I did something fun today

And I will do it again and again….

There’s a pre-publication review book I’m reading right now. The book is coming out in June and can be pre-ordered on Amazon. It’s called Make Art or Die Trying by Stuart Semple, Rockport Publishers. The review is for Color Magazine that is dedicated to color pencil artists. In the book, Stuart writes about performance art and gives multiple examples of things he and others have done.

Performance art is defined as “Artworks that are created through actions performed by the artist or other participants, which may be live or recorded, spontaneous or scripted.” 

For instance, one time Stuart installed a big, white, inflatable bouncing floor. He put a sign on it that simply said, “Jump.” Once people got into the spirit of it, multiple people would jump at the same time, affecting the others who might be on there. Another time, he posted a notebook where people could add their thoughts and then leave it for the next person.

While reading these accounts, I thought this would be fun but I’m not in a position to do any sort of performance art. Then I had an idea. There is an artist in Vancouver, Canada, who sits in his local park and draws trees, buildings, or people on index card sized paper. When he leaves, he either hands the piece of art to someone or he leaves it on the park bench for someone to find. Ah-ha, I thought. This could be my performance art.

I made a painting of a vase of roses on a 4”x4” card. On the back I wrote:

This vase of roses was drawn for you the morning of May 14, 2024.

What will you do with it?

*Use it as a bookmark?

*Throw it away?

*Give it to someone else?

*Try to find out who I am?

*Sell it?

This is yours. Do with it what you wish.

Today we met some family members for lunch and I left this piece of art in the ladies’ room. This is my performance art. I have no idea who will receive the painting, if they will like it or not, or what will happen with it. I am detached from the results.

What I do know is I will be giving someone at least a few minutes of variety in their lives. Who goes to the ladies’ room expecting to find an original piece of art they can take or leave? I am helping to plant some joy, I hope, in the mass consciousness. We need much more of this to balance all the hate and fear, lies and cruelty, going on all around us.

What can you do? If you make any sort of art, you could use this same concept. If you don’t draw or paint, could you write an affirmation or poem, or cut out some photos from a magazine and make a small collage? Just imagine what would happen if even 50 or 60 people could have this experience because we took the time and made the effort to share some joy? We can all be performance artists!

I’m going to make some more small pieces of art like this and have them with me to leave in various locations. Now I can say I am a performance artist!

 If you do this, let me know and share how it made you feel!

Living in grace and ease,

Krysta