creative community gives me life
When I think about my values in life, I think of community and creative work and the ways those can blend together.
I've been trying to be more consistent in my art, my creativity and my social media/small business. My friend Molly has also been wanting to be more consistent in her creative projects and sharing those projects online, building up an audience, and eventually creating a Youtube channel about all her hobbies and side quests.
At the end of June, I texted her and asked if she’d want to get coffee and map out content calendars and ideas for our creative instagrams and projects. Our goals are slightly different: I want to grow my business and connect more people from social media into my website so they can maybe, just maybe, become customers. Molly wants to create projects that bring her joy and use her gigantic stock pile of fabric and have a fun side hobby of content creation and sharing. While our types of creativity and specific goals are different, we’re friends with enough overlap that we make a great accountability team.
Last year, my friend Yagmur got a group of creatives together to go through The Artist’s Way together. A 3 month long journey that held me and my burn out in new ways and supported me trying new things (tshirt designs) and writing morning pages everyday, only missing a couple of times in the 3 months. It challenged me to see art and creativity as a practice and discipline, something I knew but didn't always feel connected to.
Between completing the Artist’s Way and having Molly as a support person, I am feeling more connected to my creative community, and inspired to continue digging into what that can look like. In July, Molly and I went to a block printing party at the Columbia City Library and I used the Block Printing Guild’s blocks to print onto a small tote bag. Finally fulfilling, and igniting, my dreams about learning to block print. Also in July, I hosted a creative cafe with friends at my house, I made coffees and muffins and everyone brought their projects. Some folks worked on their websites, some crocheted, some painted; it didn’t matter what we worked on, so long as we did it together. The atmosphere was everything I wanted it to be: cozy, friendly, inspiring and full of life.
Creative friends are my lifeblood these days, pushing me forward into new ideas, supporting and carrying me through the burn out and frustration and reminding me there’s always a new way to look at something. It’s because of my creative friends that I feel brave enough to ask for opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise pursue, they show me there’s no harm in asking for what I want. And remind me that sometimes I can achieve the dreams, even if not in the ways I anticipated.
