Furious Dancing

 “Hard Times Require Furious Dancing”

is the title of a wonderful book of poems by Alice Walker.

Recognizing this as truth, Adam and I decided at the beginning of the year that we need more “furious dancing” in our lives. Since our lives are centered around art,  much of our furious dancing will be centered around art as well.

As part of this “Furious Dancing” we’ll be

• giving away small sculptures
• and Adam’s napkin drawings,
• holding contests
• making new work
• planning Dream Big events, adventures, and workshops.                                           

• We’re going to fill this year with unexpected joy and laughter wherever we can. 

          

 On Wednesday we gave away our first collaborative paperclay sculpture   

        We had  busy  schedule on the day of the drawing so we did it before we left  home at 6 am.  We wanted to take the sculpture down to town with us so that we could send it out right away.  Here’s a 59 second video that I put together to show the drawing and the result.  I am proud of my effort 🙂

I have to say, this give away made a difference in MY life.

I’ve been struggling  daily with the sadness about my Dad’s rapid and extraordinary decline and with  exponentially increasing concerns about my mom. I know that lots of you can relate.  It’s been a tough 8 months or so.

From the outset, the decision to give the sculpture away has lifted our spirits. What fun for us to be able to do something that shows our appreciation to you.

We both so appreciate the people that support and encourage us in many ways

• buying sculptures,
• Sharing our work with others,
• taking the time to tell us how our work impacts you
•  rooting for us and sharing and watching our journey  and more

All of you touch our hearts and remind us that what we do and who we are has value.

Mary was SO happy

After we used the random number generator and found out Mary was the winner, I messaged her immediately so we could get her address and ship”Queen of Hearts” out right away.

Her response was fabulous!!   …Something about jumping up and down in excitement.  Her joy was so contagious that our happy, fuzzy feeling lasted all day long, and continues today, three days later.

We had breakfast…feeling so happy

We drove the 1.5 hours to Loveland…. happy, happy

We went around and met with the professionals and friends  in the foundry business …checking waxes, checking metal, picking up sculptures, planning projects…..happy, happy, joy joy

Then we went to Shipper’s Supply in Loveland to mail the sculpture.

We always use Shippers.  They do a great job and are wonderful human beings. Over the years we’ve watched them quietly make a difference in people’s lives and in the community, and we are proud to know and work with them.

Sheree knew about the give away, and she and Jim packed and shipped Mary’s fragile gift at no cost to us.  She said she wanted to pay it forward.

Happy.  really happy.

Finding a way to spread joy is an amazing thing.  When people join in, it’s even more amazing.  Mary and Sheree took my mind off my worries and created a fun and celebratory day for both Adam and I.

Like I said, we will be doing more of these kinds of things.

Because it makes us feel good.

We’ll be finding other creative ways to celebrate life,  and  play more,  and of course, give stuff away to those of you who are following along with us.

We’ll announce our next give away soon.  If you have friends who might want to play, please pass our blog on to them and tell them that  just subscribing enters them in our next round of fun.

I wonder what should be next….