we’re here today to show you how we use
art to build community there are two
vital ingredients in this journey me the
self and we the collective so let us
start at the base at the self now on a
day to day we all go through so many
challenges we all have fears but once
those fears turn into barriers then it’s
a concern and it leaves you questioning
your existence like you I judge myself I
don’t want to be too exposed I don’t
want to be vulnerable I don’t want to be
vulnerable it is true
7 5 7.5 billion of us we do lead very
different lives now imagine I was stuck
in a room with 20 other people it was a
really really tight room and I didn’t
know anyone around me and everyone
around me is basically a stranger and
then there’s just 7 meter blank canvas
right in front of me with paint brushes
and paint palettes and there were so
many emotions going on and I didn’t even
have enough personal space the only
personal space I had was the 10
centimeters between me and the person
next to me I mean I don’t I don’t even
know what’s going on but I knew two
things is that one I had to paint
something on this and two I needed to
interact with these people
I literally have sweat rolling down my
head and my anxiety rises and I just
feel really uncomfortable we do lead the
same lives we do lead different lives
but we all experience the same feelings
of fear of anxiety of disempowerment I
mean right now I’m actually wondering
what you guys are all thinking and I’m
sure after this I’m going to analyze
every single part of the talk and see if
I’ve done it in its perfection and if
not I’ll criticize myself this happened
there was so much distance between us we
were all pushed out of our comfort zones
and the worst realization was that we
were so close to each other yet we were
miles apart so the question is how do we
break barriers between ourselves and the
collective we’ve been exploring communal
arts for over three years now my sister
and I come from a background that’s a
bit familiar to so many people we’re
third culture kids originally from one
from somewhere grew up somewhere lived
somewhere else we’ve lived everywhere
but we’ve noticed something very
familiar with everywhere that we went is
that it lacked the glue that glue that
binds us as a community that sense of
responsibility and concern for one
another and this is something that we
wanted to face we wanted to change this
and so with the amalgamation of
community and arts we thought that we
can help those community so let’s start
by analyzing community now the
definition of community is a place
inhabited by people that share common
interests living interdependently but
for us it was so much more than that
not only do we live in a particular
place share common interests living
independently interdependently but
there’s this sense of community this
concern and consideration for one
another regardless of where you’re from
and what age group you belong to that
didn’t matter what what mattered is
accepting our differences and
celebrating our similarities so how do
we build such a community one that’s
connected and one where we feel a sense
of belonging there’s so many ways
Karen Kearney from Syracuse cultural
workers actually wrote an entire
manifesto on how to build community in
1998 guys its 2017
I don’t see it happening on a wide scale
so but here are a few things maybe to
spark your imagination turn off your TV
instead of being told what to do and how
to feel why don’t you go out there and
explore what makes you passionate or
what what makes your heart beat because
Paul nipkow and all the inventors off of
the television we’re not watching
watching it when it got invented share
what you have because it’s temporary
share what you have because we do have a
lot more than we need there’s a proverb
by axil Mundi that says whatever you
keep to yourself is lost and whatever
you share is yours forever
take responsibility the same when we
take responsibility for our families we
need to take responsibility for our
communities and and ask questions
because there’s no two place no two
people ever standing in your place at
the same time nobody sees things through
your eyes your perception is yours and
therefore the questions that you have
are catered to your eye and to what it
sees so truly there is no wrong question
big extra and share because we all love
to eat so consider your friends so
consider the ones that don’t have as
much as you do and share it share it
around share it everywhere and share
your skills in this day and age we need
to have a lot of skills to succeed and
some people have very different ways of
doing the same thing so why don’t you
thrive in something why don’t you take
on a skill that you are really
passionate about and share it with
somebody and in return you’ll receive a
knowledge full of skills so you see the
two main ingredients still remain me the
self and we the collective so now that
we’ve covered the social aspect we’d
like to discuss with you guys what we
use
to bind community which is art so how do
we use arts as a tool to build community
so we’re back in this room that
Christina was freaking out in and the
heat is rising still don’t know what to
do
until they tell us that there’s a theme
they revealed that the theme was growth
and that we needed to express this
through paint i sat back and reflected
on what growth actually means to me and
what kind of barriers do I have to break
within myself to achieve growth and
while I was starting to feel comfortable
at the thoughts and which made me feel
more comfortable in the room I still
couldn’t I still couldn’t get around to
painting until I heard the musician in
place in music and when I got relaxed I
just dipped the paint brush in paint and
from the moment the paint brush touched
the canvas I surrendered completely to
my hands and their movements I felt
completely liberated that I can tell a
story without words that I can paint
patterns without a particular structure
I was so freed by my own confinement I
was so comfortable really I was ready to
paint the whole canvas until I heard a
really really disrupting sound and
almost it actually almost sounded like
the musician fell asleep I looked around
and everybody started moving and though
apparently was our cue to move on to the
next scene when I moved to the seat next
to me and I sat down and I looked at the
painting before me I couldn’t make sense
of it and it was then and there that I
realized that this activity was much
more than self-expression I was there to
break my own barriers and express myself
but I was also there to observe someone
else’s expression and even if I didn’t
understand it I needed to accept it and
I also had to build upon their work and
so the evening went hours and hours of
painting we swapped we swap places we
built on each other’s lines we even
tried to reason with each other what is
what is
this weird like stick figure plant
looking thing is this your growth
amazing inspiring and so collaboration
and that that was the whole purpose of
this activity it was to create something
together and achieve something together
and I was only able to do that when I
broke my barrier and took an initiative
Jackson Pollock says it doesn’t matter
what goes onto the canvas as long as
something’s being said we created it a
unified art piece painted by one painted
by many I get it now
I had to go through a process of self
acceptance and build the walls that I
broke I built around myself in order to
contribute to something greater the
session ends and people have big smiles
on their faces
and they don’t seem like strangers
anymore to me I feel more connected to
them especially that one lady who walks
in with a big frown on her face and then
leaves a session really happy and joyful
and we actually exchanged numbers so
she’s a really nice lady and it just it
just shows you that when we work
together we really can build a positive
community built on pure intentions and
acceptance of one another and so we came
up with our own formula to build
community and that self expression don’t
overthink Plus art don’t be arrogant
plus collaboration don’t judge science
communication and that is community and
that is what we need and that is what we
do so we are here today to show you how
we use art to build community so let’s
let’s use it thank you thank you
man amazing tell you guys one more run
applause please for black canvas
community Wow
[Applause]
art to build community there are two
vital ingredients in this journey me the
self and we the collective so let us
start at the base at the self now on a
day to day we all go through so many
challenges we all have fears but once
those fears turn into barriers then it’s
a concern and it leaves you questioning
your existence like you I judge myself I
don’t want to be too exposed I don’t
want to be vulnerable I don’t want to be
vulnerable it is true
7 5 7.5 billion of us we do lead very
different lives now imagine I was stuck
in a room with 20 other people it was a
really really tight room and I didn’t
know anyone around me and everyone
around me is basically a stranger and
then there’s just 7 meter blank canvas
right in front of me with paint brushes
and paint palettes and there were so
many emotions going on and I didn’t even
have enough personal space the only
personal space I had was the 10
centimeters between me and the person
next to me I mean I don’t I don’t even
know what’s going on but I knew two
things is that one I had to paint
something on this and two I needed to
interact with these people
I literally have sweat rolling down my
head and my anxiety rises and I just
feel really uncomfortable we do lead the
same lives we do lead different lives
but we all experience the same feelings
of fear of anxiety of disempowerment I
mean right now I’m actually wondering
what you guys are all thinking and I’m
sure after this I’m going to analyze
every single part of the talk and see if
I’ve done it in its perfection and if
not I’ll criticize myself this happened
there was so much distance between us we
were all pushed out of our comfort zones
and the worst realization was that we
were so close to each other yet we were
miles apart so the question is how do we
break barriers between ourselves and the
collective we’ve been exploring communal
arts for over three years now my sister
and I come from a background that’s a
bit familiar to so many people we’re
third culture kids originally from one
from somewhere grew up somewhere lived
somewhere else we’ve lived everywhere
but we’ve noticed something very
familiar with everywhere that we went is
that it lacked the glue that glue that
binds us as a community that sense of
responsibility and concern for one
another and this is something that we
wanted to face we wanted to change this
and so with the amalgamation of
community and arts we thought that we
can help those community so let’s start
by analyzing community now the
definition of community is a place
inhabited by people that share common
interests living interdependently but
for us it was so much more than that
not only do we live in a particular
place share common interests living
independently interdependently but
there’s this sense of community this
concern and consideration for one
another regardless of where you’re from
and what age group you belong to that
didn’t matter what what mattered is
accepting our differences and
celebrating our similarities so how do
we build such a community one that’s
connected and one where we feel a sense
of belonging there’s so many ways
Karen Kearney from Syracuse cultural
workers actually wrote an entire
manifesto on how to build community in
1998 guys its 2017
I don’t see it happening on a wide scale
so but here are a few things maybe to
spark your imagination turn off your TV
instead of being told what to do and how
to feel why don’t you go out there and
explore what makes you passionate or
what what makes your heart beat because
Paul nipkow and all the inventors off of
the television we’re not watching
watching it when it got invented share
what you have because it’s temporary
share what you have because we do have a
lot more than we need there’s a proverb
by axil Mundi that says whatever you
keep to yourself is lost and whatever
you share is yours forever
take responsibility the same when we
take responsibility for our families we
need to take responsibility for our
communities and and ask questions
because there’s no two place no two
people ever standing in your place at
the same time nobody sees things through
your eyes your perception is yours and
therefore the questions that you have
are catered to your eye and to what it
sees so truly there is no wrong question
big extra and share because we all love
to eat so consider your friends so
consider the ones that don’t have as
much as you do and share it share it
around share it everywhere and share
your skills in this day and age we need
to have a lot of skills to succeed and
some people have very different ways of
doing the same thing so why don’t you
thrive in something why don’t you take
on a skill that you are really
passionate about and share it with
somebody and in return you’ll receive a
knowledge full of skills so you see the
two main ingredients still remain me the
self and we the collective so now that
we’ve covered the social aspect we’d
like to discuss with you guys what we
use
to bind community which is art so how do
we use arts as a tool to build community
so we’re back in this room that
Christina was freaking out in and the
heat is rising still don’t know what to
do
until they tell us that there’s a theme
they revealed that the theme was growth
and that we needed to express this
through paint i sat back and reflected
on what growth actually means to me and
what kind of barriers do I have to break
within myself to achieve growth and
while I was starting to feel comfortable
at the thoughts and which made me feel
more comfortable in the room I still
couldn’t I still couldn’t get around to
painting until I heard the musician in
place in music and when I got relaxed I
just dipped the paint brush in paint and
from the moment the paint brush touched
the canvas I surrendered completely to
my hands and their movements I felt
completely liberated that I can tell a
story without words that I can paint
patterns without a particular structure
I was so freed by my own confinement I
was so comfortable really I was ready to
paint the whole canvas until I heard a
really really disrupting sound and
almost it actually almost sounded like
the musician fell asleep I looked around
and everybody started moving and though
apparently was our cue to move on to the
next scene when I moved to the seat next
to me and I sat down and I looked at the
painting before me I couldn’t make sense
of it and it was then and there that I
realized that this activity was much
more than self-expression I was there to
break my own barriers and express myself
but I was also there to observe someone
else’s expression and even if I didn’t
understand it I needed to accept it and
I also had to build upon their work and
so the evening went hours and hours of
painting we swapped we swap places we
built on each other’s lines we even
tried to reason with each other what is
what is
this weird like stick figure plant
looking thing is this your growth
amazing inspiring and so collaboration
and that that was the whole purpose of
this activity it was to create something
together and achieve something together
and I was only able to do that when I
broke my barrier and took an initiative
Jackson Pollock says it doesn’t matter
what goes onto the canvas as long as
something’s being said we created it a
unified art piece painted by one painted
by many I get it now
I had to go through a process of self
acceptance and build the walls that I
broke I built around myself in order to
contribute to something greater the
session ends and people have big smiles
on their faces
and they don’t seem like strangers
anymore to me I feel more connected to
them especially that one lady who walks
in with a big frown on her face and then
leaves a session really happy and joyful
and we actually exchanged numbers so
she’s a really nice lady and it just it
just shows you that when we work
together we really can build a positive
community built on pure intentions and
acceptance of one another and so we came
up with our own formula to build
community and that self expression don’t
overthink Plus art don’t be arrogant
plus collaboration don’t judge science
communication and that is community and
that is what we need and that is what we
do so we are here today to show you how
we use art to build community so let’s
let’s use it thank you thank you
man amazing tell you guys one more run
applause please for black canvas
community Wow
[Applause]
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