Let’s be honest, when was the last time you gave yourself permission to make a mess? As adults we don't get to make a mess, nor do we give ourselves permission to make one.
Kids get more opportunities to play and make messes but usually at the total control of parents, guardians and teachers. Where and when is it ok to make a mess? Where is it acceptable to be messy? The living room, the dinning room, the backyard, the beach? Even at the beach people get angry about sand on the blanket, or on their body. An art classroom? Not all the time, most teachers like order to their chaos, especially with the younger kids. On a farm? Omg, where is the hand sanitizer? The animals may have some type of bacteria. What about legos? There are two different types of lego people, the organized folks who have every piece in order by color and shape, which is the exact opposite of the mess. And the other type of folks, who have a whole big pile of legos in one big bin. What I love about the new lego package, is that it is all in order, and numbered, and one can easily follow the directions to put it together. And what I LOVE more, is making something extraordinary and uniquely mine, or watching my kids do the same, pulling which ever lego we fancy from the big pile. Amazingly, a new lego thing was birthed from a big ol' pile of MESS.
As a parent myself, I know that when I gave my kids permission to make a mess it meant this, there was a mess to clean up, and there was a potential ruining of things, like furniture or the dining room table and on and on. Leaning into mess making was always a challenge, what materials are part of the mess, the location, and the clean up, and lastly, a time frame. Like, why does it have to end? My kids never wanted to stop playing and making a mess. There shouldn't be a time frame mandate either, but we live in reality and the world must go around with some sort of order. BOO, who said that?! Irmie, co-owner, said that her kids never got messy, didn't like to play in the dirt, even hated bubbles while in the bubble bath. Can you all relate? I know a lot of kids who felt the same way. Brendaliz, co-owner, learned to let her kids make a mess and clean up at night after the kids were in bed. She shared that city living with a small apartment made it difficult to allow for messes "all the time" lol.
I am sharing a few pictures of my kids being a little bit messy while living life. I would love to share a beautiful collection of photographs of my kids being messy at art making at the table or outside, cooking in the kitchen, hiking in the mountains of Dominican Republic, running in the rain, and so much more. However, that would take too much time, and I don't have that. I guess I am lucky to say that I could fill a book with all of our messy experiences. And yes, an added a stressor, we had a time frame. All the messes needed to be cleaned up before Papi got home from work. We were homeschooling for 9 years and caused much mayhem in the house during the day. lol! All of our messes weren't perfect either, because for my kids, sometimes that mess involved accidents too. For example below, middle-upper picture, he decided to make a soapy slide in our driveway. Even though he thought ahead of the moment and wore safety glasses, he did actually hit his head and miraculously the cushion on the glasses actually prevented him from cutting his forehead open after he slipped and fell.
But let me switch my hat from parent to artist, and art teacher. I know that making a mess is important in the art process. It was always a difficult challenge to get all my high school aged students on board. Most had bought into the regular life of order and cleanliness. Pottery classes, just by the nature of the clay, allow for more mess, lucky them. Recently, one of our customers, Julie Burbank, process art teacher, artist, photographer and mama to Ellie, came into our place to get messy. Her instagram @shine_bright_artists is where she shares her work as a private art teacher. Julie's day job is as an interventionist at the Ana Grace Academy of the Arts in Bloomfield, CT.
They had a great time at our place and here are the pictures to prove it!
When Julie's group left, they thanked me for saying YES to the MESS. Well of course, we say yes to the mess! Little did I realize at the moment, that Julie is the same Julie and creator of Shine_bright_artists on Instagram and, I had recently followed her page. I love Julie and what she does with children and how she uses process art, like it is a way of life. And her photography is so captivating, begging us all to participate in the beautiful mess. Julie says" Getting messy is always encouraged in my classes, as it gives the children creative freedom to explore and experiment as they play. Mixing colors, textures and techniques gives them the opportunity to express themselves, and fosters creative thinking. Too often children are doing the same exact cookie cutter art which doesn't allow them to show their own unique vision. Yes, to the MESS!" Julie has a collaborative podcast with the folks at The Confetti Bar. I highly recommend you listen to her story. Julie and the folks at Confetti Bar are a lot of fun and they share the joys of mess making, and confetti and the most random things. Julie is such a delight.
Our customers love the fact that anyone can make a MESS at our place. The mess stays with us! Isn't that amazing? You, as the participant, whether throwing or pouring paint, YOU get a once in a life time art experience, freedom to make a mess. And Julie agrees, everyone deserves a chance to make a mess.
Ps. We have rules at our studio. We have two paint splatter rooms where one can do just about anything with our awesome colors of paint and fun silicone brushes, while following our rules for safety. So yes, no running while making a MESS at Creative Jam Art Co., in Bristol, CT.
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