Totally Random Art

“Would you like to make some art?”

Most people’s faces go through a series of emo­tions when asked this ques­tion: sur­prise, embar­rass­ment, and fear. They hes­i­tate as they com­pare them­selves to Michelangelo. That’s when I reas­sure them, “It’s total­ly ran­dom! If it turns out bad, it’s because it’s chaos. Let me show you.” I’m lying to them of course, but it’s enough encour­age­ment for them to step up to the table we’ve set up at Legacy Nights Craft Night.

I firm­ly believe that a cre­ative out­let is essen­tial to being human. It’s a way to not only express emo­tion, but to find con­nec­tions in our lives. Creating some­thing, whether it be music, writ­ing, or, as we did here, col­lag­ing, is a way of reveal­ing your own per­spec­tive out into the world. And some­times those per­spec­tives are sur­pris­ing, even to our­selves. So it is with excite­ment that I over­see peo­ple putting togeth­er pieces of paper.

Although every­one got the same prompt, the same set of mate­ri­als, and the same tools, each respond­ed in their own unique way. My lie: There’s no way for them to make “bad art.” One, there’s no such thing as bad art. Two, I’ve curat­ed the mate­ri­als to com­ple­ment each oth­er well. Each gets a col­ored back­ground, mag­a­zine col­lage paper, and a word of inspi­ra­tion. Then they let their cre­ativ­i­ty flow. The results are incredible.

I encour­age you not to scroll through the Totally Random Art like you do a social media post. Take a moment with each art­work. Settle and absorb the ele­ments on the page. Notice how they make you feel and what they make you think.

Thank you to all our par­tic­i­pants. You are inspirational!

The artwork gallery