Monday Book: Orbiting the Giant Hairball
This is one that Art-Friend-Dustin told and told and told me about, until I finally could stand it no longer and had to read the book myself. I managed to pick it up for a little less than $3 from Amazon’s Used & New area from a Goodwill store. I had no idea how lucky I was, because this little book is worth so much more to anyone in the creative business.
Gordon McKenzie started out as a cartoonist, then found himself on the creative team of Hallmark Cards, the giant-est hairball of giant hairballs. Throughout his 30 years with the business he held several titles, in the end one he made up himself, and still managed to not only retain his creative sensibility, but to help countless of other employees of Hallmark and other enterprises find a child-like sense of freedom beyond the “Hairball.”
I loved reading this book. Each chapter is a new, delightful tale, accompanied by illustrations by McKenzie himself. Such stories include a seance-like business meeting, a tree-instead-of-pyramid model for business illustration, countless instances of forcing people out of their boxes to think freely, and one of my favorites, an entire comic-strip conversation between the Right Brain and the Left Brain.
You really learn a lot about McKenzie and Hallmark, and in the process see how a business known for it’s art and creativity can become bogged down by rules and traditions. It teaches that there has to be some sort of balance actively pursued, because creativity without boundaries is chaos, while boundaries without freedom can become stagnant and will eventually die out. It’s far to easy to allow one extreme or the other, and in this book McKenzie/ focuses on how to stay creative while dealing with Big Business’s boundaries.
The lessons could apply to any sort of organization, especially in this area, where stagnation seems to have become the norm. In one particular chapter, he tells about going to local elementary schools to give demonstrations on one of his hobbies, metalworking. In the kindergarden class he asks “Are there any artists in here?” and every child eagerly waves it’s hand in the air. In first and second grades, there are still several eager hands, but some keep their hands down. As you go up in age, the enthusiasm goes down, until finally by Jr High only a few, tentative hands in the back of the class come up, the child looking around to make sure no one is looking. Individuality and creativity are discouraged everywhere, if not by those in charge, than by our peers. And here in Appalachia, you’re taught at an early age that you should “Get a real job” and leave the creative fields behind. This book teaches that creativity is vital everywhere, and shows ways to find it & encourage it.
This book was one that changed the way I think. Along with Art & Fear, it’s one of the most valuable books-about-being-an-artist on my shelf so far.
