Made a few post-its this week for Critical Mass Art’s Post-It Port Hope project.

Love an open community art call like this. Many gatekeepers are overly invested in keeping the gates locked, rather than finding the keys to let people in. Art has entirely too many of this sort of gatekeeper. (So does sport and music and literature and many other human endeavours beyond watching TV or shopping…)

I often talk about the poor school grades slapped on my elementary school art, and the high school art teacher who took me into the hall to tell me I should really quit drawing. And about the music teacher who said girls can’t play drums, and the math teacher who said… I talk about it because that bad gatekeeper nonsense happens to so many of us. Fortunately, some will clamber over/under/around the gates anyways.

But for too many, it’s exactly what makes us put down the pencil, walk away from the piano, or set down the basketball. It’s also what turns life grey, and dim. It douses the sustaining fires that could get us through life’s persistent storms. Creation doesn’t have to be gallery-worthy to be worth doing. Not every jog has to be a marathon. Not every song has to be pitch perfect for us to hear the melody. Play the ukelele, go for a run around the block in whatever sneakers you already have, doodle on the envelope, sing in the kitchen.

“Be pro stuff, not just anti stuff.” ~Tim Minchin

Have a great long weekend folks. May you find a little time this weekend to climb over a gate, and maybe find an old love on the other side. 🗝️