Art is how humanity stays in communication with each other, and everyone has an equal stake in that conversation. There is no hierarchy of interpretation. No wrong way to feel something.
Dialogue is the antithesis of isolation. When art does its job it pulls us out of our own heads and into something shared, even when we don't agree, even when it unsettles us. Disruptive art poses the questions we didn't know we needed to ask. Emotive art gives us a safe place to be vulnerable. Art that excites us creates moments of togetherness and the particular joy of experiencing something alongside another person. I think about all of these versions constantly. I think about which medium carries a feeling best, which moment calls for spectacle and which calls for something quiet. What will make someone stop, go home, and still be thinking about it?
My whole life has been a participatory practice of craft and creative expression. I have always been an artist and I have always experienced the world as one. I collaborate with people across all kinds of mediums because the centerpiece of the table is always the story we are telling together. Even my private practices have a collaborative essence. I love having the opportunity to learn from the people that I work with. Creating unconventional ideas together that require abstract problem solving is one of the things that makes art such a powerful tool. I want to share with people who feel the same way about putting that experience out there. I want to work with people who aren't intimidated by impossible ideas, and are excited by challenge and risk, and who understand that at the core of it, making something impactful leaves a resonant effect in the person who experiences it. That is the dialogue. That is the conversation.
This world is changing in ways that make us feel uncomfortable. We are losing and finding ourselves in it all the time. This is the story of humanity and art has always been there to tell it, to interpret it. Art has aided in revolution. Art has changed hearts and minds. Art has changed us. We need to continue to practice with it. We need to continue to foster imagination. We need to continue to dive deeply into the full spectrum of emotion that art can create because that is what creates change. That will be our greatest evolution.