The First Annual Procrastinator's Art Show Part I: The Art

Coffee. Paint. Matchboxes. Good to go...

 For all the art that goes on around here, there is always a list in the back of my mind or somewhere folded into my notebook of things I want to try.  Print-making, quilting, embroidery, knitting socks, shadow puppets, weaving - to name a few of the bigger endeavors.  The time when most art gets made is in the crunch time between Thanksgiving and Solstice, or, as recently happened for a friend's birthday, the day of the party. I am truly a procrastinator, in that arena and so many others...Why clean the fridge when there is something - anything - else to do???? Even the things that I love doing get moved to the back of the line, as needing too much of my attention or time, or different materials, or whatever excuse floats to the surface at the moment.

It turns out I'm not alone.  A few months ago some friends of ours were having dinner and someone mentioned that she was trying to finish a quilt for her mother. Someone else mentioned wanting to finally put their book of drawings together.  Our good friend F. started work on a skiff summer before last and needed a kick to get it done.  All of this coalesced into the first annual Procrastinator's Art Show (called Procrasti Nation!) at our neighborhood community arts center.  My next post will show you what all made it to the final night, but here I'll show you what Eliza and I came up with ourselves.

I called our project "this is for you", and what we did was create tiny works of art to give away.  I have always wanted to come up with an art project/act of guerilla goodness that would be fun to make and so much fun to find.  At first I just thought we would display what we finished and then we would hide them around town ourselves (can you imagine finding something like this behind the can of beans at the grocery store? Or on a shelf at the library? Or when you go through the drive-through at the bank?), but then I thought that it would be fun if we involved the public by offering them to the people who came to the art event, and encouraged them to take them and share them...

When I explained what I was madly doing (on Thursday. for the art show on Friday.) to Eliza, she quickly jumped in to make with me. We were in the zone...

 Some were made with accordian books inside that told stories, or dreams, or included a favorite poem.

 Some were collections of words we love...scrumptious...rascal...petrichor...

 One of my favorites housed a field guide to mer-creatures of the world...

 At the end of the evening we were left with only a couple of boxes; some were selected by delighted friends who confessed that they might not be able to let them go (we suggested they might be inspired to make some of their own to share), and some by strangers who stood and read through them all.

 I thought it might be hard for Eliza to let go of the work she'd done, but she caught the spirit and was so tickled as she watched the box empty over the evening...Now to find a moment to make some more and set out on a mission of hiding some beauty for someone to find...musn't put it off...