The Value of a Community

Today I want to talk about being a part of a community. Not just any community, but an art community. I had that in college when I was surrounded by other creatives completely immersed in their work. We were strongly encouraged to articulate our ideas and have healthy debates about them. Afterwards, I slowly lost touch with that as I went off to conquer the world and my classmates did the same. Years later, I've rediscovered the importance in surrounding yourself with other creative people. Musicians do this naturally. They need others to play with (usually). Artists can be pretty solitary creatures and can get used to being alone with their ideas. That's fine for working things out, but the exchange of ideas with others often leads to new things. It can lead you where you may never have gone. I'm lucky to have found a group of very cool women to do this with at a local gallery to me, called ART (that matters).


Twice a month there is group of us that meet and share work there. We share our new work, our ideas and we give each other feedback and support. It is a community that has provided nourishment to my creative spirit. I've been working these last twenty years as a creative professional and rarely meet other artists. Sure, I've worked with other designers, painters, photographers and writers. Most of which have lost the burning desire to create that inspired them to pursue a creative career in the first place. If I had a dollar for every person who said 'I used to draw a lot, but just don't have the time...' I could buy nice kolinsky sable...What they're really saying is I've lost the desire. Life got more interesting. There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't relate. Going to my women's group I now spend time with artists that MAKE the time because they NEED to create. Just like I do. It's really not an option not to. For many years I didn't have that support and was creating in a vacuum. I see now what I was missing – that being part of an art community is inspiring and reinforces that what I'm doing is important. Now I'm not the lone wacky arty-farty. I'm just one of a bunch of wacky arty-farties. Much more comforting! So tell me, what do you do to stay inspired and what nourishes your creative spirit?

Who, what, where, when, why is art important?

Well I decided to start this blog to talk about art. It's been the one consistent thing I've stayed interested in since early childhood. Starting with drawing contests with my older brother – which he always won (though my mother would never admit it!), to getting attention in school for being good at art, to studying painting in college and as my constant companion in adulthood – art has been my best friend. I'd like to use this space to feature all things art: my art, my friends' art, interesting galleries, new materials, new ideas. Most of all, I'd like to exchange ideas. So feel free to comment and agree or disagree. It's all good. Want me to feature your work? Send me a picture or two and something about it and maybe I'll post it. I don't want to talk about me all the time...

I'm curious what makes people create. I don't always know where it comes from, even when it's mine. It's a curious thing the drive and the desire to make something where nothing used to be. That's the part that has remained absolutely magic. So let's share a little magic :-)

I'm posting a piece of my recent work to get it started here. This is a wood construction with oil paint. It's the first success of many failed experiments where I have tried to make free-form shapes in different layers.

I am very interested in organic shapes that are reminiscent of things you recognize but can't quite place. There are so many shapes and rhythms that repeat in nature on a large scale down to microbiology. Are they planetary orbits, tree rings, or cells? My hope is that the end result feels familiar and relatable without a specific narrative. I'm hoping to have a more universal story that can mean something different to each viewer. Or, maybe it just looks cool and I get to use power tools to make it. What do you think?