Oh, what fun it is to see how the Creativity Challenge is going! Have you seen this from inkberryblue, or maybe this from picture this?

There’s still time to enter this challenge…the last day isn’t until the 21st. And remember there’s a sweet little surprise present for one lucky art muckerabouter.

If you’ve already tried your hand at altering photos, there’s other ways you can stoke your creative fire this week. (Ooooo! Doesn’t that sound deliciously naughty!) While you’re waiting for the next creativity challenge you can submit a page of your wrecked journal, take a themed photo, complete an assignment from a superhero, show off your newest inspired couture, or carve out a little time from mommyhood to say Om.

I love the way these gentle “I dare you’s” creates an encouraging synergy for we artsy types who are learning to ply our crafts.

Now, enough web surfing, go out there and do something creative! (Me, I’m going to go make a Fall Zine.)

Thanks for playing!

I love nearly all kinds of art, but my favorite is the sort that brings about justice, healing, or any other kind of general shalom-y-ness. Here are a couple of current art events that caught my eye.

Damalia Ayo, performance artists/activist, is heading up a performance art piece with audience (and passerby) participation. On October 10th she’ll be organizing the National Day of Panhandling for Reparations. The general idea is that folks will sign up to panhandle for funds from white Americans to pay back the descendants of Africans and African-Americans. Monies collected will be immediately returned to black passers-by on the street, and all parties would be issued a receipt. It’s just kind of brilliant, don’t you think? I certainly don’t have the chutzpah to take this on, but then again, I also wouldn’t have come up with “free ice cream day” in my local pocket of poverty. Maybe the problem isn’t a lack of cajones so much as a general stiffness of the imagination….?

If your imagination is a little stiff in the joints, I highly recommend Keri Smith’s The Guerilla Art Kit. From simple post-it note campaigns to more complex stealth-graffiti outings, Keri provides lots of yoga for the imagination. My weekend goal is to turn this sketch into a stencil and label all the abandoned buildings in my high-priced ‘hood.

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(Hmmm…maybe the guy who lives in the van down the street might like to come along?) Keri suggests ground-up sidewalk chalk applied with a paint roller, but that sounds a little iffy to me. Does tempera paint eventually wash off siding?

Finally, local yokels must not pass up Motel Motel’s latest project at the notorious Bridge Motel in Seattle. (Info here.)Fremont do-gooders have long been worried about this run down dive which has played host to drug busts, prostitution rings, and at least one murder. Recently sold and about to be torn down for upscale condos, local artists are trying to bring a little healing to this hot spot by honoring what the original owners of this once family-business had initially intended – hosting folks in one heck of a city. So this Saturday night every room in the joint will feature a different art installation. From performance art to band gigs, this place is going to be hoppin’ – in a good way!

Hope you have some great plans for artful living this weekend. Here’s a little exercise to get your blood flowing from Keri Smith’s friend/artist Steve Lambert. (This exercised abridged from the Guerilla Kit, go buy it, will ya?)

If you had a special superpower and could put your thoughts into other people’s minds, what would you transmit to them? The only catch? You can only use your power three times. What three things do you want to put into other people’s heads? Ready? Go!

Check out this week’s review of Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal and find out who won last week’s give away. It’s all right here.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Zoë.

Zoë looked like an ordinary girl.
Zoë did ordinary girl things.
But Zoë was not an ordinary girl.

Zoë had a secret superpower. Read the rest of this entry »