The Visual Arts Center of Richmond & Noah Scalin Experience:
On a recent trip to Richmond, Virginia, I had the opportunity to visit the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. Classes for all ages in everything from watercolor painting and pottery to woodturning and rug hooking are offered at the facility. The group I was with was about to take a class, too, but ours was something entirely different.
Introductions were made to Noah Scalin, an artist known for many things, among them his Skull-A-Day project; a thought that became a blog that became an art project that became a book… well you get the idea.
“It really was a spur of the moment idea that came to me fully formed, ‘I should make a skull a day for a year,’” he recalls. “I was looking for a new personal creative outlet anyway so it seemed worth giving a shot. I started doing it without really working out exactly what I was committing myself to do, which was a good thing too, considering how incredibly out of hand it got!”
Scalin’s project inspired thousands, who continue to submit their own skulls to his blog. Wanting to keep the creativity of the masses revved up, he has since written a second book — “365: A Daily Creativity Journal,” which will be released on December 15 through Voyageur Press. “It’s a functional journal designed to help people create their own daily, yearlong project and reap some of the benefits I got from making my own project: Skull-A-Day.”
He gave us a taste of what’s in store for readers by taking us through a workshop. We were given a time limit of 30 minutes and bevy of materials to use. The task – make 15 things within our allotted time with random items.
Being a Libra, I was losing time deliberating over the most worthy shape, so Scalin assigned arrows to me. I started off making rudimentary arrows out of some craft materials.
By the end of the class, I was making other participants pose as arrows.
Once the class was done, arrows were still on my mind and appearing everywhere.
Which gave me an idea…
Bringing it home:
Yep, it’s time for another readers’ challenge. I want to give you the gift Scalin gave me during that workshop. Being so tuned into looking for arrows had me observing my surrounds in a much different way.
Not only did I find arrows in the most unusual of places, but was far more aware of the blooming flowers, cracks in the sidewalk and shapes of the clouds.
I invite you to devote some of your weekend for a similar project. Choose an object, shape, word, etc. and go on a scavenger hunt. Like me, you can take photos of said found objects and document your experience. Or, consider it a full-on game of I Spy with friends and family. I guarantee you’ll come away seeing the world from a whole different perspective. Even better, share how you approached the project here on Life on a Silver Platter. Which brings me to –
Last week’s challenge:
Here’s reader Jennifer’s experience from last week’s challenge to…
Thanks for the inspiration! After a sweltering weekend of near 100 degrees temps (I’m still wondering if it’s really August and we all collectively forgot to turn pages on the calendar), we were blessed with storms Sunday evening. We lucked out and didn’t get the thunder that’s so typical of these afternoon storms, so I decided to take a quick run through the ultimate sprinkler! A few spins and twirls as I danced in the rain reminded me how refreshing taking even a few minutes to just have fun could be. Was a bit easier coming to the office this morning!
To learn more about the Visual Arts Center of Richmond visit www.visarts.org or phone 1-804-353-0094. To learn more about Noah Scalin visit http://www.ALRdesign.com. Information about his book “Skulls” can also be found at http://www.larkbooks.com/catalog?isbn=1600593755 or check out the blog at http://skulladay.blogspot.com. His upcoming book, “365: A Daily Creativity Journal,” will be released on December 15 by Voyageur Press and is available for pre-order at your favorite local independent book store http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780760339961.
