In Case Of Artistic Emergency try a few of these "homework" assignments
"In Case Of Emergency, Don't Leave Home
Without Your Umbrella" Collage by Lani
Because creative emergencies may re-occur
and because it's fun, you can also look for
Do you have any favorite tasks that move you into an exciting place of "doing"?
Leave a comment here!
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"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or
too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and
greed, but lack of faith. patience , patience, patience, is what the
sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open,
choiceless as a beach -- waiting for a gift from the sea." - Anne
Morrow Lindbergh
"The mind, however, is a very fun place to dig for treasure. Think of these ideas as a spade and shovel. Play!"
-Lani
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are two websites that have some ideas are for those of us who have art support groups who would be willing to play with the idea of random acts of artistic kindness (guerrilla art).
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This idea came from Jen Gray's blog. Do you feel as though your mind and body work overtime, no time off, no lunch hour? Would you ask an employee to work that hard? Why not take a personal day, with camera or art journal and go out and have an adventure. Document it. Let me know how it went.
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This exercise comes from Cathy Moon, art therapist, author,
and professor at the Art Institute in Chicago:
Pick a material or two to work with for ten days. Create ten works of art in ten days with the one or two limited materials of your choice. (Another version of this is from Roz Stendahl who in a series of journals drew and painted her dog, Dot, every day for five years. ) I guarantee you will learn a lot with either version of this exercise.
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Create a "Please Plant This Book" book. Richard Brautigan published Please Plant This Book in the Spring of 1968. It consisted of eight packets of garden seeds, each printed with a poem, all gathered in a small folder. We can do the same thing, creating a book of little packets with our best stuff, quotes, and pictures, and we can give this to an artist friend and see what happens. For the Brautigan poems, you can do a web search for Please Plant This Book & Richard Brautigan.
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This idea comes from Cynthia Korzekwa's website.
Cynthia create 18 X 24 cm. retablos painted on scrap cardboard. Each one is an expression of gratitude, simple thoughts expressed with simple materials, a form of visual thanksgiving. It's a way of looking at her day-to-day life and seeing and expressing the beauty of it, making it special . We can do this, create an artist trading card based on this Retablos idea, depicting some aspect of your everyday life for which you are thankful.
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Make 25 artist trading cards
(2 and 1/2 by 3 and 1/2 inch)
in an hour. Use paint, collage,
and rubber stamps. Look at
them all and see how you
are impoving, where your artistic
expression is getting braver
and more joyful. Give some
away. Find an artist to trade with.
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Slow yourself down for 20 min.
Pick a convenient twenty minute time
period and an activity like drawing or
sewing or eating chocolate. Do it at half
speed. What happens? Where is your
attention during this experience? Make
some notes in your journal if you find
something interesting.
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Create glamour bombs; these are little containers (like plastic Easter eggs) filled with glitter, inspiring messages, embellishments, & other fun stuff. Take a walk with your glamour bombs and look for places to put them where they will be seen.
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Write secret messages of kindness and inspiration on money. The messages will be passed on and read over and over again.
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Test pens and markers in your favorite art store by writing and drawing sweet things for people to see or read. Why not?
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Get a bucket of colorful chalk, some inspiring quotes (like from The Artist’s Way), and leave messages on sidewalks where people will find them. (for interesting reading on this go to French Toast Girl's website: http://www.frenchtoastgirl.com/)
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Become a postcard fairy. Create beautiful, snail-mail postcards; spread wonder, art, joy and magic.
Mail them out!
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Go on a treasure-hunt, don't come home before you have two found objects to alter. It is possible to do this with friends in your local second hand store as well, creating altered art objects for each other.
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Create a sand tray world (like a mini zen rock garden) with interesting little objects from a kids toy box (second hand stores are good for this stuff).
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Try the following with old magazines: Find a heroine or hero, a landscape, a manageable foe, & a magical gift. Create a collage with these items. You will find that what you have created will suggest to you a marvelously creative story of empowerment and strength.
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Make a list of people you think are more than satisfied with their lives. Interview them, find out what makes them happy, find out what inspires them, find out what their secret passions are. Make notes, listen carefully. You can always learn new stuff.
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Create an art seed packet for an artist friend. Put a variety of interesting items into this packet, collage materials, art objects, found objects, strange objects, etc. with these instructions:
*** Spill contents with careless abandon on fertile imagination ***
*** Water and fertilize with caring attention ***
*** Watch seedlings grow, watch flowers blossom, and fruit ripen ***
***Collect seeds and send on to other artists ***
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