I’ve never seen anything like it.

And I’d like to thank you personally. 

“Something cosmic was happening over there”

Saturday night I went to Art & Chaos at The Roasted Bookery with Tami, her husband Matthew, her bonus daughter Bella, and our friend Elizabeth. It was a community art initiative that I hope to participate in, replicate (they were like GO! DO THIS!), and had so much fun even though I was required to leave my house after 7pm.

Scene:

Z, the instructor leading the workshop:

“Squeeze paint onto your paper plates. Please do not mix a bunch of colors because if you mix all the colors together to make mud you will not have any more colors.”

“Please do not intentionally ruin your tablemates’ paintings. You are not teenagers so I don’t expect problems with this.”

“Also nothing phallic. These have to hang on our WALLS and they will be sold to raise money for the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ACROSS THE STREET. Again, you’re not teenagers, I’m sure we’ll be fine.” 

“Finally NO FISTFIGHTS.” 

So this group of mostly very middle aged adults (there were 15 of us) were left wondering  “What, exactly, happened the last time they tried to do this?”

Maybe not this? 

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see

Bohemian Rhapsody started playing. 

“PAINT!” yelled Z. 

We painted. 
We sang 15 part harmony (?)

Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me
(Galileo) GALILEO, (Galileo) GALILEO, Galileo Figaro, oh OH OH OHHHHHHH

Canvas one was started. 

Nothing really matters to me.

The song ended. 

Z yelled: “PASS TO YOUR RIGHT!”

We passed. 

“PAINT!”
They started the music. 

I’ve been cheated by you since I don’t know when
So I made up my mind, it must come to an end
Look at me now, will I ever learn?
I don’t know how, but I suddenly lose control
There’s a fire within my soul
and I can hear a bell ring
(One more look) and I forget everything, whoa

Mamma mia, here I go again

Paint we did and sing and giggle and focus and paint. 

After all, we only had as long as the song to do whatever we decided to do on the canvas before we had to pass it on. 

Five people per table, five songs, five collaboratively painted canvases. 

We did a second round. 

We got to keep one canvas and leave the other for the shop to sell for the school fundraiser. I left the green one, called “Frolic.” It’s $10. I might go back to the closing reception and buy it back. 

With two rounds finished, we admired our work. 

Someone from the next table came over.”What happened over here?!?! You guys were like COSMICALLY MIND MELDED. Your paintings LOOK LIKE SOMETHING.” 

She continued, “It’s like you all understood what the other was trying to do and you added on. Did you TALK to each other?”

So what happened?

My first canvas. 

I don’t know but I have thoughts. 

So, yes, the people at my table knew each other, but I’d venture to say we didn’t all know each other well. I know Tami the best, but she’s married to Matthew and has known Elizabeth longer. I don’t know Bella at all. What I do know about our little group is that in many ways we are all dramatically different in age, background, points of view. 

So it wasn’t like we could read each other’s minds or anticipate what the other would want. In some cases, I think the final canvas and the originator’s vision did not match but there was still an obvious theme. 

So what happened?

I’ve been turning this over and over in my mind, and here’s what I think happened:

• We each started our canvases with a strong point of view, a strong theme, a definite idea. We had courage, we were brave, we dived right in. We chose a path and committed. 
   
• The next person had a collaborative and additive mindset. I passed to Tami on the first round who immediately drew the leaf and the ladybug. We didn’t talk. We were too busy singing. 
  
  Sweet Caroliiiinnnneeeee BAH BAH BAH Good times never seemed so good SO GOOD SO GOOD!
  
  My world was taking shape. Bella added the yellow dots. Fireflies? Caterpillars? Someone added the orange. Fish? I recognized Matthew’s texture marks, which add depth and variety. 
   
• We fed off each other’s creativity. When we were the third or fourth person to get the canvas, we could already see how we each added to the project and I think that gave each of us ideas, and also made us think a minute and consider what we wanted to meaningfully contribute. 
   
• By collaborating, the fear of failure was removed. We would sink or swim together. We would create 10 masterpieces or 10 muddy canvases, but whatever happened, it was all for one and one for all. Built-in camaraderie, and built-in responsibility. 
   
• We played! We had fun!  Yes, we seemed to feel responsibility to each other, but we also embraced the joy, enthusiastically singing off key and squirting paint directly onto the canvas. We imagined these works of art into existence. 

“Well, duh, Katie” you could say. But what happened at our table didn’t happen at the other tables. 

Why? We had the same materials, the same music to paint to, the same number of people. 

What happened?

I don’t know but I have thoughts. 

Because I see this happen in business all the time. A mushy mess where nobody’s inspired, happy, or settled. 

Detour to Helen

Helen. Land of river tubing. 

WAIT WHAT ARE THEY FLOATING PAST? 

And why is there clearly more than one building that looks like that? 

In GEORGIA?

Welcome to “Alpine Helen” population: 600.

Annual visitation: 800,000

The town of Helen is nestled in the mountains of Northwest Georgia in the middle of some breathtaking scenery, hiking trails (the Appalachian Trail crosses the road in about 7 miles out of town), mountain rivers and waterfalls. 

The geology and placement of the town meant logging and mining were its main economic engines until around the 1930s. 

In 1968 a group of town businessmen met for lunch to discuss ways to revitalize their then economically depressed little town. They approached John Kollock, a noted local watercolor artist and veteran who was stationed in Germany during the 1950s, asking him to use his imagination and his background in theater design to paint present day Helen into existence.

After visiting the town and taking photographs, he produced watercolor paintings envisioning the town as a Bavarian village in the middle of Georgia. 

There’s an interesting video about this. Here’s a still:

Helen, Georgia is a lot of things. 

One thing it is NOT: empty.
(It looks empty because of my aesthetic™ shots, but trust me: it was packed.)

When I detoured through Helen on my way home from Cultivate mid-July, the town was packed with happy tubers, hikers, families, couples, motorcycle riders, pickup truck drivers, day drinkers, Mercedes moms. 

Helen is a lot of things. 

Population 600. Annual visitation 800,000. 

In the middle of nowhere.

It’s not empty.

Imagine it into Existence

AI generated slime? Out

Human-centered experiences? IN

Here’s how I use AI tools: generate summaries, identify common themes from DOZENS of things I’ve written (maybe it’ll pick up a pattern I don’t.), remove backgrounds in images, add an aphid to a leaf in a pinch. 

Does that disrupt existing work for people? Yes. 
Has that sort of thing happened in all of time? Yes. 

Will we figure out new ways of doing things? Yes. 

In fact, it’s already happening.

About two years ago I started noticing a bizarre pattern of aggressively themed local, independent coffee shops popping up in Wilmington, NC. We have tons of them. 

• Dinosaur (Hidden Grounds)
• Concord (the airplane) (Concord Espresso Bar)
• Mid-century modern with vinyl-forward evenings (Ibis)
• Entirely plant-based (Can’t remember the name)
• Aesthetic coastal (Drift)
• Color-themed drinks but everything else is pink, including the house but it is called (Canary Yellow)

The owners are all ages 28-35.
They have a very specific aesthetic. 
They have very specific values: to enjoy and to provide EXPERIENCES.

Turns out there is a microburst within a generation. I wasn’t imagining it. (Gift link to article.)

Me? I’m THRILLED these (relative) youths have come to town because they’ve made everything much more fun. There are WAY, WAY more things to do now than when I moved here 20 years ago. 

20 years ago when downtown ILM looked and acted kind of like Helen, GA before its remodel. 

Pick one. Any one. 

Every single delightful and satisfying experience at Art & Chaos started with a point of view. 

Every coffee shop in Wilmington with a line out the door has a point of view. 

Helen, GA has 800K visitors because of a point of view. 

It wasn’t cosmic mind melding that created alchemy at our art table. 

It was us expressing ourselves in the most genuine, back-to-basics, guttural form. 

Together. 

You’ve heard the phrase “Try to please everyone and you’ll please no one.”

And this one, “To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.”

Mash those two together for an eruption of enthusiastic customers, clients, colleagues, and friends. 

Like Helen. 
Like Art & Chaos. 

Create spaces – physical when possible – and if not, virtual – for people to play and collaborate and think and meander in meaningful ways. 

Here are the ingredients:

• Stakes: medium. (There should be some sort of goal – a fundraiser, a mural, shared happiness but not such a consequential one that everyone freezes.)
   
• Interaction: mixed. (Let people work on their own and provide opportunities for them to create/ interact/ talk together.)
   
• Goal: create abundance multipliers. (Everyone leaves feeling like they contributed to something amazing, and also takes something away. The creation can be an actual thing or a feeling.) 

What you make is up to you.

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Handy Links

Each newsletter always has a mix of fun and functional links.  Here they are! Have a link to share? Send it to me!

The Tempera paint sticks EVERYONE LOVED during mural painting at Cultivate. Want to have community art days? These are AMAZING.

New Video Rec from Heather ft. Bloomin’ Easy. (Good example of the go far together with your actual people principle.)

Creating meeting places
“The best things happen because we are enthralled.”

My favorite art shop in Kalamazoo, MI. I’ve never been there, but she has EVERYTHING and will ship it to you! I mean, she has the GOOD STUFF. To order: leave a comment on an Instagram post saying “I want to order. I’m sending you a DM” so she’ll SEE IT. Then she’ll message you and she’ll even facetime you. Tell her Katie sent you! 🙂 

Open & Awkward: Shop Talk with Katie and Amanda: The Podcast is going strong with season 2 AND we have new theme music by “L”, Amanda’s kid’s friend. I JUST LISTENED TO THE UPCOMING EPISODES FOR APPROVAL AND HOT DAMN THERE’S A LOT OF GOOD STUFF.

THIS TALK PAID FOR CULTIVATE! (SAYS LIZ LARK-RILEY, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AT MAHONEY’S)

“This session paid for my trip. Can’t wait to share these tactics with my team. I literally created a desperately needed SOP in a few minutes in the room. Bravo!”

She’s talking about my SOP/ writing out processes/documenting workflows  session that, was, yes, fun!! AND helpful. Want me to deliver a tailored version to your business or group? Email me: katie@thegardenofwords.com. 

New Reads & Listens

My podcast list is getting stale. There are a million things to read on Substack, but which ones should I peruse? 

If you’re a reader of this newsletter, you get the feeling for something I might enjoy. Would you help me out and send me your recs? Books? Music? Podcasts? Newsletters? Zines? Interactive installations? 😉

Finally, do you want to work together this year or next? It’s TIMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. 

Please take a look at this page and book a discovery call. Can’t wait to see you!

Talk soon,

Talk soon,

ART PS! 
I’m still painting your commissions when I’m home! Thank you!
Meanwhile, here are some sketches from the up and back to Cultivate and around ILM. 
1. Helen, during lunch
2. Kentucky Native, sketching at dinner with Ashley in Lexington, KY
3. “Lurk Sketching” from my car in downtown Wilmington, NC
4. Flowers every which way while visiting my friend Kim in Chattanooga. (Tempera paint sticks, colored pencils, and ink & watercolor)