Canvas #341b, Cibo Restaurant, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I forgot to write down the last canvas so I mislabeled this one. There's two Canvas #341s out there, so we'll call this one #341b.

I have a group of friends who are my sisters in soul. We get together from time to time to create and play together. We met today, and decided we should create some canvases. In the next little while, expect some posts from these incredible ladies about the canvases they created.

Here's a sneak peak:

The canvas I created today has a simple symbol on it: the ampersand. The ampersand means something that at first seems quite ordinary: and. But if at first glance this symbol doesn't seem to hold lots of meaning, it does. It's what comes after the & that's important. The ampersand joins things. The ampersand implies more. The ampersand means growth.

So let's take that attitude to life, shall we? Let's think about the more & the next & the after. Let's think about the fullness. Let's carry on forward and grow.

We finished our creative day by going out to dinner at Cibo, an amazing restaurant in Calgary where the food is made to be shared (another hint of the &). We ate like queens. Let me give you a taste: polenta fries & handmade ricotta gnocci with sunchokes & mushroom pizza with truffle oil & hazelnuts. I left my canvas on the table after we had finished our delicious meal together.

What happened next was something I wasn't expecting. As we were putting on our coats, we gathered near the door, and were saying our goodbyes. The waitress went to clear away the glasses and cups from the table, & I watched her as she discovered the canvas. She carefully picked it up, and looked at the art, & the sticker. She flipped it over and found the label on the back. She glanced over at us, uncertain. This was a first for me - witnessing someone discovering a canvas. It was quite awesome to watch.

She came over to us, clutching the canvas, and held it up, and said, "Thank you." I said, "It's for you." She said, "This is so nice." She seemed a bit speechless, and definitely touched by the gesture. It was pretty amazing seeing the reason why this project was started in the first place - to bring joy to strangers - in person. & definitely more special that I got to experience all of it with my brilliant group of friends. & it helped me remember that even though we don't see the reactions of the people who find our canvases, & sometimes we don't even hear from the people who find them, we need to remember that people do find them and do feel joy when they do. So let's keep this project going!

On that note, I have decided to stop providing the canvases for this project, but I do want it to continue. If you are reading this and wish to participate, please send me an e-mail at quinn.erin@gmail.com. I will give you a number for the back of the canvas and let you know what to write on it. And you can go and find yourself a little canvas to decorate. Sound good? Drop me a line!

March Report

Over the next couple of weekends, I'll be participating in my last class of my Masters' degree for the year, which was Creativity in Educational Practice. I am going to present The Blank Canvas Project, which I've been working on as my independent creative project since August.

Here's a Prezi I put together to guide my presentation.


I have had such an amazing time with this project, and what's great is that it's still not finished! There's still a bunch of blank canvases sent to participants just waiting to be decorated. And I still have lots of canvases, so I'm going to keep accepting participants at least until they're gone. Thanks for taking this ride with me. :)

November Project Check-In

As most of you are probably aware, The Blank Canvas Project was created as my independent creative project for my grad studies in Creativity in Educational Practice. Every so often, I need to check in with the project and write about where it's at. I thought, in the spirit of openness and the celebration of the positive, I'd post my reflection here this time.

The project has taken on a momentum that is so exciting. As of this post, I have sent 207 canvases out into the world. I have received 36 canvas photos and stories back so far. It has been really interesting to see what people have created. There's been huge variety of the different topics and themes people tackle in their art.

Themes

Two themes that seem to come up a lot are:

Hearts and love

Canvas # 27

Canvas #11

Canvas #137

Words of Inspiration

Canvas #18

Canvas #24

Canvas #36

Place

The canvases have been placed all over the world. Most of the canvases have found homes here in Alberta, but canvases have also been placed in Halifax, Hollywood, and Abu Dhabi!

Canvas #13

Canvas #37

Problems and Snags

The main problem I've run into with my project is people not meeting the one month deadline I've asked them to stick to. I completely get this. I understand that life gets busy. I think it would be very easy to put the package in a pile and just sort of forget about it. And then look at it when you walk by and feel like you should work on it, but then life gets in the way again and you forget.

At the beginning of the project, I wasn't tracking the date I sent the packages out, but started to keep track in September. I sent some check in e-mails to all the people who received canvases in August and September, and a few people submitted photos in response to that. I think I will just need to keep e-mailing people just to remind them about it, even though this would, I'm sure, be very annoying to receive. However, I have put a significant financial investment in this project, which I would hate to lose.

Another problem the project had was that some participants worried that canvases placed in public places and businesses might be mistaken as art that was supposed to be there. People don't know if they should take the art, or leave it, or in some situations, like in libraries and coffee shops, if it's part of the decor and supposed to be there. So I decided to get some tiny labels printed, which will grace the easels from this point on.

A Question

I've only had six people leave a note on the site saying they found a canvas. Two of those people then signed up to participate in the project. But I am really really wondering what has happened to the rest of the canvases! Did someone take them? Are they still where their creator placed them? If people found them, why didn't they go to the site? Just an unanswered pondering that keeps running around in my head.



All in all, I am really pleased with where this project is right now, and I get so happy when I see an e-mail in my inbox from someone wanting a canvas or sending in a photo for the story. I am just loving the creativity that participants are demonstrating. I also am so excited at the thought that people are finding these canvases and being surprised by them. If I came across a canvas out there in the world, I would be so thrilled!

Connecting

I'd love for fans of the Blank Canvas Project to stay connected with us here at the site. There are a few ways you can do this:

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