Project description:
28 days of creativity in defiance of both perfectionism and the dark days of winter. No experience needed. Free. Participants just decided on something to do each day. Then shared along the way or at the end or not at all.
This fun and informal project was held in 2024 and 2025 to foster creativity and personal joy through the process of making art every day for the month of February.
Open to anyone who wanted to participate, from those who create professional to those who would never call themselves an artist, the intention was to bring more creativity into our lives, not to bring any sense of pressure.
Art was loosely defined here, meaning anything creative, whether it be painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, cooking, decorating, writing, sculpture, choreography, collage, photography, pottery, jewelry-making, etc…
The project include a big list of partners and a calendar listing of over 80 different art classes and events during the month.
Researchers have found that people are happier and energized when they are engaged in everyday creative endeavors, and that being in a positive mood goes hand in hand with creative thinking (source). The project is also in defiance of perfectionism which is shown to lead to depression (source).
The invitation was to create something each day so what they do each day could add up to something greater at the end of the month, like painting a part of a picture that is completed by the end of the month OR they could choose to have a distinct project each day that winds up being a collection at the end. For example, write a line of poetry each day that describes the sky. At the end of the month, they would have a collection of lines of poetry. Some examples that folks did for the month include:
- Writing a poem a day
- Doing a sketch or doodle a day
- Writing a postcard a day
- Making a small collage each day
- Describing the sky each day
- Knitting part of a scarf each day
- Adding to a painting each day
- (click here to see ideas for kids you can adjust for yourself)
At the end, we met at Dog River Coffee to share a beverage and our creations.