Research
The Art Den is a space set up for youth workers to create art and share the experience with others. The Art Den is more than just a physical space. On the website, ideas are posted for people working with youth. Art projects are given to inspire creativity in youth groups. Media forms range from sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, worship, and writing. I found this site by following a link from The Transpire Project: http://artden.wordpress.com/. I am interested in this cause, because I love art and I very much enjoy working with children. The combination of two things I dearly treasure can be found at this site.
Fair Indigo is a company that pays “fair wages to the good people who make our clothes and accessories instead of the minimum wages that dominate the clothing market today.” Their mission is to advocate for a greater fair trade movement. It started with a few people who left their jobs working for major clothing brands to start a change in the apparel industry. They create quality clothes while paying “a fair and meaningful” wage to their workers. The workers make fair wages, a month’s paid vacation, loan assistance, and a five month maternity leave (when necessary). I found out about this site from my dear friend’s, Lindsay Lombard, blog: http://www.fairindigo.com/index.php/fair_trade/Women. I am interested in this cause because I have been sewing since I can remember. I also think that women need advocates. Here in the U.S., it is easy to feel discriminated against. As a woman feeling discrimination in our “land of the free,” it is easy to imagine what it is like in other countries where people are making a bottom-line minimum wage for their fiber art. This cause hits home with me as a fiber-artist and a woman.
Learning To Love You More is a website that gives out assignments to others that offer a way to practice loving others in creative ways. One assignment says to make a creative banner that says something positive like, “Everything will be okay.” After the assignment is complete, people can submit their pieces of art as videos, photos, etc. At the end, all the art is displayed online to inspire others. Some of the art is even shown in museums, galleries, senior citizen centers, radio shoes, and film festivals. I found out about this site by following a link off of the Art Den site Transpire Project: http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/hello/index.php. This interests me because it is so vital to practice loving others. Learning To Love You More is a way to pull an artist out of a slump. It offers inspiration on a daily basis through assignments. The assignments are not only inspirational to the artist, but they also offer a way to show love to others!
“The job of the artist is to wake the viewer up,” –Bo Bartlett. The Transpire Project has a mission to do just that! Artists create in public places to “make known,” or “bring light to” the deeper meaning behind the art. They believe that the “creative process” communicates to people on a level that is impossible to reach by verbal communication alone. They work to inspire others through authentic and unique experiences. When the art is being created, donations are being taken up; when the art is finished, it is auctioned off and the money is donated towards the cause that was painted. I found out through talking to a friend, Jason Pierce, about my art minor, and knowing my heart, he recommended their web site to me: http://transpireproject.wordpress.com/. The cause interests me the most, because I am an artist. My original major was in graphic design but I changed it because I decided I care more about people than money; but the transpire project provides me with an example of how to create and use my art to help others.
My Experience
One Month to Make a Difference. This is a phrase that the majority of people might reflect on in the later years of life as they look back on how they have influenced others. I have always lived with a “one day at a time” philosophy. Living this way helps me to keep my priorities in check and not worry about what tomorrow holds. For this project, my area of need is people, more specifically students.
During finals, everyone feels the pressure of crunch time, and often students forget to keep true to others and themselves. When people are running on minimal sleep and red bull, it is easy to forget to love others, and attempt to make a difference as an individual. Students in particular seem to have a vast amount of free time. They have many options for their free time. They could use this time in a positive or negative manner, building others up or bringing them down. Students have countless opportunities to make a difference. Volunteering is often required for class and time is ample to give to causes that students believe in. If a student finds a cause that they support whole-heartedly, it is very probable that they will continue to support the cause throughout a large portion of their adult life. Students are a significant population to target.
Goals and objectives are a vital part to projects.
Goal: To have a positive impact on students in Sewell park through chalk art.
Objective 1: Create chalk art in Sewell park.
Objective 2: Interact with viewers while creating the art. Ask questions and offer explanations as needed. Always maintaining a positive attitude with interactions.
Objective 3: Leave the art in Sewell to impact other viewers and spark their curiosity.
In the past, I have done public presentations of photography, acrylics, wooden sculptures, and graphic design all in attempt to positively influence my viewers. I picked chalk this particular time because it will last (on a temporary level). With acrylics, once I pack up the paints, I am finished. The canvas is either given away or comes home with me; my house becomes a gallery, only visible to those who enter its walls. Chalk art is left where it was drawn. And if the art is left, then the message the art holds is also left. People will walk by while I am drawing and ask questions about my cause and interact with me, sometimes even drawing alongside me. With chalk, I know that even if I only interact with three people while the creation process is happening, my art will still be visible and effect those viewing it. You can't take chalk with you; it simply stays until washed off or the clouds produce rain.
I spent a two hours in the park drawing with a friend. In previous chalk-drawing experiences, I have brought friends, family, and once my entire leadership class. I like to bring people with me when I do this because it is interesting to see other peoples’ perspectives on what is motivational. It also helps the artists to feed off one another’s creativity. No funds were raised, but this is a component that I could add in the future to support a cause in a financial matter as well as a visual one. While we were drawing in the park, seven different people stopped to talk to us and ask us what we were doing. One man asked if we would get in trouble and we told him that we had asked permission in advance (this is a key factor to consider, because if the art is not approved, more damage may be done than good, and that is not the goal). Two children came by and were like, “Flowers, cool!” They sounded out the word “G-R-O-W. Grow!” I asked them if they wanted to draw too, but they declined saying that they were leaving. A lot of folks asked us why we were drawing in the park. We told them, “Because we care,” or, “Because you are loved.” The cool thing about sidewalk chalk is knowing that regardless of the number of people that are talked to while the work is being created, the effects of the art that was created will continue to be displayed and impact people in a positive manner. The cool thing about the effect the art has on viewers post-creation, is that there is often a sort of curiosity that is sparked. The viewer wonders about the artist and the artist's motives. As they start to explore the artist's motives, they also begin to explore their own. This is the key point where the art has a chance to change the viewer and positive motivation occurs. As mentioned earlier, this will continue until it either rains or the chalk is washed off manually. The number of people reached has the potential to be infinite.
Reflection
I make this art with a message. Upon entering an art gallery, one is exposed to the art within the walls of the gallery. A viewer leaves the gallery changed. The viewer may hate the art and leave with a bad taste in their mouths about the artist or just life in general. The viewer may love the art and leave with a new inspiration to live their life in hope that tomorrow is a new day. Some galleries are expensive, and others are just holes in the wall that do not even exist to the rest of society. With galleries, only a certain select group of people have the opportunity to view the work. By creating art in a public place, like a park or mall, all types of people are exposed to creation process. They get to watch a blank canvas turn into a masterpiece. Something about that nothing-to-something process gives the viewer hope. They may be feeling as empty as the blank canvas in front of them; they may have "made mistakes" on their canvas and are curious to see if the painter can still make the work beautiful in the end. Regardless of the individual's situation, on one level or another, everyone can relate to the creation process.
Different to me means living a lifestyle that is set apart from that of the rest of the world. I am dissimilar. I am unlike the typical person. There is a part of me that is distinct from the rest of the population. This art is not a matter of time, it is a matter of a lifestyle. The art I create, the choices I make the people I associate myself with all have the potential to make a difference. Ultimately these things have a positive or negative, a good or bad impact on my life and the lives of the people around me, friends and family that I love. To me making a difference, is waking up in the morning and deciding that I am going to glorify God with every aspect of my life as much as I possibly can. This decision includes a fight to love my neighbor as myself, and be an ambassador for the cause of Christ. Art is a simple way to do just this. Mistakes are made (more often than not), but if I was perfect, I would not need Jesus. Forgiveness is a beautiful thing. I am different from the rest of everybody else, because He is my Lord. It is because of Jesus that I am different.
I am passionate about art because it has a special place in my heart. I believe art can address a person's needs on a level that is impossible to reach verbally. I love art because it is a part of who I am. It is a way for me to give and receive love. I see beauty in other people's art. I see beauty in the art I make and the people who view it. If a stranger views my art, I love that person, regardless of the effect it has on them. I am able to love a stranger solely on the common ground of that particular piece of art. I would like to think that the art will have some sort of positive effect on them, but perhaps the fact that my art allows me to love a stranger makes the positive effect greater for me.
To make a difference, I believe we need to love everyone as human beings and claim that loving others is our own responsibility. People think that it is it is the president's job, a teacher's job, a nurse's job, a pastor's job, or a firefighter's job to love others. This is all well and true, but it is also our job to love others. If we could all love on an individual level and really own that love as our new identity, we would begin to see a difference in the world. If I would stop passing the buck and really and truly try to love everyone, the change would be phenomenal! This sounds fairly simple, but the same love that you have for your mother, you would also have towards a homeless man in Austin. The same love you showed towards your brother, you would give to the obnoxious lady in the grocery line with the big mole on her chin. Ah? Stepping on toes now? What about the love we gave to our best friend as the same love we gave to terrorists? See, loving everyone means loving everyone. Loving everyone includes our enemies. Didn't anyone ever think that maybe the terrorists would stop blowing things up if we sent them care packages with Gatorade? I mean, those deserts must be pretty hot over there, it would be a way we could show them love by helping them stay hydrated. Loving everyone is a practice that needs to come into play for us to make a difference. This is not a process that will happen overnight, but if everyone were to start practicing it on a very small scale, it would grow. Life would pour out of this growing love and the change that was being made would be visible from all over the world.
To make a difference, I drew art. We all have different gifts and talents. Mine is art. The children that stopped to talk to be very well may be inspired to go home and decorate driveways in their neighborhood with chalk flowers. Wouldn't that be beautiful? Others who stop to gaze at the chalk creations may question how they are living their lives and what their priorities are. I will never know (in full) what a difference my art made. All I can do is offer it up for the viewer to behold and practice a lifestyle that mimics the intentions of my art.
Obstacles that keep me from making a difference are mostly time constraints and my humanness. I am destine to make mistakes, and sometimes the mistakes that I make do not represent who I really aspire to be. Also, if I had all the time in the world, I think it would be easier to create art and love people. It is difficult for me not to make agendas.
I desire to love and create art outside the bounds of time. I am working towards this goal by making it more of a lifestyle than a project. If the creation of art and loving others is more of a lifestyle, it will come naturally to create and love; the two will be so much a part of who I am, it will be almost as an identity. If creating and loving are a part of my identity, then time will not be able to distract me from what is important and I will continually be able to make a difference in people's lives, because I will be, by definition, different.
This contributes to my growth as a leader because I am the one who is stopping the passing of the buck. I am taking a step towards loving others. I am taking a step onto an unmarked trail, and I will leave more than bread-crumbs for others to follow! If I am able to love as a lifestyle, then I can show others that this possibility is now a reality. Others will see the joy that I have from loving others. They will see the obvious difference in my life and they will want to be a part of it. Through the joy they receive from loving others, will spring a hope that is irresistibly contagious. What hope will spring from one person's desire to love.
One of the lessons I learned was that I am not alone in my efforts to communicate love through art. By doing the research portion of this paper, I have found out that there are resources for artists such as myself. There are even others who feel that art has the power to make a positive change in the world. Their web sites offer inspiration and motivation to continue to create.
In the future, I would like to continue to create art in public places. Maybe I could advance to a different location, other than Sewell. I could also go back to doing medias, other than chalk, in public. This would add an interesting twist that would allow for financial support. Funds raised could go towards purchasing more art supplies or to a charity of my choice. Either would benefit others, either financially, or by being able to view the creation of more works of art. Mostly, I plan to integrate loving others and creating art into a part of my lifestyle. This will allow me to do both on a more regular basis and definitely increase my skills as a leader. As these two things are integrated, I will love people more and create art more as the two are a part of my identity.
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