Squiggla has learnt a lot about the creative process through the research done by Te Rito Toi/CAST - The Centre for Arts and Social Transformation at the University of Auckland.

Through Squiggla, we want to break down the idea that you’re either creative or you aren’t. Creative thinking is for everybody. As human beings, we are all creative, but there is a lack of understanding about the value and role of creative visual thinking in all our lives. Many people close off this side of their minds – whether consciously or unconsciously. Success for Squiggla would ultimately lead to more people understanding the art making process, their own creative brain and sense of self, and the importance of creativity to a fulfilled life.

Research shows that around the age of nine, peer pressure and expectations mean we stop exploring the original, playful side of creativity and curiosity. Through the power of mark making, Squiggla can help us realise and re-connect with our creative potential. "it is all about setting up a creative space within yourself," says artist Maungarongo (Ron) Te Kawa. Start with an engagement with the visual world and seek ways to activate the body and mind. After all, playfulness and curiosity, across all ages, are the gateway to imagination and invention. Don't seek or demand representation or usefulness in advance, begin with open-ended play instead.

All around the world, people are having to think in new ways, to problem pose and problem solve. This now requires us to exercise our intuitive sense-based thinking as well as analytical thinking. Squiggla helps us exercise these two types of thinking systems. Always vital though, is a sense of disruption! So when you create a mark making rule, go ahead and break it! Change the tools or colours you use, swop to your non-dominant hand, tackle textures and embrace curiosity and play - all vital components of creative thinking.