ArtThread Foundation: Creativity for a cause

Why should we make art?

"I'm not an artist."

When we train people to use the ArtThread Online Gallery, we often hear that phrase.  There seems to be a wide-spread belief that before we can make art we must possess some magical talent.  You can see the nervousness in people when we tell them to "just go for it!" 

Besides the fear of making a mistake, we also sense a question: why?  Why should we make art?  It seems many of us have been deprived of the permission and the opportunity to be creative, yielding a collective memory loss of the "aha" moment that so wonderfully arrives during creative expression. 

The latest issue of Greater Good magazine (soon to be web-only) is devoted to the theme "Why Make Art." In "The Birth of the Arts" author Ellen Dissanayake says "the arts transmit value systems and stories that serve to unite individuals in social groups."  Probably true, but not much use when we stare at the blank canvas and wonder how to begin.  

How about this: "...artistic rituals and ceremonies help persuade people to devote themselves to ideals that transcend narrow self-interest: loyalty, generosity, hard work, unselfishness, patriotism, and even the sacrifice of one's life." Now we're getting somewhere, but still rather high-fallutin'.  

In another article in the same issue (Why We Make Art), dancer Gina Gibney says "In life we experience so much fragmentation of thought and feeling.  ...creating art brings things back together."  Pete Docter, director of the recent Pixar film "Up," says "It's fun making things."  That's the one -  we are hard-wired to get enjoyment out of the act of creating something.

Though we may innately know that "making things" is important, who has time?  Our ultra-connected lives can ultimately lead us to be ultra-disconnected from the well of creativity waiting inside us.  How do we start sipping from that well?

Not to worry - creativity easily leaks into every facet of our lives.  Observe yourself making breakfast - you are an artist!  Carlin Flora knows it.  In her article "Everyday Creativity" in the latest issue of Psychology Today, she says we can tap into our creativity by doing things (there it is again!) "that don't sound intimidatingly ingenious."  Maybe the word 'creativity' is too high-fallutin':

"When we think of creativity, we think of Mozart, Picasso, Einstein—people with a seemingly fated convergence of talent and opportunity. It's too narrow a set of references, because the truth is that all sorts of people, possessing various levels of intelligence and natural ability, are capable of engaging in fulfilling creative processes. Just because you'll never be Brando or Balanchine doesn't mean that you can't harness your idea-generating powers and make your life your own masterpiece."

That one is worth repeating - make your life your own masterpiece.  That's why we tell everyone to go for it.

"I am an artist!"

Embrace the Mistakes

Remember that Bill Cosby routine where the surgeon says, "Oops"?  Not what you want to hear at that moment.  But during the creative process those "oops" moments can be the spark that sets you down a new path.

In the latest issue of his wonderful newsletter "The Painter's Keys," Robert Genn writes about artists and mistakes:

"Don't assume mistakes are a bad thing.  Don't think for one minute that everyone agrees with what "good" is... Don't fall into the trap of thinking perfection is attainable or even desirable.  Don't assume the existence of error." 

We know error can exist, but Robert points us toward a clearing of the mind when we embark on something new.  By forgetting the possibility of error we open ourselves up to the the possibility of the creating something totally fresh.  This works for art in all its forms - making breakfast, arranging your desk, or dipping your brush into that first bit of paint.  

Dive in - you can't make a mistake!

ArtThread - Creativity for a Cause

Technology can be married with creative expression in meaningful ways. Take for instance the Tour De France 2009, the premier cycling event in the world. In this epic battle of the best in the world Lance Armstrong, and his Livestrong Global Cancer Initiative teamed up with Nike and some very creative minds at Carnegie Mellon University to come up with the Chalkbot, a machine that captured and reproduced inspirational online social media messages for Lance and his team, and then painted them on the roads of the Tour De France. Inspiration, creativity motivation, social media, and technology all coming together for a great cause. With our Creativity for a Cause campaign ArtThread fuses its technology with crucial causes such as the fight against cancer and children’s hunger, offering a means for the public to communicate creatively about their passion. This builds a community around a meaningful cause and offers another needed fund-raising strategy for these good causes. ArtThread’s Creativity for a Cause — Express Yourself — Raise Your Spirits — Raise the Bar — Raise Some Money for the right reasons! Wear you Art with an ArtThread Creativity for a Cause T-Shirt.

ArtThread's Founder Chosen as Delegate to 2009 Livestrong Global Cancer Summit in Dublin

"I am a childhood cancer survivor who has used the power of creative expression as a survivorship tool within my own personal experience," begins the commitment Jay Klein wrote for his entry into the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Livestrong Global Cancer Summit, set for August 2009 in Dublin.

Jay, the CEO and founder of ArtThread, was part of a select group of individuals and organizations who have made commitments to global cancer control.  The summit brings together "world leaders, corporations, non-government organizations, and advocates in an unprecedented show of solidarity."

This is a huge honor for Jay and the whole ArtThread team, and we are proud to be represented at this important international event.

"The overall goal of the ArtThread Foundation is to share the international reach of our proprietary technology by partnering with other organizations whose mission it is to improve the quality of lives of cancer patients. Our hope is that these partnerships build community, increase awareness, and offer innovative methods towards sustainability," continues Jay in his commitment.  We'll keep you posted on the event when Jay returns.

Learn more here.

Creativity, Technology, Cancer and Pain

Mainstream thought tells us that art heals emotional, spiritual and psychic wounds. Now a team of neurological and psychiatric researchers at the University of Bari in Italy have confirmed in their recent study that it helps in lowering pain.

We at ArtThread believe in the validity and need for this type of research that could benefit cancer patients. As new cutting edge cancer protocols yield an increase in survivorship, they often increase the psychological and physical distress of the patient. Years ago (April, 1984, Science) Roger Ulrich, now Director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A & M, demonstrated that gardens do better than brick walls for reducing length of stay and narcotic use by post-op patients. So the natural question follows: Can creativity in the form of art-making improve health outcomes for cancer patients? Researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital recently published research in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management that shows art makes a difference.

So ArtThread wants to extend the question, the dialog, the research and the support for cancer patients. Take this research cited above and add on the community created by connections on the ArtThread Interactive Gallery, and then mix in the ability for the cancer patient to add their ArtThread art (and others) to their environment using any of the tools at their disposal e.g. touch-screen LCD, Ipod, social networking sites, or cell phones. Whether it’s in the chemotherapy chair, at home or in the hospital, technology in the form of a laptop, an I-Phone, or a standard desktop computer, they all can deliver art – art made by and shared by a community of survivors that support each other. Creativity and technology  can be used to improve the Quality of Life for cancer patients.

ArtThread receives the VSA arts Outstanding Community Partner award

We are proud that the national office of VSA arts chose ArtThread to receive the 2009 Outstanding Community Partner Award. This honor comes from our work with the VSA arts of Florida (VSAFL), one of the most effective VSA affiliates in the country.  Together we created the Work of Art program, a hands-on training program that teaches technical and entrepreneurial skills to artists with disabilities. 

We have to thank Marian Winters, Executive Director of VSAFL, for recommending us and for being such a great partner to work with.  "ArtThread truly made the Work of Art program come alive, and we are so glad that we created this partnership with them," said Winters.

"Everyone at VSAFL helped to make the Work of Art program a wonderful success," said Jay Klein, ArtThread's CEO.  Artists have uploaded over 600 pieces of art to the VSAFL/ArtThread Interactive Online Gallery. 

"VSA arts works with a network of affiliate organizations across the country, that coordinate comprehensive programming in their respective states, working to increase educational opportunities and access to the arts for people with disabilities. These organizations develop strategic and program partnerships with organizations and individuals to increase their reach and impact in their states. Each year, VSA arts and its affiliates recognize the organizations and individuals who help make their work possible."  Read more

ArtThread chosen as featured member of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare (SAH)

Each month the SAH selects a member to feature in the SAH Connections Newsletter. In March they chose ArtThread.

"We have big goals at the ArtThread Foundation - nothing less than creating a global community of people who embrace and share creative expression," said Rob Rothschild, President of the ArtThread Foundation.  Click here to see the interview with Rob and Jay Klein, CEO/Founder of ArtThread.

Creative Gift Ideas that Support Artists with Disabilities

The ArtThread Foundation and VSA arts of Florida were awarded a prestigious grant from The Able Trust, also known as Florida Governor’s Alliance for the Employment of Citizens with Disabilities, to create an innovative program designed to help artists with disabilities in the greater Tampa Bay area achieve success as working artists [/caThe full-day training session took place on November 8, 2008 at the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida. During the training 26 artists each had their own computer and experienced the fun of working with ArtThread's Online Gallery and creating art online with Splash! as well as in the studio with traditional art supplies.

Each artist made their own Thread on the VSA-ArtThread Gallery, and all the hands-on art made that day can be seen in the WOA Day thread. Each of the participants created their own Thread on the VSA/ArtThread Gallery. These threads serve as a personal online gallery, as well as a launching pad for each artist's online merchandising store. Of the 26 artists in the class, seven chose to create stores right away. These stores are now up and running online, and some of them have custom elements created by the artists.

Anyone can now look at art online made by the artist, and in two clicks they can buy a product custom imprinted with the work of each artist.

One VSA artists in particular, Margaret Zabor, is making some amazing art with Splash! in addition to photography and traditional art and she has shared how much she is enjoying the process after attending the WOA training. Follow this link to Margaret's thread, click on the t-shirt icon on any of her art, and you can buy something from her store – or view the full VSA Gallery and purchase from all of the available art!

ArtThread One-of-a-Kind Store Now Online

One of the great things about creative expression is that moment you show someone your work and say, "I made that!"  ArtThread has a way to give you that experience. When you make a piece of art online with Splash!, or upload a photo or a scan from your computer, you get a chance to allow that work to be imprinted on custom made clothing and accessories.  Every piece of art on the Gallery can have this option, and when you see this icon below the art you can go for it! Click on that icon and you get a chance to pick from a variety of wonderful products, and you can even do more customization before you make your purchase.  This fantastic flexibility is due to our partnership with Electric Owl Studios and Zazzle.com. Here's an example of how it works - click this shirt to check it out!   Or, go directly to the ArtThread store and support our mission to make creative expression available to everyone.

Making a Moment for Creative Expression: The Story of ArtThread

It was the winter of 1973, and, having pulled a number seven in the draft lottery, 19-year-old college student Jay Allan Klein figured he was on his way to Viet Nam. Yet when he reported for a routine draft physical doctors didn’t send him overseas. Instead they ordered him to see a urologist.

Klein found himself on a different sort of front line altogether — battling testicular cancer in an era when few teens diagnosed with a malignancy of any kind survived. Three and a half decades later, Klein is cancer-free, and keenly aware of what cancer patients experience. He is committed to easing their physical and psychological distress. The story of ArtThread begins with Klein’s survivorship, and with his experience as a musician, which gave him first hand experience in how creative expression can remove the feelings of ac ute isolation and uncertainty that can occur after diagnosis.

Fusing his arts and science background he started federally funded research at the University of Florida involving the role of creative expression and online technology for cancer patients. This work spawned the ArtThread Foundation whose mission is to use innovative technology to make art and creative expression more available to those impacted by illness, physical limitations, or social consequence.

"ArtThread technology gives anyone in need the freedom to take a moment for creative expression – and we are all in need,” says Rob Rothschild, president of the ArtThread Foundation. “In that moment your distress can disappear because you are totally im mersed in the creative process.”

ArtThread uses its online technology and the power of art to build a global community that emphasizes the unique spirit in all of us while encouraging unity and support.

“In this day and age everyone knows someone, a friend, sibling, parent or relative dealing with cancer,” says Klein, founder and CEO of the ArtThread Foundation. “With over 12 million new cases globally last year there are no longer ‘have and have-nots;’ the world community and the cancer community are one in the same, so the need for solutions is greater than ever.”

The centerpiece of the Foundation’s work is the ArtThread Interactive Online Gallery. The Gallery is an innovative, inspirational, and interactive place where people can do something highly unusual with their art: they can start or join an “art thread” — an interactive art-to-art conversation with family, friends, or anyone in the world. The ArtThread Gallery makes creative expression and art available everywhere: home, work, in-patient and clinical settings, schools, and throughout community organizations.

“Making art is great, but making it and sharing it is even better,” says Klein. “Think of ArtThread as the fusion of a gallery and an infinite online graffiti wall. It is social networking with paint brushes!”

Those “paintbrushes” come in a very unique form on the ArtThread website. ArtThread’s proprietary online art making tool “Splash!”makes it possible for everyone to make beautiful art anywhere. “Splash!” encourages fun and experimentation and often unpredictable results. Yet it also has great depth, and is a wonderfully expressive tool for even the most skilled artist. “Splash!” was originally created in a partnership with the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, co-founded by “Last Lecture” professor and visionary Randy Pausch.

“We asked the development team for a creative tool that would work for ages 5 to 85, and they laughed at us,” remembers Rothschild. “But they did it, and did it beautifully, and it fulfills our mission to enhance those opportunities for creativity.” The original team from Carnegie Mellon has now formed Electric Owl Studios and continues to work on new online art-making tools for ArtThread. A new version of “Splash!” was just released that makes artistic collaboration from anywhere in the world possible.

ArtThread also fulfills its mission by creating partnerships with other organizations such as VSA arts of Florida, Shriners Hospitals, and The Creative Center: Arts in Healthcare.

“We are thrilled to be working with ArtThread,” says Robin Glazer, Director of The Creative Center, a New York city community organization that brings the world of art to more than 15,000 participants each year. “Our artists in residence are using the easy-to- use art sharing tools with in-patients, and we as an organization are using ArtThread’s online auction module as a fundraising tool.”

“Our work with these various organizations clearly demonstrates the power the ArtThread Gallery to enhance the mission, and add value to the services of a wide array of initiatives, say Klein. “Art becomes an advocate, a messenger, a facilitator and a fundraising tool. It’s just one product of our mission to bring creativity, connection, and community to anyone in need.”