September went by so quickly that, at first, I couldn’t remember what I’d finished. I’d had plenty of time for art, yet somehow the month felt empty when I looked back. It wasn’t. There were new stickers, progress on A Key for a Broken Song, and a new Jonesborough print.
In my head, however, was a question bugging me through all of it: what makes us feel like we belong? Why does it seem like I don’t belong anywhere any more?
I began thinking about places. I’ve been trying to make artwork about Jonesborough that carries more than a record of its buildings. I want to put something of my experience into the picture. But the more I thought about belonging to a place, the more I wondered whether the connection comes from what happens there, or maybe what we give to it.
The Oak Hill Schoolhouse work helped give that question a shape. I disliked most of my school years, but I remember one autumn in fourth grade when I felt at home in my school and its neighborhood. There were leaves to kick on the walk home, art projects in the cafeteria, and a Halloween parade. I imagined Oak Hill on a bright autumn night, with children at a party and one child proudly carrying in a really big pumpkin.
Then something happened, maybe because I was really focused on belonging. On a last-minute impulse, I visited a local FADE art gathering near my workplace. I had a fun time talking to the other artists who attended, both that day and the two additional times that I’ve been back. It’s a pleasure to sit with other creative people and talk entirely about art. It seems like a group I want to belong to. I also joined Sketch Season, where the online gatherings make my own art practice feel like part of a larger project. My art practice has a place to belong.
I think I discovered that showing up, taking an interest, and offering something of myself may be how belonging begins. I just have to find the right places. Maybe I was lucky that my fourth grade school happened to be a place where I felt I could participate and belong. I think it has to happen with mutual reciprocity, and that might be the part of belonging that’s rare in this world.
Enjoy the zine! As always, the screen version is the first, the printable version is the second.