Hi Everyone!
Over the next couple of posts, I want to share my experience with community and collaboration as an Artist and why I think they are essential aspects of a healthy art practice.
As you know from recent posts, I moved here from Southern California. It’s a big distance to move and besides from several acquaintances and a couple friends of a friend, I didn’t really know ANYBODY.
Luckily, I moved here to be an Artist in Residence at a Community Art Center. Like it or not, by default I was going to be part of a community!
As a person and as an artist, community and collaboration have given me several very important things over the past couple of months.
First of all, the Community is a resource. It is a place to belong, to learn and to share wisdom, knowledge, and experiences. It is a balance between giving and receiving in a social and relational context.
Here is why this is important for Artists: sometimes we have BIG IDEAS and GRAND VISIONS. These big ideas and grand visions need a lot of support. They usually require us to develop new skills, find venues to share our work in, financial backing, people power, materials, time and space. That’s a lot for one artist to contend with. Or come up with alone.
Flower City Arts Center has connected me with people who have knowledge and skills I don’t have. Connecting with them is helping me grow my skill set and my art practice. It is also helping me refine the concept for my show in April and is helping me build relationships that are beneficial on a personal and professional level.
I have also had the pleasure of teaching while at FCAC. I have interacted now with both adults and youth in a facilitator position and this has been incredibly valuable. As an artist, teaching allows me to gain confidence in my own knowledge and skill set. Teaching helps me to experience first hand what value I bring to an environment. This is truly a remarkable feeling.
My teaching experience helps me refine my problem solving and organizational skills, helps me continue to define my value and purpose within the community and helps clarify where I have room to grow.
How has your community benefitted you as a person and an artist?
Stay tuned in for my upcoming posts on the same theme. I’ll be sharing about specific classes and people who have been integral to my residency so far!
I’ll be teaching a Lecture Series in the winter titled, The Art of Being an Artist. Lectures will take place on the third Thursday of the month January-March. In January my lecture will focus on the role of community and collaboration in my life as an artist. Look out for a full schedule of my lectures and classes and FCAC in the winter schedule!