Project: Collaborative Canvas

When my fellow artist and friend John Jurries asked me to be one of nine artists to work on his idea of a collaborative canvas, I immediately said yes. My mind started racing with all the possibilities of what I could do, and of course my first question was: Can I add sculptural elements to the canvas?

John was all in for that idea.

*The finished canvas, with my portion being at the top left painting and various sculpted elements throughout.*

The basic idea was this: using the theme of “growth”, design artwork to fill a portion of the 20x30 canvas. There were no boundaries, no limits, and if we wanted to encroach on another artist’s work to connect the design, we were allowed to as long as we respected their painting. Each of us would take the canvas home for one week to work on our part. We met up once in the beginning to chat about our thoughts and rough ideas.

I choose a week seven in the process so I could have time to procrastinate think of an idea. Having six previous artist’s work on the piece was a nice bonus and Cassidy, the artist ahead of me, was so communicative and kind in sharing with me what she was planning so I could work on my ideas. I found an incredible book at the library called “Entangled Life”, which is all about how fungi and mycelium originate, grow, and sustain many life forms. One fact that stood out to me was that plants evolved to grow out of water because of mycelium. I ruminated on that for a while and decided my artwork was going to showcase fungi, plants, and the connection between the two.

When my turn came to paint, I got extremely nervous. Not only was I painting with a medium that I hadn’t touched in years, but I was doing the first draft on the actual canvas, with other work already on it! If I messed up, there was no redo button.

As scared as I was, it had to be done. I got some acrylic paints and got to work. I had reference photos all over my studio. I had people cheering me on. I put paint to canvas and after six days, I was happy with it. There were definite mini-breakdowns and lots of touchups but in the end I was proud of myself for doing something new(ish) and being a part of a bigger project.

I also had to create the sculptures, which I made out of epoxy resin air-dry clay. I chose this medium due to it’s quick drying time and finished strength. The brand I used was Apoxie, found in most hobby stores. It had a slight learning curve but for the most part was easy to work with and I loved the final pieces!

For the opening show, we could also create new artwork to display. I chose to make an abstract pyramid-like sculpture, which represents the connection of life, death, humans and nature, and how growth, both physical and emotional, is key to the ongoing process of living.

*‘Processes’ - my individual piece for the show.*

Cocoon Art Space hosted the opening reception, and it was a wonderful time! So many of our friends and families came, along with local art lovers. Josie and Tedd, the owners of Cocoon, gave us so much support and encouragement during this process. The Growth Collaborative Canvas is for sale, and all proceeds will be donated to the Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids, MI.

The Growth show will run until June 29, 2025 at Cocoon Art Space, 327 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, MI