art that moves; physically, spiritually.
at the start of the pandemic in the month of april, i took a class.
my good friend and creative mentor, Jessica Holleque, had the opportunity to lead a week long artist guild workshop in Washington, which due to COVID, was cancelled.
in its place, she immediately (she was way ahead of the curve) made an online (and financially) accessible class for anyone and everyone who was looking to connect creatively.
a group of beautiful and inspiring women transpired as a result of her genius, and i was one of them. this class is 100% why i didn't go completely insane at that time; i'm sure of it.
(this is a photograph of me taken by jess at her apartment last winter.)
in this online class led by jess, i was introduced to elyse jokinen.
and she is hands down the reason i reconnected with the art of collage. (i say reconnect because as i kid, i would scrapbook and create collages all the time without naming it as such.)
Elyse's encouragement, her spirit, and her own personal drive behind her work has been instrumental in helping me see the possibilities with this medium.
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i titled this post "art that moves": physically, spiritually, metaphysically, emotionally, mentally, etc.
art is movement.
art is change.
art is process.
art is the movement of my own creating.
art is the product of my movement.
art erupts from my own thoughts, fears, dreams.
and is translated into a digestible, perhaps even pleasant, form.
for you.
and for me.
collage, i feel, is so within reach for anyone who wants to create.
you can use whatever scraps of inspiration you find from magazines, books, printed photographs, cereal cartons... anything!
if it helps, i'll put a list together of what you might need.
then go home, give it a go, and send me what you made!
you will (physically) need:
paper
glue stick
scissors
magazines (or other printed works)
coffee and weed (or anything else that helps you feel relaxed :)
comfortable table and chair situation
trash bin for scraps
you will (emotionally) need:
to let go
ignore what you learned about art and rules
pretend like you don't care how it turns out
tell yourself gently, to be present
as my friend jess would say, you are picking up a pair of scissors! you are creating today! that alone is worthy of celebration. and enjoyment. and self love.
so!
go forth, my friends.
create today and tomorrow. not for anyone else. no no no. never.
always and only. just for you.
the joy it gives you will translate - i promise.
as always, feel free to connect with me on topics of my art, photography, or white guilt. i'd love to talk to you about white guilt. in the meantime, listen to my podcast.
i go into my own feelings around this topic and plan to release more episodes over time. it is a personal side project very dear to my heart.
alright, that's all for today, folks.
xoxo,
