This week went smoothly. Monday at the prison, I chose to have the women attending Art & Spirituality share a word they felt drawn to. I spent the evening writing them in script. I am thinking that I may add more words over time to build some kind of collage of them. I think it would be nice to set it up each week for the women to see, especially as it grows with more words.

Wednesday at Common Art went normally. but since my leaves project hasn’t been drawing that many people, I plan to get back into collage next week. I spoke with the resident artist about a challenge I have been having and wish to share. We can only have four chairs at a table. At my table I have some community members who sit with me every week. While I am happy that they appreciate my company, they often don’t engage in the art project and are there mostly to chat. While I hope my being there is beneficial to them, their needs could be weighed against those of participants who would also benefit from engaging in art with me.  I feel that the presence of these regulars discourages others from trying out the artwork I am doing. While  I don’t want to hurt feelings by asking people to sit elsewhere, I want to start pulling new people to my table. I also have been feeling tied to my table when I am leading art, which limits my ability to get up and reach out to the community to pull people in. I’m hoping that by leaning on others in the community I can get help pulling new people in while redirecting those who often come to my table.

— Marielle Carpentier