Collaboration With Artist

Moving Mayhem - Studio 4

Working in your studio day after day, isolated from other artist is one way to produce art work, and another method is to get out of the studio, meet other artist, work on projects together, exchange concepts, and have some commentary on each others art work.

Recently I opted to move my art studio at my house to an art space with about thirty other working artist. I hadn't worked in an environment like this since my days at the university, and always thought the best creative condition for me was to work alone. After moving all the stuff and setting up the art space in a small 300 sq. ft. walled space, I started to meet other artist, have conversations, invite guest over to view my art work, and found that I loved the energetic buzz of working around so many creative minded people.

Seeing so many artistic people, styles, and concepts on a daily basis affords the opportunity to expand beyond reading and viewing art work in books, which can be quite illuminating, but does not posses the power of real human interaction which is truly inspiring.

I consider this move on the best I have made and would suggest to any artistically inclined person to find interaction with other artist on a daily basis.

Also, I have recently started a collaborative project with a good friend of mine who is a renowned photographer. He takes the photos and processes them, then I add my painting to the photo work. Sometimes even after I paint he adds more photographs to the art work. Before starting a piece we discuss the concept, exchange ideas about the general direction we feel the piece can take, and then give each other complete freedom to pursue our passion.

This has been a great exercise in letting go of ego, and also I learned that I actually had some fear around working on someones art work, in that I might not be accepted - like, what if they don't like what I did to the art work, or what if I mess it up? After letting go of these fears, and removing the seriousness from this collaboration, we have created some great art work and learned a lot about ourselves in the process.

Saying For The Day: Share your creative spirit with others..........