answer first.
28:00. Impact vs change. Change takes a really long time. But impact can be immediate. You can measure it a lot more easily. So focus on that with your work.
Why be a conscious creator? Focus your energy to make an impact.
“Change takes a really long time.
But impact can be immediate”
💡 Key Lessons
Your values are shaped by your life experiences and they shape to choices you make, the projects you choose to do and the way you choose to conduct yourself. Know your values and review them honestly.
Your social bubble will lift you up or hold you back. Be conscious of the company you keep and the people that influence the way you see the world.
Creating lasting change takes time, but we can create an immediate impact to things that matter to us. We must also start by looking within ourselves to create change on the inside.
💭 Coaching Questions
What is an issue that is close to your heart that you want to make an impact on?
What are the values that shape your life and business decisions?
Who are the people in your social bubble that support you in a positive way?