ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Whitney Ferré Will Help You Unleash Your Inner Artist

By Abigail White Plachy

Whitney Ferré is about to fly to L.A. to promote her first book, The Artist Within: A Guide to Becoming Creatively Fit (Turner). Three of her four kids — ages 9, 7 and 5 — are enjoying a day off from school, watching TV in the den, when the Comcast guy shows up to fix an Internet problem, which requires unplugging the television. Instead of whining that their show was interrupted, the children wander into the kitchen, where Whitney and I are enjoying a cup of coffee, and ask if their crayons are done. Earlier that morning, they had made multicolored crayons by cutting up old crayon stubs and melting them in muffin tins. The crayons are indeed ready, and the kids run upstairs, paper and crayons in hand.

“If you’re a mom with almost any age kid, get a spiral sketchbook and some Crayolas and keep it in the kitchen,” Ferré suggests. “Even if you have five minutes, sit down with your kid and do a scribble drawing together. In those five minutes, you’re completely present with your kid, you’re sharing and communicating.”

While scribble drawing is a great way to spend time with your kid, you certainly don’t have to have a child to reap the benefits of artistic expression. Ferré, a Nashville-based artist, mom and entrepreneur, explains the benefits of becoming “creatively fit” in The Artist Within. “We’ve put art in this box and told people that you shouldn’t do it unless you’re really, really good,” Ferré says. ”It’s ridiculous — it’s like telling people not to exercise unless you’re going to the Olympics.”

Ferré’s new book discusses the principle of tapping into your right brain in order to use all of your resources in everyday decision-making. “The right brain voice is completely present, while the left brain is thinking past or future. The left brain gets frustrated with specific details, while the right brain looks at the big picture. I think you have to be in your right brain to be open to ‘coincidences’ or trusting that even though you’re not in your comfort zone, that things will be provided for you.”

Ferré should know. More than 12 years ago, she left a sales job that was a “sure thing” to open the Creative Fitness Center in the now-thriving 12South neighborhood. “I didn’t put together a business plan, and it wasn’t like I was doing my research or figuring out growth trends or consumer behavior. It was completely motivated by inspiration.” Ferré’s plan was to give people a place where they could come and flex their creative muscle. “I had not taken an art class since I was 15, and here I am at 26, and none of this made sense. I had to stay in that place, which is physiologically in your right brain, where your artist within is talking to you, saying ‘you can figure this out.’”

While she originally intended the Creative Fitness Center to be a place for adults to enjoy painting, drawing and other artistic activities, she ended up working more with children, running a successful summer camp and holding art classes for kids while their moms shopped in the nearby stores. “I was only fulfilling a very small percentage of my initial vision, and I got caught in the safety zone of being a kids’ place. It’s like in any type of career, when you make little sacrifices along the way to make money. But I still wanted to do what I’d set out to do.”

Ferré joined forces with fellow entrepreneur Christy Shuff, who ran the nearby Rumours Gallery. “Christy and I bring different things to the table, but we work at the same pace.” Armed with equity in the house she had painstakingly renovated, Ferré trusted her instinct to close the Creative Fitness Center. She became investor to the new Rumours Wine and Art Bar, which opened in late 2004 next to her new creative space, tHE aRT hOUSE Gallery, complete with adult art classes. “I’d ask people to come take an art class, and they’d say ‘but I can’t even draw a straight line!’ If I asked them to come to the wine bar, they’d say they’d come tonight. With the wine and the food, everything is an art form. The wine industry is an obvious example of an industry that has promoted creativity.”

The success of the Rumours Wine and Art Bar led to the opening of Rumours East. While tHE aRT hOUSE is currently occupied by the Devi Clinic, Ferré continues to teach art classes off site. Her classes fill up in 24 hours, partly due to a large email list she’s accumulated through 12 years of teaching. She also runs corporate creativity workshops, explaining the benefits of the "Eight Principles of Design," which are fully explored in her book, and using art to help them tap into the resource that is the right brain. The Eight Principles of Design — emphasis, balance, contrast, proportion, harmony, repetition, rhythm and unity — are “the language of our mind’s eye, how we visually analyze everything we see.”

The book also provides several creative exercises that would appeal to those of us who cannot even draw a stick figure. “The book is intended to bring the whole Creative Fitness Center/aRT hOUSE experience to you, anywhere.” Ferré stresses the fact that creativity is accessible to everybody. “People say, 'I’m not creative, I can’t even do the exercises.' Once you read the book, you’ll notice things you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, which helps stimulate the right brain. You don’t have to be an artist; you’re simply trying to give yourself all of the advantages possible and access something that’s probably underdeveloped and slightly dormant. It’s the life changes — knowing that you can do it and figuring out how to break it down step by step, not that people end up painting and opening up their own gallery. The exciting thing about right now is that people are very aware that things need to change, that there’s got to be a different way, and people are open to that.”

The Artist Within hits shelves on Nov. 15. Find it area bookstores as well as online.  Learn more at creativelyfit.com.

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