The Family of the Traveling Paints…

Ours is a homemade vision.  

Like the community quilts that are stitched by guilds across America,

Art Is…You has come together in small stitches sewn by many hands who seek not the accolades but rather the opportunity to simply live whole.

This weekend proves you have found the courage to discover a way to create and carve out a time for yourself. 

 

But like a little child who is unsteady on their feet..

(or a quilter who is trying assemblage art for the first time)

  

I know there are people here tonight who still need a hand outstretched to catch them if they fall. 

Believe me when I say, there are over 200 hands here who will do just that for you.

 

Welcome everyone to the 3rd Anniversary of Art Is…You.

What a thrill to see all your shining faces tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The philosophy of Art Is…You is to create a moment in time where artists, whether they be faculty or students, can come together to share in their passion for creativity.

To create…

to self nourish…

to replenish personal creative resources,

 

and to nurture not only individual souls

but the souls of those around them.

Art Is…You is a family of abundance.

There is no limit to our gifts,

our associations,

and our hospitality.

The giving of gifts…

…the gifts of the artists are boundless.

Our community calls forth those gifts.

In association we join these gifts together and they become amplified,

magnified,

 

productive,

 

and celebrated.

 

We welcome strangers because we value their gifts and need to share our own.

 

Our doors are open.

There are no strangers here.

 

Just friends we haven't met.  

We have a calling.

We are the people who know what we need.

 

What we need surrounds us.

 

What we need is each other.

And when we act together,

we will find Our Way.

 

We are called to nothing less.

 

And it is not so wild a dream.

Tonight we celebrate this.

 

Welcome Sisters of the Traveling Paints to Art Is…You 2009

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented on Friday 9th October at Art Is...You 2009. 

Inspiration, guidance and words provided with grace by John McKnight - Co-Director, of the Asset Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University. His talk "Community Capacities and Community Necessities" was delivered as part of the opening remarks at the "From Clients to Citizens Forum", at the Coady International Institute, St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia on July 8, 2009. John McKnight may be reached at jlmabcd@aol.com