Collaborative Art
The seeds of my collaborative art journey were sown in my late teens. Rather than seeing art as a solitary entity, I saw it as a dynamic partnership—a dance with various elements. Whether it was a stream, the wind, a room, or a group of people, I perceived art as fluid and responsive to the moment. Perfection wasn't the goal; authenticity was. Each creation became a snapshot of that particular moment, embracing the convergence of elements.
Later, in my work at Pomegranate Center, I began integrating my artistic vision with my beliefs in democratic processes. Here, some of the most impactful and visually stunning moments were born from reimagined versions of these early happenings, as we crafted spaces for communal art-making. The first of this kind was at Medina Elementary, where I was asked to integrate art elements into the school.
The project was made from handprints and fingerprints of all the students, teachers, PTA members and school alumni.
At my Spring 2018 retrospective exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art is Ljubljana, one room was dedicated to a collaborative art project - I would guide visitors to the exhibit to add their fingerprint to help make “The Dragon” - a symbol of the Slovenian Capitol.
The latest collaborative art project was with the North Sound Accountable Community of Health (North Sound ACH), which provides services to people who live in urban and rural settings spanning from the Cascade mountains to islands in the Salish Sea. ACH focuses on collaborative learning, planning, and decision-making, tackling issues that impact health, and believing that people in the region are more connected than they are separate.
In the last year, I conducted four workshops with NSACH on the Pomegranate Method, and assisted them in establishing a set of group norms aimed at enhancing their effectiveness in their work. During one of the workshops, I showed them a painting of Medina Elementary’s Heron Rising to illustrate how collaboration could work. Inspired and excited by what they saw, they asked me if I could lead a collaborative art project during a gathering they were holding in late January of 2024. I was delighted with the invitation.
Here is what emerged:
We created a triptych, 9' wide and 5' high. The dark lines at the bottom are signatures of some 100 people who contributed dots.
For more images and details on previous collaborative art projects, please see the new section on my art website: Collaborative Art.
Just before the new year, I shared some of my “back-yard art”. I invited others to send me any of their similar “yard art creations”. I received the following:
From Steve Badanes, Director of the Neighborhood Design Build Studio at the University of Washington, and a partner in Jersey Devil Design Build, an architectural firm perpetuating the tradition of medieval craftsmen.
From David Nez, a multi-media artist working in mixed media painting, sculptural assemblage, photography, video, audio and performance. He began his artistic explorations over a half century ago as a member of the Slovenian neo-avant-garde collective Group OHO from 1968-72, where he and I collaborated.
