The Ferryman (De Veerman) is an arts educational organisation that wants to stimulate creativity, art experience, knowledge and insight into the arts. This in relation to the world around us.

The Ferryman
- develops and/or coordinates arts educational programmes
- provides training for artists, art educators and teachers
- publishes books, articles and dvds on the theory and practicum of the arts education
- councels to city councils, art institutes, schools, ...

The organisation is funded by the Flemish Government. Its activities are present in Flanders, Brussels, and also within an international context.
The Ferryman works with children, youngsters and adults on dance, theatre, music, media, creative writing and visual arts.

The method
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The Clover-Leaf Model

The Ferryman always starts out with the person and their ability to observe, to order and to design; three abilities that are natural and always present and that make up the notion of ‘culture’.
Every individual has their own particular abilities, which form a continuous process in the drive for evolution and progress. In our opinion, everyone can train and develop them.
Artists are by definition individuals who work on the basis of these factors. Their main preoccupation is how they view things and the world in general, how they order this and then design what they observe. Art education is therefore extremely suitable, not only for highlighting these factors but also the entire interconnection.
The Ferryman makes use of the clover-leaf model (developed by Alix Van Ransbeeck) in order to deliberately allow this interconnection between the factors and the mechanism to grow.  By applying this albeit artificial subdivision, the clover-leaf enables us to emphasise the globality of human potential, and to promote and value it. We use this model to ensure that the entire scope is covered.

The clover-leaf model starts out from the person (1) and then focuses on the development of that person’s skills. These skills include, for example, assertiveness and daring, concentration, focus, power of imagination, fantasy, expressiveness, etc.
To gain a greater insight requires both contentual and thematic (2) approaches. These always use ‘I’ as the starting point, which is then broadened to ‘I and the other’, the extent to which we organise ourselves in society, and finally the more existential aspects. The latter allows questions to be asked, which can be approached both from a philosophical as well as a religious point of view.
In order to finally design, not only requires insight and skill in the various art forms or languages of art (dance language, dramatic, musical and pictorial language (3), etc.). Finally, the clover-leaf contains a whole range of methodologies and techniques (methodologies such as improvisation, various forms of group work, etc... as well as techniques, such as graphical techniques, drama and dance technique skills... (4).

The various partial aspects are always approached from their totality and are interrelated. It is from this vision that experience, insight and knowledge go hand in hand. This forms part of a continuous process, in which growth and development are given precedence. The clover-leaf is, therefore, also a guideline and not a step-by-step aid. It only provides an overview of the fields and aspects that need to be touched upon or provided.
When setting up and testing art education projects, we allow teachers to constantly question and expand their insights based on the clover-leaf. The power itself lies in the flexibility and perpetuation to constantly be aware of the spirit of the times and to play on that.
When making use of the clover-leaf, we must take into account the following considerations. They are the result of having detected three focus points, which we put forward in our work, i.e. in education. A shift in the relationship between the child and the teacher may take place as a result:

1. Participation: The instructor takes on the role of stimulating the search process, and the participant (individual, group, organisation, etc.) therefore has to take responsibility for their own search process. The search is just as valuable as the act of finding what one is searching for. The emphasis is on the creative process. We encourage teachers ‘not to do for others’ but instead ‘to do with others’ and especially ‘encourage change’.

2. Confrontation: Through art (and its diverse forms and languages) people can accurately express their inner world to the outside world (the person expresses their inner order). This creates confrontation with the inner world of the other person and can help that person to develop their way of thinking or acting (confrontation with other people’s themes and contents). Thus, we arrive at a dialogue, living together, a society. For The Ferryman confrontation with the other person is novel, the unknown, that which goes against the grain, the .... an absolute must.

3. Tradition: It is best to use that which is handed down to us from the past to build the future, rather than to deny it. Tradition means being aware of a framework in which we live and how this particular framework affects our thinking and being. The Ferryman’s aim is to use art to link our traditions or to confront them to those of others and thus to promote our participation in life.

Creativity

The clover-leaf model teaches teachers to make clear choices. It tells them which objectives are all feasible in art and cultural education and which ones are important for their class. In addition, it is a framework of objectives that applies to all creative disciplines, to enable teachers to learn to think across the creative disciplines. However, with a framework of objectives one does not yet have a lesson.

In the course of our work in education, one thing has become clear. Artists usually present creative lessons, whereas teachers seldom do this. According to the teachers themselves, the concept of creativity was the main distinction between what they themselves did and what artists did. Gradually, the awareness grew that we had to succeed in allowing pupils to be creative, regardless of the creative discipline. If we could think up a lesson structure that guarantees creativity across all of the creative disciplines, then we would already have made major progress.

Creativity is surrounded by a great deal of prejudice. Removing that is our constant concern. Please find our main points below:
Creativity in the classroom is often equalled to chaos. These are not synonyms, however. A creative process can (and must at the outset) be very structured. One must therefore ensure that the lesson is well prepared and accompanied of a strict time schedule.
Students are not creative. False. All students are creative. The fact that some students are sometimes highly creative in interpreting the school rules is proof of that. Our education system offers so little opportunity for creativity that students are initially not inclined to take a creative approach.

This creativity can only be encouraged by specialists in the various art forms. False. It is naturally easier for specialists in their field because they use it on a daily basis. That is also relative. There are art teachers who only allow their students to perform. In drama lessons, students perform set scripts and they are told how to do this. In music lessons, they have to perform the score written on a sheet of paper and the interpretation is that of the lecturer. In dance, the entire choreography is fixed. These teachers teach skills; not creativity. However, there are teachers of maths, Dutch or other subjects that do give their students the opportunity to be creative. So, creativity is not tied to the particular subject.

What criteria does a lesson have to meet to elicit creativity? We use three concepts for this purpose. These concepts apply both to our thinking as well as to our behaviour. We can, therefore, use them to prepare lessons (thinking) and to guide students’ behaviour during the lessons. So, the creative process is identical for thinking and doing.

Associations
Think of a word, e.g. ‘shoe’. Then think of another word. Then allow 10 words to come into your mind spontaneously.
Proceed in the same way for behaviour. Take a pencil and draw something, e.g. a snowman. Then draw something next to the snowman and continue drawing until you have filled the page.
This is associative thinking or associative drawing. These exercises clearly show that creativity is something completely natural. After all, when doing these exercises, each individual writes a different last word or draws something different. Even if one starts out with the same word or the same object.

Provocations
Now start with two words, e.g. ‘shoe’ and ‘bicycle wheel’. Think of three ways in which to polish shoes using a bicycle wheel.
Transform the next words into movement: snow, snowstorm, snowball. Then do the same with these words; to freeze and to thaw. Partner up for this exercise, and together briefly choreograph the previous movements.

A provocation entails taking two ideas and combining those into a new idea. This does not spontaneously generate creativity, but it forces it. Provocations are faster in generating creativity, but are also faster at blocking it.

Bisociations
Associations and provocations lead to bisociations. Bisociations are the essence of creativity: combining two elements into what is a new element to you.  This always happens through a feature that is common to both of those elements. This is a concept devised by Arthur Koestler (1964).
In a series of associations, people only achieve a different final word if they leap from one field of meaning to another. (We speak of a field of meaning if we are creative in our thinking and we speak of a field of experience if we are creative in our actions). These leaps are the bisociations in which we can retrace the common feature.  This is made clear by the following example.

We start out with the series of associations commencing with the word ‘shoe’: Shoe, lace, snake, mouse, nest, bed, bedroom, lamp, electricity, fuse.

The first field of meaning is built up around the word ‘shoe’. ‘Shoelace’ goes together with this word. We make a leap to the field of meaning of ‘animals’ by using the word snake. What ‘shoelace’ and ‘snake’ have in common is ‘long and flexible’. We explore the field of meaning of bedroom by using the common feature of ‘nest’ between ‘mouse’ and ‘bed’. In ‘shoelace’ and ‘snake’ the common feature (long and flexible) is not in the series of associations. But it does in ‘mouse’ and ‘bed’, i.e.: nest.

In provocations, we can also go in search of a common feature.
Three methods for cleaning shoes using a bicycle wheel:

• You can replace the tyre with brushes. Whilst someone is cycling, the brushes turn and you have to hold your shoe against them.
• A wheel rim is equipped with a brush of 20 cm at the bottom. By holding the wheel rim at the top, you can clean your shoe without having to bend down.
• That same wheel rim is now equipped with two brushes and a tube of shoe polish between them. Now you can clean your shoes with the one brush, and apply shoe polish from the tube and polish the shoe with the other brush. And all this without having to bend down. There is not even any need for you to tidy away the shoe cleaning equipment; you simply hang the wheel rim on a hook.

For the first idea, the common feature is the shoe-polishing machines equipped with turning brushes supplied in hotels. The second idea was generated by the common feature ‘bridging the distance’. Cleaning is easier if you do not have to bend down. Just think of long-handled dustpans. The wheel rim is of an ideal diameter to do the same. The third idea is an associative extension of the second idea.
Thus, bisociations are the core of creativity. By integrating associations and provocations into lessons, we are eliciting bisociations. This gives students the opportunity to make discoveries themselves.


Based on this concise theoretical model, we have trained teachers in lesson preparation. The basic principle is that you create a field of experience for students through associative steps. Thus, you gradually involve students in a creative process. In that field of experience, a number of students will develop bisociations, just like the above mentioned chain association. You then start with a second field of experience, which you also build up through associations. The next step involves devising an assignment in which you combine the method of provocation in both fields of experience. You are thus forcing students to use both fields of experience in the provocative task. If those two fields of experience have been well prepared, you will subsequently notice an explosion of creativity.

This model for preparing and giving lessons has subsequently been extended. For infants, we naturally proceed differently than for pupils in year six. In year six, for example, we work with 3-4 fields of experience and 2-3 provocative tasks. However, here we have a basis for creative lessons anyway, which we can use to devise creative lessons for all creative disciplines. It makes thinking about art and cultural education and working out appropriate projects so much easier. And especially, it becomes more feasible for teachers who have hardly received any training in creative disciplines.

Our continued search into creative processes has now led to a far-reaching extension of this model. We now know how we can promote creativity at the level of
- Individual student behaviour 
- The task in a lesson.
- The lesson structure.
- Creative project work.
- The school (vision and policy).
- The neighbourhood.

We can now elicit creativity at all of these levels for all creative disciplines and, more importantly still, teachers and schools can apply that too.