An artist friend recently shared with me an article they wrote titled “The ABCs of Underground Art”. I really enjoyed it, and they encouraged me to write my own ABC’s of the type of art that I do as a fun journaling prompt to use to unwind and organize your thoughts. Those that have followed me for awhile know that I don’t typically stick to just one type of art, so to open up the limits I decided to make my “alphabet” the ABC’s of Creation. I have assigned a word to each letter, along with a video of my illustrating a cool little ACEO sized letter inspired visual to go with each word. Read, listen, or both – whatever works!Â
F is for Folk. According to Merriam Webster, folk art is an expression of community life distinguished as different from self-conscious or academic expression. It is a communal language. Communal and public art is an important step in the creator’s journey. Having just closed one of the largest public arts projects of my career, the eb and flow of both learning and imparting simultaneously is magical. Thinking in terms of expressing your own unique concept while making sure it is executed in a familiar enough language that others will be able to understand and even take part in the process is another push and pull that is such a catalyst for growth. Creativity will bring people together – it must.
An artist friend recently shared with me an article they wrote titled “The ABCs of Underground Art”. I really enjoyed it, and they encouraged me to write my own ABC’s of the type of art that I do as a fun journaling prompt to use to unwind and organize your thoughts. Those that have followed me for awhile know that I don’t typically stick to just one type of art, so to open up the limits I decided to make my “alphabet” the ABC’s of Creation. I have assigned a word to each letter, along with a video of my illustrating a cool little ACEO sized letter inspired visual to go with each word. Read, listen, or both – whatever works!Â
E is for Equalize. Creating is a great equalizer in my opinion, because there are so many different ways to go at it even with certain limitations. I work with students with disabilities, some of whom have a lot of trouble with fine motor skills or dexterity. Large, overarching strokes, wobbly lines, lopsided sculpting … Some people try to achieve these peculiarities on purpose! There is a way to make qualities you may view as imperfections part of your signature look. How cool is it that when creating, we can take something that is typically viewed as a difficulty and transform it into something that enhances our end result.
Above are just a snapshot of the beautiful works of art my students have created over the years. I strongly believe that beginning my career as an instructor with the Express Yourself Artshop inclusive program in my hometown (as someone who wasn’t even planning to become an art instructor at that point!) made me a better teacher.
(Psst! We do have a Redbubble Shop as well, if you want to show some love.)
An artist friend recently shared with me an article they wrote titled “The ABCs of Underground Art”. I really enjoyed it, and they encouraged me to write my own ABC’s of the type of art that I do as a fun journaling prompt to use to unwind and organize your thoughts. Those that have followed me for awhile know that I don’t typically stick to just one type of art, so to open up the limits I decided to make my “alphabet” the ABC’s of Creation. I have assigned a word to each letter, along with a video of my illustrating a cool little ACEO sized letter inspired visual to go with each word. Read, listen, or both – whatever works!Â
D is for Dream. Creating allows us to show others things they could never see in real life. It transports us. The art I appreciate the most takes ideas from reality but uses innovation to present it in a new way. This is the kind of art that makes creation valuable; we can’t just look out the window and see what it is showing us. Not to say realistic things like landscapes can’t show us a new reality, Look at Van Gogh! Creating invites us into the mind of someone else, a place we can’t usually go.
Chugging along rather slowly, I’ve finished the 4th installment of my current Fruits Of The Spirit series, Patience. This is an apt theme, as this series is one of the slowest yet, and I am not used to working slow! Sometimes it really irks me that I’m over halfway through 2024 and have just this month been finishing up some of my started pieces, being used to finishing 15-20 new artworks a year sometimes. This comes with the territory of working larger, and accepting more opportunities outside of my studio like public art and murals, live painting at events, and vendor markets. The 2 works below were started way back in 2021!
Patience is a loaded concept for me, and a lot of reflection went into this piece as there were a number off different directions it could take.
I’m told I have a lot of patience with “difficult” people, and that I have unconditional patience with my students when I’m teaching. I’ve found my particular flavor of patience through working with individuals with disabilities and mental health issues in some of the art programs I teach through, but for most of my life I would not describe myself as a patient person. Though typically considered advanced academically, I was perpetually late to the party where anything else was concerned growing up, or at least it felt that way. Whether completely accurate or partially a perception based on comparison to my friends or peers, this cultivated a lot of internalized anger; last to learn how to ride a bike, last to get invited to parties or social gatherings, last to go on a date, last to see their favorite band live, last to land a ‘real’ job, last to … I know this is a relatable feeling for many, but to the individual in the moment it feels like life is just passing by. When these typical milestones that may seem insignificant individually keep cumulatively falling by the wayside, it chips away at your self worth – especially when you don’t know why you can’t just ‘get it together’. I always find it funny that when I catch up with people I haven’t seen in a long time, they are amazed by all the things I HAVE done, because I sure don’t see it that way. Sometimes when we don’t reach all those wonderful but pretty bland, typical milestones we end up feeling so singled out that we miss all the unique, interesting milestones we have reached.Â
My first art show where I won an award was my college showcase senior year at CMU (Grand prize, baby!). I took to the streets /slash/ internet and asked people what their most obscure goal was, and then illustrated the results and made them into a book. Deep down, I knew that there was no such thing as a “typical” timeline and that we define our own milestones, and I think that’s why that concept so appealed to me.
Patience is knowing that seed you hold can become a forest. Patience is deeply integrated within faith, and there are many times when I think that both patience and faith are just the goofiest things ever. But then I feel a cool shade overhead and suddenly realize that my tiny seed has become a tall, strong tree and I didn’t even notice it was growing. I think my younger self thought certain things would have happened in my life by now that haven’t, BUT I also think my younger self never thought other things would have happened by now that did.Â
If you want to see some of the process, a closeups of the actual piece, and hear the symbolism behind the different elements of “Patience” please check out the video below.
Allise Nicole's Artistic Explorations 