Art group stays busy with daily photo challenge
Artists and art lovers may have plenty of time during the coronavirus pandemic to tap into their creative spirit, but a little inspiration can always help.
The 903 Artisans group based in Northeast Texas near Texarkana has held workshops, art shows and meetings in the past, but with social distancing in place and such events on the back burner they’ve found a new way to stay active: daily photo challenges posted to their public group’s page on Facebook.
The group’s Nancy Martin thought of the idea as a way to keep members’ minds active and perhaps share something from a different time.
Martin has posted daily themes since a shelter-in-place order went into effect, and group members have responded, posting several dozen photos a day that fit each theme. Participation has blossomed as photographers of all skill levels share their own photos that connect to themes like “Yellow” or “Wood” or “Warm.”
This longtime Texarkana-area artist posts a theme each morning, then selects a handful to feature at night. She’s seen great participation, such as the theme “Entrance.” One poster shared an entryway to the Grand Canyon, while another posted the entrance to the Statue of Liberty’s crown.
Everyone’s response to the theme is unique, and people are ready to share.
“I just thought it would be kind of fun to see what kind of photos people had, just a sort of a challenge to give people a chance to go through their photographs. A lot of times we take a lot of photographs and then we never look at them again,” Martin said. She’d been poring through some of her old photos, so the idea went from there and she threw the idea out to group members.
“It’s turned into a pretty big thing,” Martin said. “It’s caught on and we’ve had a lot of people. Now they expect it.”
There are a few rules in place with folks limited to two photographs. They must be ones they took, and they must be posted by 7 p.m. daily.
With her artist’s training (she’s also been an art teacher), she considers several factors and selects a few to showcase in a post. They may tell the story most effectively, for example, or show skill in design, composition and lighting. There’s no prize, but they get the glory for the day.
“It’s just a fun thing to do,” Martin said. It gives people a chance to revive memories of a time when things were more normal, she said.
“I think it just brings back good memories, or that’s what it does for me,” Martin said.
The photo challenge prompt of “Warm” elicited some memorable and eclectic responses. “I just thought that some of those were really cool because you could see people’s interpretations,” Martin said. She thought about a warm cup of tea, or warm sunshine.
“And then I saw some of them where it was a moment in time with somebody,” Martin said. “Warm” described the emotion of the memory captured in the photograph.
At a time when so many people can’t see each other, visit or travel around in the ways we are used to, taking photos or finding old ones to share can serve a purpose.
Being creative lifts her spirits. Her artist friends have been staying busy with projects these days. She’s started art projects but hasn’t finished anything up yet.
“I think it’s good for people to keep their minds active and that creative side of their brain going,” Martin said. “It’s real easy to kind of fall into a funk and just kind of … fall into that depression, I think.”
(On the Net: Do a search for 903 Artisans on Facebook to find this public group page.)