Creating Together

Where do you go to feel inspired? Does your creative energy activate when you’re taking a deep breath of fresh air and looking out over a sweeping view? Do you thrive in a studio space filled with texture and color where multiple mediums are just a reach away? Do you like to create in the corner of a favorite coffee shop with the background noise as your soundtrack? 

Art is great as a solitary activity. It can be an outlet for expression, a way to explore feelings, a way to tune out and fully be present with yourself. But there is also a unique energy and connection that is created when you dive into creative time with others.  

Polly Ann Martin, Blackberry Mountain’s Art Studio manager, has the occasional opportunity to lead art experiences for groups and observe the way the creative process unfolds when generations of families or gatherings of friends embrace the opportunity to be creative together. And with the help of her team, she finds creative ways to adapt group art for the unique occasion and group of people. 

A special birthday celebration, for example. “There were 12 guests coming to celebrate a 55th birthday,” said Polly Ann. “I created a format with the entire team where each guest made six watercolor paintings, which were actually personalized journal notes to the woman whose birthday they were celebrating.” The end result was a hand bound book that was both a beautiful birthday present and a token commemorating their day. 

Another time, there was a family gathered together to celebrate an engagement. The team set up stations for the family to explore different projects, all thoughtfully themed for the special occasion. The colorful pages of past issues of Blackberry Magazine were cut and folded into paper flowers that could be joined together to create a bouquet of blooms created by loved ones. They even made origami engagement rings. It doesn’t have to be difficult or overly involved art to be meaningful. 

“The most important part was that [the couple] walked away with amazing objects that the family participated in making, but also the family individually – cousins, aunties, everyone – walked away with something that was purposeful and exciting to them to take to their own home.”

The way that Polly Ann and her team have curated art experiences as a whole has developed over time. But they’re always paying attention to what adjustments can be made to help everyone, whether it’s a class of two or a family of 12, get the most out of their time in the Art Studio. If you’re hosting an artistic experience for your own group at home, you can make similar thoughtful adjustments and preparations so that everyone feels creatively fueled. 

When there are kids in your group, for example, there are all kinds of unconventional canvases you can choose to allow them to have fun in their own way. One idea Polly Ann suggested is having kids draw on flexible frisbees. Then, they can use their art to work out some of their energy when they need to get up and move. They can draw on tshirts, be given their own sketchbooks, or they can be set free with a great collection of colorful and textural items to stick to paper. 

There’s no rule that you all have to create the same thing. The magic is simply in doing it each other’s company. Allow everyone to be comfortable, to feel like they can engage with art without being boxed in, and enjoy the results. 

Polly Ann describes it as meting people at their experience. “For example, there was this gentleman that told me ‘I can’t draw; I can’t do that.’ So, I said, well, what is it that you love to do? And he told me he was a writer. So, I said I want you to take three or four pieces of paper. Put a round of color on each of these papers. And then, as soon as they dry, I want you to write a sonnet, or a haiku, or a quote.” Adding a touch of what they’re comfortable with can be just the open door they need to engage. And while he’s writing words, someone else is drawing. Creating together.