Since I posted that photo of lichen a few weeks ago, I’ve been mulling over ways of creating my own version of the stuff. These are nothing like the intension I began with, but I am still excited by them, and curious about their possibilities.

I cut, assembled, and stitched these while listening to a TED talk about creativity in the classroom. Quite appropriately, the speaker claimed that creativity cannot occur without one’s willingness to fail. This feels so absolutely true for me. If I could have recorded my internal dialogue while making these it would have gone something like this... “hmm, what am I doing? Well, that didn’t work. No, try that? what is this thing? weird! should I make another? these are ugly little suckers.....” I know it’s not much of a pep talk I’m giving myself but it’s actually one of my favorite working head spaces. I’ll call it my experimental mode. In that mode I’ve generated some really horrifically ugly art but I’ve also planted the seeds for the work I am most proud of.