Melissa Stephens Art

Find My Friends is an App I encouraged everyone in my family to download onto our iPhones years ago. My children were gradually scattering first across the state, then the country and then, on occasion, the globe, and I found comfort in the idea that we could always find each other (at least each other’s location “dots”). Because of the name of that App, my kids would poke fun at me saying, “Mom, find your friends!” Having lived in the same town for 29 years: volunteering in my kids’ schools; sitting or standing on the sidelines of their various games or meets or matches; being involved in our church; and having my BFF, running partner extraordinaire, living across the street; finding my friends was delightfully easy. No doubt, I took it for granted. However, in all those lovely friendships, I never found my art friends, people who loved to paint and draw and stretch their creative muscles artistically like I do. Granted, I didn’t really start exploring art until a few years before we moved, but I quickly realized that, without art friends, there was a void in my life I yearned to fill. Every new year, when compiling my list of art intentions, “art tribe” (meaning: find my art friends) was written near the bottom. I had a deep desire to meet people who shared this growing interest I was developing around making art.

In early 2020 the Covid pandemic began. Then, in mid-2021, we moved 2 hours from our old hometown. In those years, it became a challenge to find any friends, much less art friends. I will forever remember my first winter in State College (late 2021 into early 2022) as interminably long, bitterly cold (imagine Hoth from the Star Wars movies), and incredibly introspective (read lonely!). From the popular Beatles song, I dubbed that time my “long, cold, lonely winter.” I literally bounced home from my first volunteer session at The Arboretum at Penn State in March 2022, having spent the morning spreading mulch, a task I used to detest in my own gardens. Yet I was so excited to finally meet people, other volunteers who were happy (spreading mulch!) and welcoming and full of ideas to help me engage with my new community! Since that first Tuesday, I try very hard not to miss our weekly garden sessions, through
winter’s freezing temperatures, spring’s rain, summer’s blazing sun, and fall’s occasionally early frosts, we garden: chatting and laughing the whole time. Hooray, I found my (garden) friends! Yet, heading into 2023, my list of art intentions for the New Year still had “art tribe” written near the bottom. At that time, I was a member of an online art community, which featured new art classes and information every week and an ACTIVE Facebook community overflowing with potential friends. Unfortunately, I never found the fulfillment I was looking for from virtual friends, no matter how kind, supportive, or informative they were. I wanted IRL art friends, the kind you meet for coffee, or meet for a walk, or meet to make art. Clearly the key word was MEET, in person, not on the internet. It took a little more time, a lot more patience, an out-of-the-blue email announcing a new art group forming, and a leap of faith but guess what? This story has a happy ending, my favorite kind! At long last I found my friends, my art friends!

Through OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at Penn State, I joined a special interest group of other artists; men and women ranging from our late 50’s to mid-70’s: a retired elementary school teacher who makes lovely watercolor paintings; a retired Penn State librarian who creates amazing colored pencil drawings; a West Point graduate, retired military officer who paints big, bold landscapes in acrylics; and many more. We all share a desire to learn to make art and to make art an important part of our lives. We meet one afternoon/month, outdoors when the weather is nice, indoors when it is not. We spend a couple hours working on our own art and then an hour sharing: our art, our process, our questions, our materials, our frustrations, and our intentions for the direction we would like our art to take us. We’ve been cheerleaders for each other, especially when one of us has artwork displayed somewhere in town. I’ve become quite comfortable with this group, these friends, in fact the idea for this blog post hatched while driving home from our wonderful February meeting.  Our first meeting was one year ago, March 2023 and, with each passing month, I find myself more and more grateful for my art tribe. Through them I’ve tapped into the vibrant art community in State College and with them I’ve finally found my friends, my in-real-life art friends! We’re looking forward to showing our work together in September in the gallery space at Schlow Library, State College’s public library in the heart of downtown. Harkening back to that Beatles song, and humming through to the chorus, you discover the name of the uplifting tune is “Here Comes the Sun,” a brilliant metaphor for the bright, warm group of friends I’ve found.

Why share this in a blog post? I believe we are all creative people. Our interests may vary (gardening, dancing, writing poetry, painting, cooking, decorating, and so many more) but our innate desire to make something, to design something, to express something, is universal. We can explore our creativity on our own: at our desks or in our studios, our kitchens, or our raised vegetable beds, and that’s good. But, for me, it’s even better when I take my tin of charcoals and my drawing pad out to spend time with my art friends. I’m inspired by their creativity, I try new techniques, I’m exposed to different materials, and I’m encouraged to think outside my own box, to stretch and to grow in ways I’m not sure I would on my own. That inspiration propels and sustains me through my solitary hours, quietly creating in my home studio with Spotify as my only company. Finding my art friends has been a creativity and joy multiplier in my life. Perhaps you are currently experiencing your own long, cold, lonely winter? I encourage you to look for friends who share, nurture, and inspire your creative interests, whatever they may be.  If you’re lucky enough to already have those people in your life, take time this month to tell them how grateful you are to have found them as a friend.