How you Live in Arts Heaven - Part 3
by Mayumi Lashbrook
Paris is known for wine, cheese, baguettes, art and leisurely socializing. Imagine my delight when I got to do all of those things together.
The main premise of the residency was revisiting the communal energy and intercultural exchange that was alive in Paris in the 1920s. L’AiR Arts masterfully brought a group of artists together 100 years later to do exactly that; socialize. To foster that more intention specifically and recreate cross-pollination of artistry, we attended a salon hosted by the fabulous Helen O’Keefe. This night set the course for how we dialogued and interacted, leading us to host multiple salons on our own. To me, these salons provided me with the biggest emotional shifts, the most thoughts to fill my notebook with and the vastest gains in my development of myself.
❤ S A L O N S ❤
The concept was simple and one we know well: invite friends over > eat food > drink wine > chat > be merry. The layer on top of that was the like-minded intention to centre conversation around our shared goals of artistic expression.
Helen started us off with brilliant and playful writing exercises to get us all in the same headspace. She read us poetry and then cracked a bottle of wine to let us break into conversations of our own. Through the evening, we’d pause and connect for a reading, a performance, or a share in the Galette Des Rois cake cutting (a hilarious ceremony that should be done whenever a cake is present). In other iterations, we created questions each person had to answer. What mentor has had the biggest impact on your career? One person would tell their story and then we’d all cheers to that mentor. Or in our last salon, we shared the biggest shift we’d witnessed in each person through the residency. Having the external perspective from peers gave incredible insight into changes one sometimes misses or doesn’t perceive in themselves. These various activities brought our conversations to a depth and specificity that allowed us to casually exchange ideas, feedback and learn from each other’s experiences.
I felt so impacted by these evenings together and the shift in intention I know gave us a cross-contamination of ideas that we have yet to fully realize, but without doubt, mirrors the way of the 1920s movements. The unspoken key to this occurrence was the energy of each individual in the room completely and fully committed to the group dynamic and vulnerability of artistic sharing. It happened seamlessly and without any of us even having to consciously decide to do so.
I intend to continue this practice through my life and have begun to make plans with others to make it happen. I feel so strongly that if we find ways of connecting more deeply to our personal passions with those around us, we find commonality, understanding, and compassion for one another. I believe those are the key ingredients to a peaceful and integrated society.