Yesterday I did the youtube video that I also posted in my Facebook group.  You can watch it, below, if you feel like it.  But it made me think about the importance of community and how powerful being a part of, is.

Afterward I posted a more detailed prompt for my Patrons and promised them I’d figure out how to include Discord into the mix so that those who wanted to take up the challenge could post photos there.  I had to get my son to help me because I couldn’t remember how to access Discord within Patreon, but thankfully, he showed me and soon I was chatting with some of my patrons, to much hilarity.  And I was reminded once more of the joy of being a part of, the joy of having a community.

Sometimes when I can’t sleep, as is the case now, it’s 4am, I’ve been up since 2, I go into the other room and watch YouTube videos.  This morning I watched this:

Which again had me reflecting on community, and the power and exhilaration that comes with being a part of something far greater than ourselves.

There is nothing more moving, more emotionally impactful than art, whether that’s in the form of visual or music; art can move me to tears. There are key moments in my life that I remember to this day, such as when my parents took me to an exhibit of Diebenkorn at the Oakland museum and the thrill of being emotionally moved to tears by a painting or the first time I ever saw Wayne Thiebaud’s painting of a pair of black shoes.  I was transfixed, mesmerized, and I couldn’t even work out exactly why or watching flamenco dancers at the Joyce Theater and realizing I had tears streaming down my cheeks. Art, music, dance… creative expression astounds, engages, entertains, and is a constant reminder that I’m not alone, that I’m one of many, that whatever I’m going through, others have too.

I’ve mentioned before that I am teaching a workshop beginning this coming Saturday that I am more excited about than anything I’ve taught previously.  Finding Your Voice Through Exploration & Creativity is more personal to me than anything I’ve done before and I’m thrilled that it’s almost sold out.  I have just 3 spots left in it.  Finding your voice is all about finding yourself in your artistic expression and how to do that if you don’t know where to look.  It’s about working through fear and recognizing that fear while creating can be debilitating, but there are things one can do to work around it and do the work anyway.  Finding your voice is about claiming yourself and creating what only you can create.  Finding your voice is about putting ourselves out in the world so that we can become part of a larger artistic community.  Finding your voice is the single most exciting thing I’ve had the joy of experiencing.

Here’s to finding your voice and owning it!