On Community
The artist reflects on stumbling on accidental community as they also engage community on a serious topic with art.
Community On
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“I’ve got to do my games” Vaimo said, on a rare Saturday in June where we found ourselves lazing around. Vaimo has a series of activities she does on her phone daily, possibly in response to our constant discussions around whether or not we should get new hobbies. And I was feeling like that was a ritual I wanted to partake in too. So looking at one of her games I thought, I want to play that! So off to the App Store I went, in search of the word game she played daily so I could have a taste.
Except, I downloaded a different game. You know how it goes. In this capitalist landscape there’s the game and then all the other games that are like the game, but they’re not the game. Maybe it’s like the knock-off store brand grocery item - Kroger Ketchup instead of Heinz, but I’m sure you know what I mean. Anyways, Vaimo was playing Words of Wonder and I had downloaded and started diligently logging points on Wordscapes before I realized that we weren’t in fact playing the same game. But it didn’t matter, I was enthralled with Wordscapes and I was definitely hooked.
For those unfamiliar, Wordscapes is a word puzzle game where you find words out of a set of letters that then go into a crossword board so you can use the board to help you find the words in the puzzle. If you find a word that isn’t in the crossword you get extra points (coins). Your coins can help you purchase hints when you get stuck, and of course there’s the aspect of being able to actually buy coins and hints with the digital currency directly from one’s bank account. The most I’ve paid for is the ad-free version of the game. For the number of hours I’ve logged on this thing though, truly a great investment.
After seeing the inner workings of both games, Wordscapes is for the extroverted. Every weekend there is a tournament where you and your team take on other teams from around the world. There’s some strategy involved and much camaraderie. You can select to join a team or start your own, there’s 50 people to each team with different descriptions and calls for participants. I joined a team called The Birds. Our team leader’s name is BigBird. I learned this weekend in the group chat that BigBird used to teach statistics. It makes so much sense now as to why he’s always running numbers at the end of our tournaments with percentage of players participating, and tracking our trends in our team scoring potential. Vaimo knows that I take my participation on the team very seriously, sometimes if I’m otherwise occupied (cough cough working) she’s happy to take a turn playing the game to get me points to add to the team score in tight competitions.
I love being a member of The Birds. We are a polite community of bird lovers who picked the team because we are all birders. After I joined, (and following a team win in the tournament) I commented in the group chat something to the effect of “I’m so happy to be a part of this team I’m going to change my screen name to one of my bird names.” BigBird was so charmed he’s now made it a requirement that one has to have a bird name in order to join the team. One of my teammates took the name EarlyBird. I just love these nerds. Seriously, he lives in a different global time zone from North America and is often playing while the US-based players are asleep. The fact that I know this really inspires my awe-like wonder in the world. Even as we don’t know each other’s names, we’re still a community. We help each other with hints, we comfort each other, we step up for one another when we know someone won’t be around for the tournament. It’s an accidental community I stumbled into that I’m grateful to be a part of. To the outside observer it may seem trivial, but I consider The Birds to be a part of my life. They were encouraging me when I headed to my first art market last year; when I shared I was traveling and wasn’t going to be able to participate in the tournament. We welcomed our bird teammate back after a busy holiday marketing season. And we comforted another when she lost her sister to an opioid overdose last year. We are a community of bird and word lovers who have somehow found each other on this spinning rock of a world. Astounding really.
The US is facing a public health crisis - the loneliness epidemic, that is so serious the federal government released a National Strategy to Advance Social Connection in May 2023. From data shared in the press release “The physical health consequences of poor or insufficient connection include a 29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke, and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults. Additionally, lacking social connection increases risk of premature death by more than 60%.” It goes on to also discuss the mental health consequences of loneliness, “Loneliness and social isolation in childhood increase the risk of depression and anxiety both immediately and well into the future. And with more than one in five adults and more than one in three young adults living with a mental illness in the U.S., addressing loneliness and isolation is critical in order to fully address the mental health crisis in America.” I’m convinced this is one of the reasons why folks are so drawn into MLM and Cult schemes - as social creatures we just want to belong somewhere. For the nefarious, this desire to belong can be easily exploited when the other typical supportive community structures are no longer viable or accessible to our neighbors. I think about this a lot as a rural resident. I could go for a dangerously long time without seeing anyone other than Vaimo if I wasn’t actively cultivating my long-distance friendships, which turns out is everyone I know because I live double digit miles away from my nearest friends.
I know how I have to keep myself connected to lessen my depressive tendencies. That’s why I make a weekly trip into town to the grocery story and the public library as a standard practice. Vaimo and I are trying to commit to more dinner parties, where we invite a couple of folks over at a time to have a meaningful connection with others this year. And, I’ve been trying to publicly think through my feelings and financial reality in community with my most recent social practice art installation. My project, In the Red, A Mixed Media Meditation on Student Loan Debt, is a time based installation currently being housed at the Fergus Falls office of Springboard for the Arts. In my artist statement- I name the collective as an important part of my project, that while we tend to conceptualize student loan debt as an individual problem it is absolutely a public and collective concern. I no longer desired to carry this burden alone, nor conceptualize this as only my problem to solve. This is something I want to find and build community around.
I’m really struck by holding these two tensions - the complex feelings related to the burden of student loan debt and the current delegitimizing of higher education from many angles. While I’m using colorful and festive banners as the means to get the message (and feelings) across, this party is not one I really want others having to throw for themselves. As this project continues to take form (we’re three of 12 banners in so far) I am also mindful of the way that time is a necessary component of community. I’m trusting that my efforts will lead to something different than the shame and guilt I have felt for so long as I’ve navigated attempts to pay back my student loan. I love using the analogy that we’re building the plane as we fly it. To that end I am not sure what the result or outcome will be from any of this. What I can share, is that I intend to at the very least start a conversation and connect with others. By publicizing my individual debt burden I invite us to think about the collective relationship to student loan debt in hopes of inspiring public policy changes for the elimination of student loan debt for previous, current, and future learners.
I’m hopeful in this possibility, because of my recent history of stumbling upon accidental communities, like The Birds, and “Minnesota’s Moose on the Loose” Facebook group. When I requested to join the over 53 thousand members-strong group a few weeks ago, I was asked where I lived and why I wanted to join. My responses must have been sufficient because I was let in to join others who are thrilled to observe and report on the migration path of a young moose who the group (check out the MPR story) has taken to calling Rutt. There’s merch being made and lovely photos and commentary from wholesome Minnesotans who have been captivated by the wandering joys of a young moose. According to the Facebook group trackers in 2023 they estimate, he started walking from South Dakota up to Northwestern Minnesota in over 555 straight line miles, averaging a little under five miles of walking per day. What complexities we humans hold, as we seek community in all kinds of ways. And how magical that these kinds of interactions can remind us that we all have the capacity to connect with one another in hopes of building our resilience to tackle some tougher stuff together (like student loan debt reform).
Anyways, join me, a rural resident, lover of birds and moose at Springboard for the Arts in Fergus Falls to stitch and dream about a world where student loan debt is a thing of the past on Thursday January 18th from 3:00-5:00pm. Bring a project and we’ll make things with our hands and hearts in community with one another. And at the end of the day we can feel warm inside for fostering social connectivity in this world hungry for connection.
Artist Offerings
I took in this virtual art show on spiritual art that you might also enjoy
In these sub-zero temps (FINALLY winter in Minnesota) I am obsessed with the morning sky sundog viewing opportunities
I really enjoy the National Gallery of Art offerings, this article on 16 Black Artists to Know came in my inbox today and thought it worthy of a share
Creative Ritual
2024 is off and running. This week the guild got back together again and stretched a new canvas. It's gessoed and ready to be a newly opened portal for a painting about Guaranteed Basic Income - so political these days eh?! I dropped a painting off for the Kaddatz Galleries 15th Anniversary Show that begins on January 23rd. I completed and installed banner number three of my ongoing project on student loan debt (see image above) at Springboard and am busily preparing the next banner that I'll be stitching in community on Thursday January 18th from 3-5pm on location. I've hosted two Ko-Fi Roast and Grind Virtual Paper Planning Sessions which has been a blast, available to my monthly subscribers on Ko-Fi. This could be you! I'm three books behind on my reading goal already! Ay yi yi! Most of the first couple of weeks of the year have been filled with administrative busy work (gotta do that important record keeping), booking travel for show installation and, prepping for a class I'm co-teaching that begins next week! Woah! We've got this.
Questions to ponder
How are you tending to your social connections?
What kind of accidental communities have you stumbled into?
Do you have anything you've been carrying alone that might feel better if you let community hold some of it with you?
I find hand stitching to be particularly wonderful in the winter months, what are you stitching or want to stitch?
Thanks for journeying with me. I hope, as always, that you take what you need and leave the rest for someone else, or for another time.
-KCF
The Art of KCF Newsletter is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
