Aside from being lots of fun while helping me personally cope with this huge, isolating life change, this project also taught me a great deal about how different people approach art and artistic collaboration. Exposing myself to these different approaches allowed me to expand my limited artistic practice into something broader. For instance, I wouldn’t have thought to try some mediums like makeup and musical animation without the influence of my collaborators.
I'm still working on and looking for new collaborations!
I’m also developing a program called Art Surrogacy where I will invite people in need of art for their homes who may not be “practicing artists” to work with me to make art of their own. It’s an experiment in closing the gaps between the consumer, the art, and the artist.
When faced with the looming threat of COVID-induced solitude, I created a social safety net where I would be forced to connect with real people. I collaborated with friends, artists, and “non-artists” alike and posted the results on Instagram. Eventually even strangers who had found the account online showed interest in collaborating! Each collaboration started with a phone call where we discussed our interests or artistic practices. What followed varied greatly depending on the person. Some projects took a week, and others 3 months.