loveMELT newsletter #028: After-Hours Play
Hello friends,
It’s been a minute. I’ve been working on a few things and realized a couple months have passed since I sent you a loveMELT. To give you the run down, last year, at my 9 to 5 (technically my 10 to 6), I started an interest group, specifically an art group, to create art-focused opportunities and build camaraderie amidst practicing artists and art enthusiasts. As a result, in the last few months, I had the exciting opportunity to collaborate in the production of an employee exhibition, After Hours: The People Who Work Here, currently exhibiting many of the art group members’ work.
In total, more than sixty artists from multiple departments across global locations are showcasing a vast range of media, including painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, textile work, installation, video, sound, and sculpture. If you’re in the New York City area, I highly recommend checking out the show, which is up until July 19, 2024. Give me a heads up you’re coming and I’ll give you a personal tour.
Speaking with colleagues and friends, I know many of us are HUSTLING when we’re not working to pursue our creativity. So seeing coworkers showcase their diverse art in such a large way has been an incredible experience and a moment of putting wind back in the sails.
Personally, with this show, it was inspiring to see many people, some I know better than others, involved in a creative process outside of daily work. Art keeps me alive not because of the feeling of finishing a piece, but in the way creative exploration is devoted to asking open questions that are ever-evolving. And it allows me to play without feeling guilty because I’m “too grown” for playing. I love to play. I want to play a lot more often. I think a lot of us do.
For me, in an era that’s completely saturated by Capitalism, it’s hard to cope in a world that’s tied up in professional identity and binds me to prescribed regimentation, prescribed everything. It feels like I’m living in a giant email spam folder, constantly fighting through shit to get to a few good nuggets. When people devote their lives or some of their time to create, to play, and to ask questions that never have one answer, it is an act of rebellion against societal structures imposed upon us and an act of reflection, asking the never-ending question, “what does it mean to live?”
Knowing that many colleagues, when I don’t see them, are embarking on these questions and playful activities in the night hours and on the weekends is reassuring because it lets me know they’re tuning out the racket to listen deeply to themselves and to understand their surroundings in new, empathetic ways. And that gives me hope for us, for the future. So even if you don’t think you’re good at art, let yourself play. It’s not about the product, it’s about the mindset you take on and the dialogue that follows suit.
On a different but similar note, I’ve been creating art and writing poetry for some time. It’s all coming together in a unique way for an exhibition this Fall. I look forward to sharing it more fully with you so we can discuss your response to the art.
In the meantime, keep up that good friend, good lovin’ run around to keep us goin’,
Sadie