My experiences facilitating creative processes in community settings, schools, mental health care facilities, with incarcerated men, women, and children, and unhoused people have shaped my understanding and belief that art-making is a radical form of social justice. Access to the arts is a privilege systematically denied to many, entrenching a classist understanding of creative expression and who’s allowed to do it. Those who have had fewer opportunities to engage with the arts are often quick to minimize their abilities; I regularly hear people walk into their first art class and say, “I’m not good at art, I can’t even draw a straight line”.

As a society, we accept narratives that tell us what should be, rarely taking time to understand the complexities and nuances of what is. Honoring the less-than-perfect lines flowing from our hands breathes life into our perception of the natural curiosities and intuitive thinking that we all uniquely possess. Without exploring our deepest truths, we are unable to see what could be and cut short meaningful conversations. If we all drew perfectly straight lines, 

Art-making is most successful when we take a process-oriented approach with less emphasis on creating a product. We embracing the unknown and remove barriers that allow energy to freely flow and