
This month’s Soul Matters theme is Vulnerability. There is no art without vulnerability. There is no creativity without courage. This month, use art to reflect on the theme of vulnerability. On Sunday, March 26, we invite you to bring your art to the Parish Hall to share with others after the worship service. Some ideas to inspire your creativity:
Use your favorite modality (paint, collage, drawing, sculpture, slide shows, etc.) to depict your dance with fear of putting your work out for public judgment and potential rejection.
Use collage cards to tease out and focus on the various vulnerable dimensions of your creative process. Here’s are some steps to guide you on your way:
Identify 4-5 words, phrases or voices in your head that capture or connect to vulnerability in your creative process. For instance, “Uncensored,” “You’re not a serious artist,” “Joyful art isn’t real art,” “Judgement of others,” or “Revealing myself!”
Find your “cards” that will serve as the pallet for your collage cards. You can use 5×7 cardstock, old postcards, or even a large deck of playing cards.
Write your identified phrase/word/quote on one side.
On the other side, create a collage that captures or represents your phrase/word/quote.
Here are a few pics of what it might look like if you use a giant card deck.
Art has often served as a source of keeping the vulnerable visible. As the old saying goes, “Out of sight; Out of mind.” So, no wonder that visual arts work so well at helping the world keep the excluded and ignored in our hearts and minds. With this as your jumping off point, spend some time thinking about a vulnerable population that particularly has your heart. Then use your creativity to somehow honor and/or make visible that population.
Dreams are considered windows into self-awareness, and into our vulnerabilities. And by vulnerabilities, we don’t just mean our fears and anxieties. Allowing ourselves to lean into our hopes and longings can leave us feeling just as vulnerable. So, this month use your favorite modality or a new modality to creatively capture one of your dreams that woke you up to a vulnerable truth.