The Latest, Greatest: Project 52

Well, I meant to end in a blaze of photographic genius, but that clearly didn’t happen. So, yes. The 365 Project is officially over, and I am now most definitely 31 years old.

(The birthday was great! Thanks!)

I also left the camera bag in our car, meaning it’s currently at work with Carl, because I thought I might be in labor the other night and threw our hospital bag and camera case into the car before calling it a night. And waking up contraction-free and strangely rested the next morning, but whatever. The point being that I have no photos of today to augment this introductory post, which is so far failing to introduce anything but will in fact rapidly be made to introduce this year’s project, the slightly less-ambitiously titled Project 52.

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks casting around for a suitable project for the new year—something creative but do-able, engaging without being stressful. I couldn’t find anything that felt flexible enough to accommodate those weeks where I won’t be able to scratch together the time or ambition to spend more than a few minutes on it. So I made my own project:

This is the year of stand-alone art projects, a year of exploration into creative expression, the honing of small but specific skills, the opening of a broader artful eye.

Every week I’ll choose one project. It can be something as ambitious as a short film (I still don’t know how to shoot video with our camera, and I’ve never edited anything), as secretly useful as reupholstering chairs, or as familiar as working through some creative writing prompts. The only rules are that I have to do SOMETHING every week that gets my juices flowing. I’ve been reading lots of books lately about creativity and brain function, about happiness and art, but reading can only get you so far. I need to do some exploring of my own.

And luckily I have spent enough time rambling insistently to Carl in the evenings that he’s decided to join me and do a Project 52 of his own, a more focused one dedicated to honing two specific skills. He wants to spend half the year doing 5 second typography videos and half the year doing typography/photo pieces. (There are actual words for these things in the world of graphic design, and I WILL make an effort to learn them. But since I literally spent a chunk of time this morning looking for pants I was already wearing, I’m going to give myself a pass today. Preggo brain, yo).

Here are my specific goals:

1. To attempt one art project per week.

2. To share said project on the blog or if TOO crappily executed (but you know my shame level is low in this area) at least to write about and reflect on the experience.

I was going to pick a specific deadline day of the week, but I think that’s pushing it. My goal is to have a finished project by the end of the workweek, which for us is Saturday. But we’ll see. I’m sure there will be some weeks where I’m lucky to even get one post up on an inauspicious Tuesday, but there will be other weeks when I have time to write about other things, share cute snaps, or indulge in righteous indignation over some supposed misery of the world. You know. Life.

Anyway. This is my year of broad creative exploration, and if you have any interest in joining in—even just for a week or two—or you’re doing your own project this year and want some minor accounta(blog)ability, feel free to link up in the comments. I would love to see other people’s art projects or hear more about the creative journeys of people who are slightly less famous and intimidating than those I can pick up in the biography section of our library [EDITED TO ADD: wouldn’t it be cool if we really could go to the library and pick up life-sized mannequins of famous authors? Haven’t you ever wondered if the Brontes were properly fed?].

So let it be written, so let it be done.

My prompt this week: write a poem that speaks to your life as it is, right this moment.