Sharing is caring...

I currently hold three jobs at the moment. One of them is at the Museum of Latin American Art, in Long Beach. I lead art workshops every Sunday, free for all and they are based on what's being shown in the gallery. So, the current exhibition is that of Felipe Ehrenberg, a super cool artist from Mexico, with a lot of very colorful, fun, graphic work. And because his work is so fun, it calls for super-fun workshops, like the one I had this past Sunday, where I had a large image I had to break down into a grid and then have my peeps draw a different part of that grid to be combined into one collective piece. I usually have a nice mixture of adults and kids, in this case, it allowed for a very cool finished product in the end.

So, this job is so cool because I get to create an environment where people of all sorts get to explore their thoughts and ideas in an already inspired environment. Some people come in and tell me they don't know what to make/ do, but in this instance it was a little more direct, and the fact that it was a collaborative project, I think may have added to the pressure to contribute SOMETHING (kinda like those baskets that float around church: no one wants to be that one guy/ girl who didn't leave a contribution). In the end, we had a finished product that was a communal effort, where people could not only admire the work of others, but themselves as well.

It was so cool to be the leader of a creative process, to have cool material to work with as a tool to ignite the creative flame in other peeps who declare they, "have no artistic skills" or "don't know how to draw" or "can't" and that makes my heart swell with happiness.

I'd also like to add that art and creativity, is not about having your work up in a gallery, or trying to understand everything about each image but rather a means of expression (in my opinion and experience). And the fact that I get to share this idea with strangers, and instigate creativity, is so rewarding, (especially when they tell me how much fun they had, or how they've never worked with certain media before, or how this is their relaxing time), it makes my full day of work going from job-to-job, so worthwhile.

Also, I strongly believe in the idea that sharing is caring, and I think this lovely anecdote is just that. So I do hope that if you have something you are truly passionate about, something that gets you so excited, that it'd be nice to share. If you think about it, there had to have been someone who shared their excitement about something with you, right?