Distance doesn’t have to be an obstacle in approaching World Community Arts Day. Thanks to modern technology, we can interact with people all over the world without leaving the comforts of our home. As the discussion of what & how to approach a project took place via Facebook posts, USPS delivery of handwritten notes, recipes & art projects to each others’ doorsteps, it occurred to me that this was our community project.  Despite the distance from Virginia to California, my friend G & I were making concrete connections as well as virtual ones without having to leave our homes.

G initiated the whole thing with a post on Facebook, asking if he could post his project to this space. I gamely said Yes, of course! and for a few minutes thought naively that this would entail him writing a guest post about some of his adventures in art, music,  poetry & community where he lives in California. I was quickly shaken out of this by his post telling me to keep an eye out for a package to soon land on my doorstep.

The contents of the package were a drawing, a recipe for a kale salad and a note that claimed to be the first draft to something, anything.

I pondered my response. I wanted to send G a similar version of what he sent me, but in the form of a ‘second draft’. I handed the drawing to Edie, giving her an idea of how I envisioned it being colored in, but gave her otherwise free reign.

And then I set about interpreting that original photocopy of paint-by-number into a fabric tapestry of sorts. While I am mostly creative with food, I also love to create with fabric.  The idea of a mixed media took hold. There was also a hint of a recycling theme here –G had reused the envelope I received my package in.

I grabbed a vintage kitchen linen that had been thrown into my scrap pile for re purposing. I added other scraps from the pile, creating a landscape, adding hand embroidered details. I purposely left them unfinished for G to add his two cents.

And then I mailed it off with a letter, the drawing & a recipe for garlic Parmesan popcorn in the same envelope I had received it in.

In the letter, I wrote G :

It appears to me that in doing this, we are taking our virtual community from the interwebs and via art projects & snail mail, interacting on a level that feels more ‘real’.  Perhaps this is all a rough draft for next year’s day when we invite others to participate in our long distance projects?

The invitation to World Community Arts Day reads:

” ART AS A CATALYST FOR CARING AND SHARING”

To create a World Festival Society for a day.
” We can either react in fear or anger to the state of our world thus becoming part of the problem or respond creatively and become part of the solution.”

You are invited to be part of a global celebration on 17/02/14.

All we ask of you on that day is to do an arts project, however small or big. Be creative about an issue that you believe promotes “caring and sharing”. Song, dance, theatre, draw, paint, write, make, poem, photograph, lecture, walk, tour, talk, art class anyway that you feel you are creative!

G & I might live on different sides of the country. We might not talk on a regular basis and we certainly don’t see each other on a regular basis.  But he is part of my greater community and certainly someone whose creativity inspires me. This year’s project not only bridged the distance between the two of us, but it also has inspired next year’s project – to expand our circle to include others in a similar, but larger project of creating tangible evidence of our virtual connections.

G’s Kale Salad

Chop Kale like cole slaw

2 Tbsn OJ Concentrate

2 Tbsn Olive Oil

1/4 to 1/2 cup nuts & mix of strawberries, oranges or cranberries

B’s Garlic Parmesan popcorn

1/3 c popcorn

1 Tbsn oil

Salt

Toss together in brown paper lunch sack.  Microwave on popcorn setting until popped.  Toss with garlic powder, Parmesan cheese, salt & butter to taste.  Lick your finders when done to get all the goodness.