THE BENEFITS OF COLLABORATIVE ARTMAKING

There are many benefits to collaborative artmaking: joint ideas, making connections through art, communicating to a community of people with a community of people, expanding your world to reach a variety of people, and last but not least opening your mind to others resulting in growth as an artist. Service-learning projects will fit right into my curriculum by having students participate in community events and tailoring lessons to the society in which the school exists in. Artists can benefit greatly by participating in community outreach programs and becoming a part of their town by brightening it up through sponsored art work.
I am glad this topic came up because when I organically make art, it is usually alone and I have wanted to branch out in my techniques of creation. In the past I have been asked to collaborate with friends, but after the discussion we just never got around to it. Recently I made a point of creating a collaborative piece with a dear friend who happens to be a brilliant writer. I pulled out a slat of wood and shaped a pipe cleaner to look like an ambiguous body of the string family of instruments. The shape could have depicted a guitar, violin, viola, cello, or bass. After gluing the shape down I asked my friend to take a break from his journal and move his writing to the tree his paper came from. A bit confused, my friend took a liking to writing on wood and put his thoughts of the ambiguous shape down on the slat. From that point I went in a new direction with the pipe cleaner form and put my two-cents down as well. What came of it is a beautiful piece that I hope will inspire my students to take advantage of the collaborative process as often as possible. I want them to understand that everyone is an artist in their own way, and when we uniquely combine strengths, our technical skills and ability to nurture the transformation of ideas will become enhanced.