October Newsletter: Keepin’ it (Art) Classy
Keepin’ it (art) classy.
I have a confession to make: For years, I have been riding on the coattails of my kid to gain admission to artsy crafty venues.
Last month, my family attended an interactive event at the Academy Museum, where we created mood boards for the characters from the Pixar movie Inside Out. As we started the project, special guest art directors prompted: Choose a character and imagine their environment. (Of course, I chose to imagine where “Joy” might live.)
Mood boards are a big part of the creative process for set designers and art directors and they’re a great way to flesh out character and tone for writers too. I make a digital mood board at the beginning of every project for inspiration and it often ends up being part of a script pitch.
But this was not digital. And this was not a pitch. This was hands-on messy kid art vibes.
And I… was… into it.
Materials had been laid out for the kids so they (we?) could collage images to create the environment where our characters might live. There was ribbon in every color, stacks of magazines with colorful images, scraps of wallpaper, crayons, markers, scissors, glue...
ART CLASS!!!!
I’m breathless just thinking about it.
As the adults were chatting, I tuned them out. I was in a zone.
Even though he often loses interest in art projects well before I do, my son is always patient about letting me finish my creation before we leave. But I can’t ride his coattails forever.
Someday, he’ll be an adult too and we’ll be relegated to one of those wine-and-canvas places. But who wants a grown-up group painting project on a “Winesday”? Not me. Give me a space where there are provided materials, a suggested assignment, and free reign to go wild with creativity and make a mess with all the other kids.
What happens when my kid ages out of these crafty art events? Does that mean I age out too?
Do we ever age out of creativity?
Nope. Never.
love, Suzanne
This is where Joy lives.
Four sisters plot to kill their evil brother-in-law in order to keep their fifth sister safe. By the end of the first episode, I found myself hoping they succeed.
Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters is a wild ride – a funny and dark look at the lengths sisters will go to protect each other and the trouble with being nice people who want to commit murder.
If Philosophy 101 had been this engaging in college, I might have made it to Philosophy 201.
In How to be Perfect, comedy writer Michael Schur takes a deep dive into ethics with the same signature wit he brought to TV as the creator of The Good Place and co-creator of Parks and Recreation.
Schur unpacks heavy topics with a very light touch, and made me laugh through typically boring subject matter.
(With fun and familiar guest narrators, it’s a great one to listen to as an audiobook too.)
In case you missed it this summer, Joni Mitchell made a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival.
Her moving rendition of Both Sides Now has stuck with me and it’s worth watching. And then rewatching and rewatching.
(Have I gotten through it once without crying? Well. I can’t comment on that.)
While you’re at it, put on Blue by Joni Mitchell as mood music while you create or write something that comes from the heart. That’s where Joni lives.
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