Creativity and relationships - matches made in arty heaven

Are you looking for Mr or Mrs Right?  Meeting someone with the same outlook on life can be quite a challenge, but a few creative couples have shown us that a creative workshop or class could be just the right place to meet your soulmate. 

Perhaps you’ve been in a relationship for some time and feel that it may be running out of steam or getting a bit old and stale.  Boredom can be a relationship killer that stifles communication, which is so vital for a harmonious union. 

Creativity is vital in keeping relationships interesting and alive, not just to stimulate conversation, but also to add an element of excitement and fun: time for ‘us’ as opposed to ‘me time’. 

Creative courses hub, artsbowl.com, spoke to some creative couples about how their shared interest in a creative activity brought them together and has kept them together through the years. 

Sarah Jane Cion and Phil Palombi – Musicians, New York 

Sarah Jane and Phil were both “side-men” for a jazz group they had been hired for individually.  They met in 1997 on the bandstand at a small jazz club on Long Island NY called Sonny’s Place.

They now have two children, Lara, aged seven and Lorenzo, aged three. 

“Living creative lifestyles allows us to be with our children at home a lot of the time, and since we are both doing what we love, we are able to impart that overall life lesson to our children!” says Sarah Jane.

The couple often play each other’s music and perform together at gigs. “Our shared interest in music also puts us on the same wavelength - most of the time, that is!” laughs Sarah.

Sarah Jane Cion was the winner of the 1999 Great American Jazz Piano Competition and is the author of Modern Jazz Piano

Laura Packer and Kevin Brooks – Professional Storytellers (Malden, MA)

Laura and Kevin were destined to be together, but they needed something to ignite that ‘spark’.  It turns out storytelling was the creative catalyst that brought them together: 

“Kevin and I met 1996 at a weekly storytelling event in Cambridge Massachusetts, hosted by Brother Blue, a magnificent father of the US Storytelling movement” says Laura. 

“We were friends for several years, then began working together in collaborative performance and taught a workshop together at a storytelling conference. In the midst of this we fell in love. 

“I’d been attending this storytelling event for several years. Kevin came because he was writing and wanted to learn how to be a better writer. He quickly became hooked on storytelling and began attending weekly.

“I was the bad girl in the back, watching everyone, while he was sitting in the front, paying attention only to the performers. 

“We became friends through a shared interest in story.  Our mentor, Brother Blue, told me that Kevin and I would make a good couple.  It took a few years for me to believe him (we were really good friends and our lives were both quite full) - but he was right. 

“We now teach storytelling together in many different environments, help each other develop our creative works and attend performances of many different kinds. 

“We strive to live creative lives.  Creativity needs some solitude as well as collaboration, and we recognize that.  Our relationship is at its best when we are supporting each other creatively” explains Laura.

Kevin has three kids from an earlier marriage, who are now all adults.  “I am very much their step-mom; I love them, as I believe they love me” says Laura. 

Laura and Kevin each co-host different spoken word venues. “We’ve built a creative life together based on storytelling as an artform” Laura tells us.

Patty Mooney and Mark Schultze – Video Production entrepreneurs and adventurers (San Diego)

Patty loves all things “Valentine’s Day” and this is why: 

“I met my husband on Valentine’s Day 1982 on the balcony of La Paloma Theater in Encinitas, California.

“We were both involved in creative pursuits at the time:  “I was performing in a play - a one-time-only performance called “Pandora’s Box: If Transformation is So Great, Why is it So Painful?”  All proceeds went to the Hunger Project. 

“Mark was setting up his video camera on the balcony to document the performance.   I had walked up to the balcony before the play began, just to collect my thoughts and gaze out over the empty theater. 

“And so our eyes met.  We have been together ever since”. 

“When I met Mark he had just started a video production company here in San Diego called Crystal Pyramid Productions.  He based the name of his company on a quartz crystal he used to wear on a silver chain around his neck.

“Nine months prior to meeting me, he had made a wish with that crystal “to meet my soulmate on our before Valentine’s Day.”

“Early “Law of Attraction,” right?  Because there we were on the balcony of that theater on Valentine’s Day” Patty explains.

After pursuing a career as a secretary and then office manager in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, Patty joined Mark at his video production business, Crystal Pyramid Productions, full time in 1994. 

She has since gone from secretary to producer, camera operator, still photographer, sound technician, editor, voice over talent and script writer.  “I LOVE IT!” Patty enthuses. 

Mark has been a Camera Operator/Director of Photography and Producer since 1981 and is one of the” top guys” in San Diego. 

Patty and Mark have enjoyed a life of passionate creativity and amazing adventures together for almost 30 years now and feel that their creative bond has had a profound influence on their lives as individuals and as a couple.

Crystal Pyramid Productions is a San Diego video production company winning awards for their video production services in and beyond San Diego since 1981.

Whether you’re into writing, pottery, performing arts, photography or cooking, artsbowl.com has a rapidly growing list of creative courses for you to choose from.  Why not dip into your creativity and book onto a creative activity – who knows who you might meet there?