Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life forever.
Amy Poehler
Art-making is typically a solitary endeavour.
In order to create and refine our work, artists need blocks of time without interruption or distraction. An afternoon to ponder a work in progress, testing out ways to move forward, playing with solutions, experimenting with new colour palettes and ways to make marks.
While I value my solo creative time, I do find regular interactions with other creatives to be hugely beneficial to my art practice. Especially this past year, with galleries closed, art workshops cancelled and other in-person events postponed indefinitely.
I’m enormously grateful for my little online communities and the relationships they’ve helped me cultivate. Not only do they give me my daily art gallery ‘fix’, they’ve also provided me with valuable feedback on my work, introduced me to new ways of creating and motivated me to keep showing up and doing the work, even on days when I didn’t really feel like it.
This month I’m participating in two Instagram art challenges; #21daysinmyartworld (hosted by Tara Leaver) and #31daysofcreativepractice (hosted by Phoebe Gander). And while I’d love to say that I find something to post each and every day, I haven’t and I likely won’t. As with other aspects of my art practice, I try not to ‘should’ or ‘must’ myself into creating.
My goals with these challenges are three-fold:
- return to a habit of daily art-making after a bit of a hiatus over the holidays (sharing studio space with a 16-year video gamer isn’t exactly conducive to creativity 😉 )
- cultivate and deepen relationships with other artists and creatives (following the hashtags to comment and share their work with my followers)
- share more of myself as a person, letting others see what inspires my work and join me on my creative journey
While I could certainly do all of these things on my own, doing so with a group of like-minded individuals creates a sense of participating in something bigger than just my own art. And it’s a great way to stay accountable to my intentions for the year.
Are you participating in any art challenges this month?
Tell me about your art practice; solitary creative or craving your tribe?
