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Boy, oh boy! Did the Fourth of July Holiday hit everyone the same as me? Time just keeps flying by here in paradise, but once again I was reminded of how much the creative mind is present in our lives.

How many of you spent the holiday weekend celebrating? Lots of visitors in town and lots to do for a small island that is in off season. I like many of you had the opportunity to visit the beach this weekend and attend the City of Marco Island fireworks display.

For me, I live everyday appreciating the creative mind at work. I am once again privileged to apply how the creative mind impacts our community; how the future is so dependent on the use of the creative mind and our need, or better yet, responsibility to support this mission.

While visiting the beach this weekend, I noticed what many of you might have recognized as art right away, painters working on creating their masterpieces at the easel while others did so on faces. As I walked the beach I observed nature being created in wonderful exhibits — sand sculptures. Some were castles or buildings, others wild life or symbols of patriotism. Sand art is not new, neither is the use of the creative mind in developing the many images that fell before my eyes — reproductions of the Liberty bell and Statue of Liberty; great wildlife indigenous to our area — a dolphin, sea turtle and alligator...

Like many others we had friends in town for the long holiday weekend. Fortunately for us, our friends have their own place here and we were invited to their home to spend a fun evening in anticipation of the great fireworks display!

Talk about front row seats! Our friends reside at the Summit so you may be able to envision our view point; oh, sorry, forgot envision is to be able to picture something mentally, sounds kind of like using the imagination and that’s that use of creative mind.

Anyway, we sat there and oohed and awed at all the wonderful colors, designs, sounds, and spectacular images that were created that evening. I don’t know much about the technical aspects of putting on a display like this but I do think just like any exhibition in the arts, it takes some thinking from the right side of the brain, the creative processing side. In researching fireworks, I even found out that they were originally created by the Chinese for entertainment purposes. Wow! Entertainment — I forgot that one on my list of creative nouns.

According to Wikipedia, fireworks are generally classified as to where they perform, either as a ground or aerial firework. In the latter case, they may provide their own propulsion (skyrocket) or be shot into the air by a mortar (aerial shell). The most common feature of fireworks is a paper or pasteboard tube or casing filled with the combustible material, often pyrotechnic stars. A number of these tubes or cases are often combined so as to make, when kindled, a great variety of sparkling shapes, often variously colored.

Now even I can see that the creation of the fireworks itself does take some scientific and mathematical expertise. What I hope you might see is that just as important are the ingredients of creativity and imagination, good design and choice of colors.

So show your creative side, think inside the box, think outside the box, eliminate the box or create a new box. Do what it takes to spark your awareness of the importance of the arts and the role it plays in your life. You may even want to support the arts in your community. I know they sure can use it.

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Christine Neal is the executive director of Marco Island’s Center of the Arts. She holds an Associate of Arts Degree in the Liberal Arts with emphasis in the Fine Arts and various certifications and designations in business and the arts. An award winning artist, with 20-plus years in management and sales. Marco Island’s Center for the Arts is located at 1010 Winterberry Drive 239-394-4221 mail@marcoislandart.com.