The Wednesday before Easter we had a lovely celebration at common art. We spent the morning making Easter eggs. It was great to have everyone working on their artwork with this additional festive activity available. With the holiday and Spring now upon us, spirits have been greatly lifted. The long winter was definitely not easy for many in our community, which made me appreciate our joy so much more.
Musings from the Margins
Weaving a Farewell Tapestry
I am thinking of endings today as I recently announced to the community that I only have a short time left at common art. I expressed my gratitude to everyone and told the community how much they have helped me grow. I shared with them the site where I’ll be going for my second internship and explained how my experience with them helped me get this opportunity.
Trading Cards
This week I really felt my growth as a facilitator. Over this past year I have worked on building my confidence and my ability to identify what art activities will be well received by the community. While I can come up with many ideas of art to make, not all of them are going to be of interest to the artists. So, in order to lead a successful art-making idea I need to have built my own confidence as well as an understanding of what the community enjoys. I also need to know what small challenges could be embraced.
Silent Appreciation
One thing I am coming to learn is to not be afraid of hearing the word no. Even if I feel certain someone will say no, when it comes to inviting someone to participate, I am learning to ask anyway. Not only because it is nice to be included and thought of even when you don’t plan on participating, but also sometimes the answer is yes! This week I made it my mission to go out of my comfort zone and ask people to join my artmaking even if I feel certain they will say no. While I did get many no’s at common art on Wednesday, I also got so many more yes’s than usual because I put myself out there and was okay with hearing no. This has become a theme throughout my time at common art. I find whenever I push myself to ask anyway, I am so happily surprised by people’s willingness to join in.
Identifying Strengths
This winter at common art we have had a lot of staff and volunteers away, whether for just a week or for some months. Missing so many people really showed me how much each person brings to common art and how strongly I feel their absence. I was able to really test my growth last week as our resident artist Allie took a much-deserved week off. Her absence gave me a clear picture of just how much she does for the program.
Reflection on Our Loss
This past week was very difficult. Last Tuesday we lost one of our community members, Roger. The news of his death hit me very hard, so I was grateful that I was told the day before common art. That let me take care of myself first, so that I could be there for the community the next day. Moving through the day with the weight of this loss was challenging, but we found that we could share the burden together. Continue reading
Give and Take of Creativity
Last Wednesday I was able to return to common art with a lot more energy after a week’s break. It reminded me how important self-care is when it comes to being able to care for others. That day we began working with clay in order to make beads for jewelry. Each week we normally have volunteers who lead beading up on the stage in our space. They will be away, however, for a few months. In their absence we are working to provide other activities for the community, especially for those who would normally engage in the beading. Continue reading
Just Being There
Leading up to the holidays was a very fun time at common art, of making festive art and talking about plans and memories. Having these things to look forward to helped create an uplifted spirit in the community, even with the weather getting colder. Coming back after the holidays, however, I could definitely feel a slump among everyone in the community. Many of our staff and volunteers were away last week and will be away for a little while for varying reasons. COVID also hangs very heavily over me and the community at this time. So, I felt a little overwhelmed, in addition to feeling that lull myself, I also felt that I had to make myself bigger and have more energy to fill the spaces that were now empty. I know these coming months will be a challenge to bring excitement and art making to our community because of the winter lull.
Thanksgiving Table
Before fully jumping into this next part of the holiday season I want to write about the great success that was common art on Thanksgiving Eve. As I had wanted to take on a bigger project with everyone for a while, I challenged myself to come up with an art activity that would engage almost the whole community around thanksgiving. While I have led one or two tables in artmaking and pulled community members in, I had not yet attempted to engage as many people as possible. This was also a good challenge for me as one of the biggest things I am continually working on is “pulling people in” to the artmaking process. I feel joy when I am able to have someone who doesn’t often engage in the art, create something.
Farewell, Amanda!
This week at common art we had another staff member leave us. This was Executive Director Amanda Grant-Rose’s last week. On Wednesday at a big celebration in her honor many of our community members gave speeches and goodbyes. It was wonderful to hear everybody share stories about what an impact Amanda had on their lives over the seven years she worked here. This experience made me think more deeply about how we can influence each other’s lives and my own role here at common art. Two weeks prior we had lost our barista. I spoke a little bit in my previous blog post about the effect this loss has on the community. Both he and Amanda played big rolls in the lives of our community for the years they were here.