Creative Collaboration Part 1

My friend Jane returned home yesterday after a week-long visit, which is the main reason I'm late with my post this week. Jane is a visual artist: a watercolorist, sketch artist, photographer and bookmaker from Asheville, NC, and one of the best playmates I've ever had. Every creative person needs a playmate like Jane. In truth, every person needs a friend like Jane, and I wish they had one, too. The world would be a better place for it. But the main reason I'm singling out Jane is because the nature of our friendship, its essence in many ways, flows from our mutual joy in the creative experience and what inspires it – beauty.

While Jane was here, our days were spent following and enjoying our creative natures. The English have a saying, "If it moves, you can bet on it." Jane and I believe, "If it exists, you can capture it on paper--somehow." I am writing this post, not simply to sing the praises of my good friend, Jane, but to paint you a picture that inspires and encourages you to play creatively with the friends you have. And if you don't have any friends who seem interested in creative play, I want to encourage you to go out and get you some. (Chicken photo by Jane on her new iphone. Her watercolors—of mountains, sheep & more—can be seen at www.janevoorheesart.com)

I will try to accomplish this feat in a series of posts that run from the laugh-out-loud happiness inspired by being spontaneously goofy with your artistic natures to the beauty of getting down to business with artistic collaboration. Although artistic collaboration may be a rare bird in a world where people seem intent on flying solo, the joy of mutual inspiration cannot be replicated alone.

I call it playtime. We do it when we're kids in kindergarten and preschool but forget about it as we get older and "want to do our own thing." But ask any band member on what their success depends, and they will tell you at least one aspect is the happy collaboration of the group. A director of film and plays might answer the same way. They might also launch into a diatribe about how hard it can be to accomplish this.

So let's begin with just one other person, a dear friend perhaps, and learn to play together. Perhaps your creative gifts even bend in different directions. Don't be discouraged by this. Be excited. These differences can open all kinds of doors and invite brand new opportunities for collaboration. For a long time I titled Jane's beautiful landscapes. She uses one of my poems at the beginning of each new year's calendar. Imagine Elton John tickling the ivories as Bernie Taupin scribbles nearby, while they unknowingly create some of the most memorable songs of an entire age. As in any creative endeavor, you must be willing to play, to create bad art, to be imperfect in order to allow yourself the freedom you need to collaborate at all. It doesn't have to be great, it just has to be fun.

In the short video below, you will see how my backyard chickens inspired both Jane and me to have some fun creatively. We sat among the chickens (who loved the company) and as Jane sketched, I wrote. Then we made this silly video on her new IPhone. Most likely you will not have visions of Elton and Bernie, or even Eminem. But then, who would have expected Elton to give Eminem a hand up when he needed it most? Mentoring is just another form of creative collaboration.

If you are horrified by the "Chicken Rap" and say, well this isn't "art," stay with me for the next couple of posts as we go deeper into collaborative creativity and see and hear what happens on several levels. The one theme that runs through all these posts, no matter how the collaboration was completed, was the pleasure we took in sharing this process we call art. Observe how much of that process involves play, and how play brings us joy. Finally, let me encourage you to go out and find someone to play with today!

Click here to watch The Chicken Rap Video (recorded on Jane's new iphone)