Creativity and Strategy- Applying Tasks

Beyond the Template Podcast

October 9, 2025

Season 1; Episode 6- Applying Tasks

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Intro- Applying Tasks:

Welcome to Beyond the Template, the more than “just talk” podcast, created by me, Caroline Amelie- a writer, artist, counselor, and learning designer.

This podcast was built for those who are ready to tackle something new in their lives, but need small steps, encouragement, accountability and community to get there.

This week’s episode…

lands under the full moon, and honestly, I’m feeling it. Between listing my home for sale and running on too little sleep, I’m showing up tired but real. Still, there’s light to share: I’ve gathered a few glimmers of good news from around the world for you all to remind you that not everything is on fire. Then, we’ll move into this week’s Expander of the Week story, featuring surrealist painter Remedios Varo, a woman who refused to stop creating, even when war and exile tried to silence her. And finally, I’ll share a behind-the-scenes update on my own creative project: how I’ve been mapping the skills and knowledge we all need to bring our work to life, and what comes next as we make those ideas practical and real.

Because even when the world feels heavy, there’s still art to make, stories to tell, and small ways to keep showing up.

Applying Tasks Content:

Hello hello lovely humans. Thank you so much for joining me! How did the full moon treat everyone? I stopped sleeping entirely. Typical for me, but this one also gave me a bunch of mood swings from a deep sadness I couldn’t shake for hours the day before to waking up immediately soaked with rage the day of. But now I’m fine, although very sleep deprived (haha).

I celebrated the full moon with listing my home for sale. Talk about a release, right? I am pretty scared. This is the biggest leap I have ever taken. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I am doing this during a time where everything in the world feels unsafe. But I know if I don’t do it, I will be in the same place creatively a year from now. Much of my life has been like this. I am no stranger to doing scary things alone. It comes with the territory of not having a close support system in place. My purpose in life might be to fall on my face, just so I can tell people about the experience for their benefit (haha). But seriously, maybe?

Last week we dove into the inspiring story of Charlie Chaplin. I spent most of the episode on him as many don’t know much about who he was and what he went through. So much of history is lost when we stop sharing stories. I created a post on this for social media on Wednesday. When we share stories with one another, it triggers a response called neural coupling or mirroring. This means it can feel like the story you are hearing is your story as well, and it can trigger feelings in us. Emotion and the senses are the best ways to engage with long-term memory. So, you can see how important storytelling is when we learn. This is why I tell stories in my podcast!

This is a “more than just talk” podcast!

For anyone new… we are all about action, myself included. I am learning and growing alongside you, and sharing each failure, success and pivot. I hope you will engage with us as well (and give me feedback on how I can become better at this)!

One of the first actions I took in creating this podcast (outside of researching for two months) was writing my own theme song, which I performed and recorded myself. This can be heard at the end, if you haven’t heard it yet. It’s short and sweet.

Okay it’s time for… the GOOD news of the week…

Links for the following news announcements can be found in my blog AND on YouTube if you are curious to read more:

Researchers at the University of Arizona developed a solar drying tower to combat food waste. By the way it has ZERO carbon footprint. Supporting universities through funding supports one’s community, country, and the world.

A Jamaican student invented a self-sanitizing door handle for hospitals, and then received an award from their prime minister

Shout out to the state I am living in! Autism-friendly restaurant in Cornelius, North Carolina, USA is aiming to make everyone feel welcome while dining out

And finally, I was so thrilled to see that ‘Reading Rainbow’ is returning.

If you don’t know about Mychal Threets… you have missed out. He is a perfect reason for keeping social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The first time I saw one of his videos (years ago now), I was immediately calm, happy, and centered. It was the same feeling I got watching Blues Clues with OG Steve back in the 1990’s.

Mychal is a librarian. His sole desire is to share stories from his days working in the Children’s Section, and how delighted he would be to see children connecting to books, to reading, to their imaginations, and to themselves. He is simply a treat of a human. I will be putting his handles in the podcast description if you want to check him out.

So, now Mychal will be the host of Reading Rainbow, and I couldn’t be happier for him, and for this generation’s children. He’s got that same sparkle as Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross, and of course LeVar Burton. It really lifted me up to see this happening. This is the sort of thing that can truly make an impact on a child growing up. This to me, is the best sort of learning through media consumption.

Pivoting hard from Mychal’s long journey to success through genuine heart and authenticity is my Expander of the week… an artist who I discovered during my undergrad years. Her work caught my attention in being both scientific and surreal, a combination any Aquarius could love. Think imagery from Pan’s Labyrinth, Neverending Story, or the Dark Crystal. It’s weird and fantastical just like my soul. I am obsessed.

This week’s expander is Remedios Varo.

María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga — but to the world, simply Remedios Varo — was born on December 16, 1908, in the quiet Catalan town of Anglès, in northeastern Spain. Her life would span continents, wars, exile, mysticism, and art so luminous and strange that today she is rightly called one of the great Surrealists of the 20th century. And yet, her story is not only one of imaginative flight, but of persistence against dislocation, political tempest, and the challenge of claiming a place to create when the world seems determined to push you aside.

Varo came from a family that, in certain ways, offered advantages. Her father was a hydraulic engineer — a man comfortable with geometry, drafting, and technical precision. From her earliest years, he taught her to draw, giving her a foundation in structure and visual discipline.

Because of his work, the family moved frequently across Spain and even into North Africa, exposing young Remedios to shifting landscapes and the sense of being between worlds — a feeling that would later surface in her art.

She attended a strict Catholic convent school, but her mind roamed far beyond its walls. She devoured adventure novels by Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe, along with mystical and occult writings. These early fascinations with science, magic, and exploration became the language of her imagination.

In Madrid, she studied formally at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, earning credentials to teach drawing. She married a fellow student, Gerardo Lizarraga, and later joined avant-garde artistic circles in Barcelona. There she became part of Logicofobista, a small Surrealist-influenced group whose name literally meant “fear of logic.” The movement sought to free the imagination from rational constraints — a philosophy that resonated deeply with her.

Then came the Spanish Civil War. Beginning in 1936, the war tore Spain apart — pitting the democratically elected Republican government against the fascist forces of General Francisco Franco. Like many intellectuals and artists of her time, Varo sympathized with the Republic’s anti-fascist ideals.

She met Benjamin Péret, a French poet and Surrealist who had come to Spain to support the Republican cause. Their partnership became both romantic and artistic. When the Republic fell, the two fled to Paris in 1937 — only to face another political storm as World War II approached.

In 1940, when the Nazis invaded France, Varo and Péret were arrested — partly due to his political activism — and later released. But they could not remain in Europe. By the end of 1941, they had fled across southern France and secured passage to Mexico City, joining a wave of artists and intellectuals escaping fascism.

Varo was now an exile. Franco’s dictatorship in Spain barred her return. She had lost her home, her country, and a brother to war. Yet she carried with her a quiet resilience — a conviction that creativity could still offer refuge and meaning even when the world burned.

In Mexico City, Varo found community among other exiled Surrealists, including Leonora Carrington, Kati Horna, and Wolfgang Paalen. Together, they created a circle of artists who reimagined the boundaries between art, spirituality, and science.

For years, Varo supported herself through illustration, advertising work, and costume design. Only in the 1950s did she begin painting full-time, producing the works that would define her legacy.

Her paintings fuse alchemy and physics, dream and logic. Figures in flowing robes navigate impossible interiors, operate strange instruments, or build worlds from sound and light. In one work, Creation of the Birds (1957), a woman-like being sits at a desk, transforming starlight and paint into living creatures — a metaphor for artistic creation itself.

Varo’s worlds are not escapist fantasies. They are meditations on exile, loneliness, and transformation. Her art suggests that even when we are uprooted, creation can reweave the threads of meaning and belonging.

Remedios Varo died unexpectedly in 1963 at the age of 54. But her legacy continues to grow, inspiring artists, dreamers, and exiles across generations. Her work speaks to anyone who has felt displaced by the world and yet compelled to keep imagining.

She reminds us that art made in darkness can still bring light — that creating isn’t about waiting for calm skies, but finding ways to weave the storm itself into beauty.

In times like ours, when the world feels fractured and hope feels fragile, Remedios Varo’s life whispers: Keep showing up. Keep making. Even in exile, the imagination can remain free.

So, how have we all been doing on our projects this week? Any progress?

For my new listeners, my project this season is to try to build a social community of creative individuals who are driven, hold vision, carry similar values, inspire and support one another, and love exploring ideas, cultures and places together. So far, I have identified needs, problems, characteristics and traits, context and are now working through what tasks might be important to consider for myself as creator and for my audience in order for this project to be successful.

Here are my answers to last week’s reflection questions (task analysis first, then Applying Tasks):

On where I am in my own creative journey…

In terms of identified needs… I have some major gaps in my own skills and knowledge to complete my project.

Comparative Needs

Gap in skills and knowledge? Yes

Skills and knowledge needed- The ability to curate a branded identity for this group- otherwise the lines are too messy. And I am still floundering with my own branded identity. I had not thought about branding once until I started my business. It’s new. I am still working my way through this.

Felt Needs

Gap in skills and knowledge? None

Skills and knowledge that I already have- Because of being raised in an atmosphere where I had to be hyperaware of the emotional state of those around me, I am great at picking up on the experience of others through deep empathy. I just need to be able to directly connect with them to do this “extension of self” practice.

Expressed Needs

Gap in skills and knowledge? Yes

Skills and knowledge needed- The ability to network with more individuals who might be interested in this sort of community. Networking, in general, is awful for an introvert who thrives on weird and deep conversations. I need to figure out how to better manage my energy in these sorts of spaces so I can find those aligned.

Anticipated Needs

Gap in skills and knowledge? Yes

Skills and knowledge needed- The ability to discern the best directions for building this community, whether that be to offer online or in-person small groups or larger events, what those groups should focus on, how to ensure quality interactions, how to motivate others to join and participate, and how to raise capital to continue expanding into the future.

On where my audience might be when engaging with my work for the first time…

In terms of what my audience already knows… well they should already know what they would bring to a group like this, and what they are seeking from others. They should also have an understanding of how belonging to this sort of group benefits them and serves their community. Finally (I mentioned this in Episode 3), they need to know how to be themselves while connecting with others (self-awareness and emotional intelligence). The last thing I want is another group where people are wearing masks and trying to navigate through filtering themselves… but also this group should not include someone who tries to take over with their own agenda and perspective.

Individuals in my group need to be able to advocate for their ideas within the context of seeking someone with complimentary skillsets or supportive ideas. They need to be able to take action towards change through creative solutions. They need to hold their own in group conversations (this is not a place for someone to sit and observe and not participate). They need to be able to seek out opportunities for the group as well. I am hoping that this will serve as a community led and philanthropic organization. Finally, they need to be able to hold space for others so belonging is never in question for an individual member. All hands-on deck.

In terms of the vehicles of communication that I need to use as part of building this community…

My social media platforms and this podcast (which connects to my blog and will eventually connect with Substack- I just have to fucking remember haha)…are my vehicles. And each include facts (historical stories, interesting bits about the brain, etc.), concepts and principles (learning and experience design best practices), interpersonal skills (the whole point of my content is to help myself be seen so others can find me and find each other through intentionality, authenticity, and empathy) and attitudes (as this group should hold similar values and approaches to the mission). Procedures are even a vehicle… since I have broken the first season of this podcast up into individual stages of design practice. Not sure about next season, who knows what will inspire me in a year.

So that’s where I am at. And I can see I have some work cut out in front of me! But that’s always a good thing. Having direction makes my heart happy.

Welp. Here’s to another week of work! It’s time to grab your notebook to hear your new list of Honey You Better Do’s (for Applying Tasks).

At this point we have started considering how tasks require ourselves and our audiences to hold specific skills and knowledge… but now it’s time to apply these literally and practically. This coming week, together we will be considering the actual procedures and tasks needed for our projects to succeed. These reflection questions (it’s just three this time!) along with the full transcript can be found in my blog which is linked for you in the podcast description.

Reflection Questions:

What does the audience do? Really use your empathy and imagination with this one. Imagine your work in a perfect world. How is the audience interacting with it?

What does the audience need to know to do? How do you communicate to the audience what to do, how to do it, and what to expect from their experience? Example, if your work is in a gallery, are they given audio directions, a map, a wall decal summary, a pamphlet? What should and should not be included?

What cues (senses) inform the audience they have reached certain points in their experience of your work? If your work is a stand-alone piece this may not be relevant, but I hope my audience thinks big. Imagine you have filled a gallery space with your work. How will the audience move through the space? How will they know they have taken the time to experience each of your pieces before moving on?

Here’s to all of us continuing, even when it all feels like too much. Here’s to deciding to keep trying to put ourselves out into the world so we can connect, collaborate, and create change. Here’s to our community of makers and shakers.

I sincerely appreciate each of you…

and hope that you will consider being part of the community I am building. That being said, I am practicing what I preach. So, if you have any feedback on how to make this the best podcast out there, please email me at camelieleboeuf@gmail.com.

Applying Tasks Outro:

Thank you for listening to Beyond the Template! You are doing great. Keep it up. Keep it creative.

My name is Caroline Amelie LeBoeuf. I have a degree in art and in counseling and also professional level certificates in educational advising and learning design & technology. Roles I have carried include illustrator, photographer, writer, traveler, mentor, instructor and most recently entrepreneur!

If you are curious to learn further about the work I offer my clients, check out cameliedesigns.com, that’s cameliedesigns.com.

“Follow your dreams? But my dream’s crazy…
I was swimmin’ alone, with somethin’ under me…
Follow your dreams? But dreams are hazy…
Was there treadin’ a pool, whale blue in the deep…
Ooooh, ooooh… ooooh…”
“Follow your dreams? But my dream’s crazy…
I was flyin atop rows of orchard trees…
Follow your dreams? But dreams are hazy…
Weighted low on the ground graspin’ air to flee…
Ooooh, ooooh… ooooh…”
“When the air is thick and the road is long…
It’s easy to forget how to sing your song…
But dreamin’ can only get you so far…
With dust in your eyes… not knowin’ where to start…
Mmmhmm, Mmmhmm, Mmmhmm, Mmmhmmm”
“Follow your dreams, move with precision…
Use that song in your heart for each intention…
Follow your dreams, thoughts true implemented…
Your creation exists, just beyond the template…
Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmm…”
– Caroline Amelie LeBoeuf- 2025