THE ARTFUL GARDEN
"The Artful Garden" is a metaphor suggesting how we can sow seeds of creative ideas. Gardens start with small seeds, much like ideas and art. They both need to be fed, nurtured and loved in order to thrive. This "garden" is a safe place to be both inspired and inspiring to others. It is a way to share who you are and promote forward movement within your life. A way to realize that you are not alone. Please join our "conversation" any time by posting your thoughts, questions and ideas in the comment section of
"the garden."
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13 comments:
Hello everyone~
My gentle movement for the week will be to evaluate this blog and go back and reread what everyone has written and evaluate what is working and not working. There has been a lack of participation lately and I am wondering if this is because of something that I am doing or not doing? What are your thoughts on this? Would it be possible for people to commit to ten or fifteen minutes a week to either consider a goal for yourself or contribute to the discussion questions?
Any feedback would be appreciated as I near the end of my practicum for school and am considering whether "the garden" is somthing that people would like to pursue.
also, I have posted my "guerilla art" and would be interested in your thoughts....
Laura,
My sense is that there are too many things to respond to. I am doing blogs, as you know, thanks to you, with my classes and even though it is a required part of the class, some people are still behind.
I think part of it is getting comfortable with this forum. I love coming onto your blog, but am often overwhelmed by the amount to respond to. This has lead me down a different path with my blogs. My goal is to connect the conversations somehow.
I think separating the gentle movements from the discussion questions makes it feel cumbersome. Perhaps the conversations would flow more if there was a sense of being able to stay caught up. What do I mean?
I mean initially everyone responded, and now it is as though one responds here, another there and there is no continuity in the discussions. Does that make sense? I don't think it is a matter of what you are or are not doing...I think there are so many different routes that it is tough to decide where to respond.
If you look back at the entries, the conversations were more in tact in the very beginning. As time went on and the gentle movements were added things started to slow down a bit. Do I respond to the question or the gentle movement?
This made it seem as though we lost track of each other. That is why I asked for faces...and that has been AWESOME!!
Your questions and quotes and artwork are so thought provoking...I love all of it.
One a week would be enough to respond to though...becuase they are SO thought provoking!
I hope this does not pop your bubble. I love so much of what you have done here...
It is only one opinion about how the conversations seem less connected than when you first started.
I also want you to know that I started a personal one and only ever got four responses!! I think you have done an amazing thing here and I hope you will continue with it!
Ultimately I have had to wonder...what is the "ultimate" goal of the blog. For me it is to create an on-line community where we can continue our thinking together through written communication. I have made this clear to everyone who is blogging with me. What are your ultimate goals with this blog? Conversations? Sharing? Goal setting? Art wonderings? Art sharings? Perhaps clarifying would help?
I hope you are not sorry you asked...but you know how I am!!
Smiles...
Tomasen
Hi Laura-
I am sorry that I am guilty of not posting as often as I would like. I don't think my reasons have anything to do with what you are doing or not doing. I do agree with Tomasen that the conversation has been lost a bit, and that a lot of the postings have been more like journal entries than a connection to each other. Maybe this is because we aren't asking each other questions or seeking out help or advice from the group. I think the questions and gentle movements have made things a bit more clear for me, but I also agree that there is so much to look at and read. I do like that you asked everyone to commit to 15 minutes a week, and I think that making that a goal alone with help me to get back into a creative mentality. It would also be helpful for me to see what more people have to say again. I do like how you are sending us the emails when there is a new post. So I am excited to see what other people say and get back into a groove of posting on here.
hello all,
as you know, laura, i am a fan of your blog, but i must admit i have not read everything (yet)...and am a bit embarrassed to admit i didn't even notice there was a difference between a "discussion question" and a "gentle movement."
i think the problem of decreased participation - not at all aided by my lack of participation - and the feeling of lost-ness that some readers may be having is actually a result of logistics. we talked on the phone about this....how this (blog)site is set up one way, and you are trying to do too much with it's limited capabilities. that's why people are not sure where to post their responses. it may be a possiblity to rearrange things and make it work better for you, but i am betting that would be a pain.
that said, i agree with tomasen that perhaps just stick to one question/topic per week. i am sure that i have the most disposable time of anyone reading your site (for reasons some of you may understand, but i choose not to discuss here) and even so, i have found myself overwhelmed by the quantity and QUALITY of discussions being held. so much so, as laura and i have talked about, that i chose not to respond at all.
reading what i have so far has inspired me to attempt to create goals for myself, something i have not done for quite some time. i felt relieved to find that needing to organize and clear away clutter is a common theme among fellow garden friends. (fortunately my situation is not quite as bad as most seen on "clean sweep"!) but then i felt defeated when i read one cleaned her closets and another cleaned out her spare room - because i had not managed to do a thing yet!! but babysteps are happening. gentle movements...
i wish you luck with your blog, laura, and with your studies at goddard! i think it's safe to say that i will be spending 10-15 min a week on your site in the coming weeks. i hope that helps!
cheers, tricia
ok, so i am a dork. laura had sent me an email a while back that clarified the whole gentle movement and discussion question thing....but i hadn't read it yet. good news is, while trying to clean out my in-box, i found it.
I read the garden each morning to see what is new.
There is much to see and think about - it is a beautiful site.
I have enjoyed but not connected with the different postings lately. I think perhaps it is my own busy-ness that has kept me from finding a calm place from which to regard the life around me.
This is a comment from Tina:
I think that contributing to any blog is going to be an hour commitment a week. It takes time to read it all, stew upon an answer, and then respond in a thoughtful way. I know that you take awhile to develop your questions and I think on the other end it takes just as long to answer. Time being a huge factor in my life right now with all the work I have on my plate, that one hour was a huge time commitment for me. I think last semester I would have been able to participate more. It is nothing personal, it is just bad timing with my life that I have been keeping together with duct tape it seems. I read Thomasen's comment and remembered that our online group with Pam presented one question every three weeks to answer. That was manageable. Maybe switching to that would work? I am sure every person has a different answer for why they struggled to participate. I think you were answering very interesting and important questions...ones I would elaborate on in packet work.
Trish~You are not a dork! But good for you cleaning out your inbox! It reminds me that I should clean out mine....mmmm xomiss O
I want to thank you all for your comments so far, as they are all valued and internalized with great respect and care. In considering my goals for the group this is what I wrote in my original invitation, “My goal is to form an online creative community of women to share ideas, creativity and forward movement as well as aid women in removing obstacles that keep them from moving forward in their lives.” I go onto say, "You can feel free to check in weekly at your convenience and add as much or as little as you want, so that it is not a strain on your daily life". What I am hearing is that there is so much here to consider and that this is becoming overwhelming and the strain that I hadn’t intended. It seems as though we value and respect each other so much that we feel that unless we have accomplished some great task or have something really poignant and meaningful to say that we would rather say nothing at all. Am I hearing this correctly?
I totally understand and respect how you feel, especially if a discussion question doesn’t apply to your life or if you are not interested in making any “gentle movements” right now. I honor where you are coming from and at times have felt this way myself trying to think about what would be most helpful to people when I post new questions. All that you have shared has filled me up and warmed my heart. I am constantly learning new things about each of you as well as being enlightened by your unique perspectives. As I have tried to “fit” everything in and organize all of these goals, I have lost the thread or sharing of the “living moments” within our lives. These “living moments” are what were at the heart of my intention for “the garden,” no matter how it is organized.
What interests me is what you are thinking about today. I want to learn what inspires you and makes your days special and how you see the world in your own unique way. I want the sharing of books, poems and art. I long to hear Tomasen’s witty stories and Brenda’s soft, lyrical voice and the beautiful poetry that she carefully chooses to share with us. I long to hear that Fergie makes Jess smile and how Liz finds concerts to be a “religious experience” as well as the way that she has shared her thoughts on moving and leaving teaching, recognizing that we should not define ourselves by one thing. I want to hear about what Lori is cooking up in the kitchen and Aimee and Brigitte’s optimism and enthusiasm. I want to hear about Suzy’s move to MA and the new direction her life has taken as well as the ways in which Danielle continues to stretch herself as she learns about her new area. I want to hear more about mediation, Reiki and Polarity therapy from Trish, Tomasen and Kim. All of these things have given me a deep appreciation and understanding of each of you as well as a deeper understanding of myself. This is something that I would like to continue to foster.
I am wondering what each of you would like to gain from this blog.
Would one post either weekly or biweekly be better, leaving out any of the additional stuff? Should there be a discussion question or should we just let things flow? Would people like to keep the “gentle movement” post as an option?
Perhaps I have been trying to “fertilize” too much and our garden doesn’t need nutrients right now. Sorry for the long post I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about everything you have said. Smiles & love, Laura
Hi Laura,
I like knowing that even if I don't have a response to the question I can tell you of the wonderful never-ending project that keeps growing magically every day in my classroom... a poem we shared about reading, combined with an author study inspired a student write his own poem. This got kids thinking about what would happen if it could come true and they asked if they could take it on... could we build a Strega Nona reading house, could we make a life-sized Strega Nona and Big Anthony? What is a teacher to do... squelch that enthusiasm or go with it? I did the only thing possible and now we have a nearly completed house, characters, animals (check out the illustrations and you'll know the four in our room), plans for 3 original plays and a CD to send to the author showing our building process in case Tomie dePaole is unable to accept our invitation to come to our classroom to teach us how to draw.
I have watered the whole process down considerablly but the children make me smile and moan every day. For me it is an exciting place to be... it is the place I feel I am the most artistic and while it doesn't fit with the photographs and pictures I only find time for every little while, it is the food for my soul and the art they I am striving to better everyday.
Does one get better at art? Or does one get better at finding a way to express the feelings behind the art more fully...closely? Perhaps that is the same question, but I think I am working at the latter...how do I get better at showing you all what I love and think every day? How do I share my joy with you...my frustrations too?
If I live it, how to show it here?
just wondering as always
Brenda
brenda, i think one can get better at art. with practice, one can certainly improve their technical ability. likewise, with mindful practice, one would also come around to being able to express themselves more fully....whether that means changing their style, their medium, or subject matter, or maybe how they think about all of these things. being open to the idea that any of these things might need to change is the first step. you know, "recognizing there's a problem"....that kind of thing. i think what you have just done in your classroom is wonderful! i am sure your students thought so, too.
laura, perhaps try one question biweekly? and while i am not sure about the site organization, i think the gentle movements are a good idea to keep as an option. even if you continue to post yours (whenever you feel like it), perhaps even if we don't post ours, it will keep some of us thinking about them.
i am not sure what i would like to gain from this blog. but i think so far - in my limited reading/ use/understanding of it - it has fulfilled a couple roles in my life. like you, i am home, alone, much of the time. i sometimes crave the days of years ago, when i was single and many of my friends were, too, and we all had time for eachother. i have always enjoyed that kind of nurturing, caring and understanding that men just can't offer. while this blog isn't a place for me to complain about some stupid comment my husband made (the proverbial shoulder to cry on), it is still a nurturing space for women to comment, collaborate, and contemplate. while it took me a while to jump on the bandwagon, i love that it's a place that challenges me to think about stuff i haven't in either a very long time or ever.
perhaps there are other e-spaces that offer a similar subject matter, but this one feels safer, since i know at least some of the participants on a personal level. i hope you don't let a little bump in the road - like temporary waning in participation - keep you from continuing what you have started! remember, too, time will be even tighter for folks with the holidays approaching. but from the comments others have posted already, i am thinking everyone feels the same as me. keep your garden growing! xoxo, trish
Brenda, I am filled with fascination and wonder of your creative exploration in your classroom. I can imagine sitting in that space with my sketchjournal and dreaming...I have always wanted a tree house and often dream of a "studio treehouse" and what that would look and feel like. You have set my imagination on fire, like you have done with your students and I so enjoyed your sharing of it and will look forward to hearing more of what evolves. If Tomi dePaula comes will you invite me? It would be so fun if we could share your play here. Does anyone know anything about You Tube? and if that is possible? (that is of course if you would be interested of course!)
Last week I was thinking about DCS and the direction my life has taken since then and if I would ever find another place like Deerfield. I then remembered when you made the big change to switch schools and that change can be good. It sounds like you enjoy where you are. Has the change been a good one?
I was fortunate enough to be hired part time working for the Mystic Arts Center for an outreach program that they have gotten a grant for, so I have had the opportunity to be back in the classroom for a few days this week, which has been wonderful. It reminds me again of how Liz said that she would always be a teacher, it just might take on different forms.
As far as getting better at art or sharing it, I think that is an ongoing process but an important one that I am working towards as well. I have learned so much about what really matters to me since I have been back in school, but the ways in which to express that are always a challenge. I too, am striving to be more brave and reconginize that it comes with time. I believe that there is a lot to be learned and gained from sharing though. Thank you for sharing! warm smiles, Laura
Trish~ Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I too feel that this "is still a nurturing space for women to comment, collaborate, and contemplate" and "love that it's a place that challenges me to think about stuff i haven't in either a very long time or ever". Cheers!
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