Through the month of July, Lisa Lipsett invites us to join her on a 4-week Natural Painting adventure and experience the joy of "no plan" creating. Activities will be posted on Mondays and Thursdays.

Lipsett writes, "We will follow what attracts, surrender to what flows in the moment, trust our hands, develop painting rituals, dialogue with images, understand natural timing, and artfully commune with Nature. We will also share our experiences and images with each other in a supportive way to enhance the richness of our developing practice and build a sense of painting community. This program is meant for anyone with hands and a desire to create naturally. Absolutely no previous painting experience of any kind is necessary for enjoyment of this program.

This free program is based on Lipsett's new book Beauty Muse: Painting in Communion with Nature Click here for more info and an introduction to Natural Painting. Add Lisa Lipsett as a friend if you want to be sent a notice with a link to each new activity as it is posted.

Bobby Baker was the Artist-in-Residence through May and June. She invited us to follow her on Twitter as she underwent surgery in a London hospital.

Bobby Baker's company is called Daily Life Ltd. "The aims of this limited company are ambitious: they are to produce artworks that explore the value in this world of ambiguity, altruism, awareness, arithmetic, agony, accessibility, attention to detail, arduous application…oh and, of course, art – in a (dis)arming, amusing and occasionally alliterative way."

From the artist: "While I'm perched here on this line I'll be responding to the question posed by Rajni Shah for the Art of Engagement: "What I really want to do is question the idea of what an 'engaged practice' is."


Previous residencies:
March-April 2009 John Jordan
January-February 2009 Glas(s) Performance November-December 2008 Doran George September-October 2008 Tim Jeeves
July-August 2008 Gwylene Gallimard and Jean-Marie Mauclet
May-June 2008 Rajni Shah

Welcome to this online gathering on the Art of Engagement.

Please join us! This network exists as an ongoing open space for international dialogue on the Art of Engagement. It is experimental, co-created and free. Here are some of the questions that draw us together: How do we image and imagine the work of art at this moment in history, when the survival of the planet is threatened? What role can art play in transforming the current cascade of social and environmental crises? Can we develop a way to create culture, to research, learn and teach with/in ecological systems? Where does art intersect with social struggle?

Give others the chance to learn from your own efforts and projects. Share resources and stories. Ask questions. Challenge us. Ask for help. Make new friends and forge new alliances.

Here are some steps for people new to the site (everything is optional and can be done in any order!):

1. Sign in.
2.Edit your profile - add a profile photo to represent you, and tell us something about your practice, your questions and your passions. (There will be a short delay before your page is visible on the site and you are able to post comments. We need to "approve" your membership in order to prevent SPAM attacks. We do not censor who can get on the site - we just check that you are not a spammer. Please give us enough information so that we can do this.)
3. Upload some photos, and/or videos and sounds.
4. Read about other participants by clicking on the "Members" tab. Leave comments for them on their comment wall.
5. Participate in discussions that are underway under the"Forums" tab. Join a Group. Start your own groups and discussions.
6. Use your Blog to keep us updated on what you are doing. Keep uploading photos and sharing projects.

Culturing Sustainability: a cookbook for artists and educators

Let's explore some of the methods, motives and consequences of our practices in art and education. Caffyn Kelley has posted a text called "Culturing Sustainability: a cookbook for artists and educators" that draws on the work of many Engaged Art Network members. This text is a living document! Let's correct, add, and argue here so that we can co-create a much better text together.

Some comments from participants:

Jan Cornall: Here there is the possibility to make deep meaningful connection with like minded artists, thinkers, writers, performers; to collaborate, share ideas, knowledge, develop projects, and to work together to actively make a difference in our street, neighbourhood, world. Here you can be recognised, appreciated and supported as an artist, and arts worker, an activist, a teacher, a thinker, by your fellow artists and arts workers. How valuable is that! How much do we need that! ...Here we can cut through the borders and boundaries that separate us, we can leapfrog the hierarchies and closed shops, the habitual patterns of our own limited thinking and limitations of our own arts communities and burst freely into a new awakened space of possibility. I tell you ....its better than sex, better than myspace almost better than art.

Beverly Naidus: For me, as facilitator [of a discussion on Teaching Art for Social Change], the greatest delight was this sense of our world as activist art practitioners, leaping across borders, time zones, and significant logistical boundaries. To be able to connect with deeply passionate colleagues in Australia, England, Qatar, Vancouver and Pittsburgh - wow, is all I can say. And if folks take a look at where the growing membership of this "engaged art" network comes from, you will be astounded. The countries represented besides those mentioned above include: South Africa, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Norway, Romania, Germany and Sweden. How exciting is that! ...

And I wanted to say that this gathering is so timely. There are so many people everywhere who feel the preciousness of this time and recognize that we must gather our energies to turn the tide. I encourage those of you with larger networks working with art for social change, to connect them with this space. We need to gather all the sparks, and develop more momentum from the margins.