Collaboration: The Joy & Power

Collective Wisdom and Collaboration: these were my organizing principles as I developed content for Joy Academy. I wrote a bit about collective wisdom in my last entry. Today I’m excited to share the short poem—What Is Joy? A collaborative piece written by the first cohort of Joy Academy.[embed]https://vimeo.com/756231268[/embed]Inspired by Neil Gaiman’s crowdsourced poem, What You Need To Be Warm, curated from thousands of responses, What Is Joy is the work of eight women. While not everyone responded to every prompt, all of the responses shared were included. I printed and made a copy for each participant to keep.** Using a dash of poetic license, I arranged the lines as they appear in the video. Special shout out of Gratitude to my friend and creative collaborator Laurel Enix. She formatted the video AND did the lay out for the printed poem booklet as well. Find links to her delightful work HERE.

Collaboration

What is it about this word that I find so joyful, so powerful? As a child I was a loner. I’ve written about my sense of erasure and sadness and shame. At my core I became certain that I was inherently a problem to fix. Abandonment lurked in every interaction with a parent or classmate. Team projects or sports were setups for rejection. I ached to fit in, to please, to be enough. As an adult I found a single word for this scary, aching feeling: unfriendableOver time I’ve come to see that this word and my response to (resistance of) it informs so much of what I make, how I think, and what I do as a teacher and friend today. One of my earliest studio painting assignments (circa 2010?) captures the essence of this deeply rooted feeling. I am the child in black and white with her eyes wide open, frowning as the others smile. (My expression is faithful to the original photograph.)

Friendable

Eventually, the lie was revealed. I am NOT unfriendable. I am friendable! I was relieved to know and BELIEVE the truth (and then I was SO pissed off that I’d lost so much time.) Knowing I am friendable certainly helped me envision Joy Academy.Back to my initial question about that winsome word: Collaboration. What is the appeal, the power?The assurance that I am indeed friendable is a solid reality today. I am inherently worthy. As you are. Right now. Just as you are. And this is a short way of illustrating the sweetness, the draw, the deep satisfaction and joy I find in collaboration. We are wired for connection. It is literally in our DNA. By the same token, I am convinced that we each hold the flame of creativity. I see collaboration as the rich overlap of connection and creativity. As a maker, my best and most exciting work has come about because of collaboration. This might be as a student in a class/studio setting, participating in a small critique group, working with fabricators or technicians, being exposed to the process or ideas of other makers and thinkers.

Celebrate Collaboration

With very little effort I found some images of collaborative experiences that I treasure. From setting up a group spot on the beach, and marching for justice, to documenting my thesis work and baking cinnamon rolls I want to honor and celebrate the JOY of collaboration in my life.
As I embrace that I am Friendable, I turn from any puffed up notion that I am self-made. I need help and I am SO grateful that I've learned to ask for it. I love the gift of collaboration, What is your experience with collaboration? How are you stretched and improved by working with others? I'm eager to hear.PS **If you’d like to create your own collaborative poem for Joy, feel free to use the writing prompts I created. CLICK HERE to find the prompts. Share the prompts with your group (friends/family/coworkers) and then ask each of them to share one sentence from each of their prompts. Then arrange the responses as you like. Print out the results and read aloud.
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As Your Soul Demands

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Reflecting on Joy Academy