Collective Art Make Your Mark

A few weeks ago, we hosted an event in The Building we own. We had live music, a DJ, a food truck, a fire pit burning, a magician, a trampoline to jump on and an art gallery. The art gallery consisted of art from myself, my partner, and our daughter. It also had a piece for the community to create. This is not my first collective art board I have held for the community but it is the first more intimate piece I’ve put together. I started off with a big white board. On it, I wrote out “Collective Art Make Your Mark” and then I drew out my business logo by tracing my left hand and drawing a third eye in the center. In the corner, I wrote out my social media tag. I left different color paint pens for people to draw on the board as they pleased. My expectation was that people would draw symbols, designs, or just random drawings. However, the end result was about 20% drawings and 80% writing. While I 100% enjoyed how the piece turned out regardless of my expectations of the community, it made me curious why people chose to write their name, social media tag, political mark or saying on the board. 

The artwork that was created has a graffiti style to it. Living in the city, I see a lot of graffiti and I do like seeing artwork that consists of characters or designs but when it comes to people writing their name on public property I question what makes this person so special that they get to deface something for their name. We live in a world where everyone believes they are somebody, somebody special and unique. People post on social media, where they are, what they look like, who they are dating, their recent problems, them eating pizza, or driving in the car listening to music. Why are you so special that we should be paying attention to you? People want to be seen and known, everyone wants a gold star. When I think about the history of civilization, I see that the people who really mattered left nothing behind. The civilization that left no trash, no houses, no cars, no plastic things. They mattered because they realized that the world around them, the environment and their community mattered more than the individual. On the other end, they also realized that in order for the community to thrive, each individual needs to flourish to their full potential. One of my favorite sections from the book Braiding Sweetgrass is called the Three Sisters. It is about the reciprocity in a garden between the bean, the corn, and the squash and how each plant does what it needs to do to thrive in its own growth and when this happens they flourish better together as a whole. Author Robin Wall Kimmerer says that this teaching is one of the basic teachings of the natives. She states, “The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others.” So, who are you, why is your name so special? Are you wanting your name to be seen and known or are you adding and contributing to the world and people around you for it to thrive? Maybe both are true, the dichotomy that you are nobody, your name is not special, you are a blip in time, but also, you are somebody, an individual who needs to flourish to contribute to the benefit of the community and the whole. And the real question is how are you contributing? What is it that you’ll leave behind? 

I think, in the end, the biggest thing you leave behind when you die, how you made people feel. That is what art is about right? Eliciting a feeling. After having a conversation with someone towards the end of the night, he opened my eyes to the fact that I directed people into the avenue of words. I placed big letters on the board and I wrote my social media tag. I created the start of 20% drawing 80% words. While I knew the social media tag might start that trend, the rest was an unintentional directional push. I can fully understand what happened though.There is a big blank white canvas, permanent markers, and someone telling you to make something on it, the brain can be intimated on what to do and how to act so naturally we as humans act in the direction of the collective of humans. If you want to break that down into basic human needs we want to belong and do right. I was so grateful for this conversation because not only did it help me see where my part lied, but he also understood the other feeling I was trying to convey through my hand, business, self and having this piece for the collective. My business, what I am trying to do for you, for the collective is to open you up to you. To help you understand that your creative self lies within, you just have to feel it and let it out. This person I had the conversation with added in the final marks to the collective board for the night and he tied it all together perfectly. From my hand he drew a big heart. On either side of my hand he drew two big eyes. Further out he drew two big tear drops, which to me look like big ears. After I witnessed the drawing I was just in awe that someone, on some wave length either felt, heard, or understood the very essence of what I was and am trying to convey. That my job here on earth is to intake the community melting pot and to reflect it back onto them through my own eyes, ears, and head in a regal manner. To create a space where the voices weave into one in order to lead them into a shift of consciousness. Ultimately, it’s not my name that matters but it’s what I can give back to you all. For my hand is your hand and your hands are mine. Someone else drew some hearts on my finger tips as finger prints, one of them being an infinity heart. I told this person thank you for drawing hearts on my hand, literally my hand that I traced. He said thanks for putting your hand there and having this board for us. My hand, my work, my love, is for all of you and also, it can’t happen without you. 

The name of the show was Pure Love and that pure love shines through the canvas. The feeling elicited, love, connection, community, and humanity.  I have poured so much love, physically and emotionally into The Building that I co-own. To help create a space for the community and for my family. There are so many spaces out there to drink, party, listen to music, and eat, especially in the city, it’s all consuming. Why are we so special? The answer is because of you. So, thank you so much for all the hands who came together in a collective space to make this amazing piece of collective art. I am forever grateful for the names, sayings, tags, portraits, doodles, and thoughtful drawings. I look forward to the next piece we can co-create together and reflecting on it.