We had a busy week here at common art and Boston Warm! Musicians from the New England Conservatory came to play for us during lunch time, which was beautiful. The community seemed to really enjoy the live music. As it began, the whole room grew quiet and focused on the music; some members even danced and swayed along to the melodies. It was a deep breath in the midst of a busy day!
In the morning, our artist-in-residence Tali led a Community Artist Meeting to get more input from community members on what activities/programming they would like to see more of. The group decided that moving forward we would have artist meetings on Wednesday mornings. During each of these weekly meetings, a different member would share a piece of art (or an artistic activity in their practice) and talk about the process and meaning behind it. Then, Tali would offer a famous poem or piece of art for the group to analyze and discuss together. By encouraging and inspiring each other in new ways, we hope this time would help transform our personal creativity into collective creativity.
Last Wednesday at the first installment of these meetings, one of our regular members shared an art activity that she uses to center and ground herself. She passed out pieces of paper and invited the group to fold theirs into four sections. Then she gave a drawing prompt for each section:
- What wakes you up in the morning?
- What keeps you going throughout the day?
- What do you give to others?
- What do you want people to think about when they think of you?
Everyone then spent some time completing their own quadrants. They seemed to enjoy the activity and expressed gratitude to Avi for sharing her creativity.
Unfortunately, due to the business of the day on Wednesday, we had to postpone the second session of my caretaker group until next week. Flexibility and adaptability are important parts of group planning, so pivoting the plan is part of the process! I’m excited at the thought of reporting about our second session here next week!
–Alex Shoemaker