The Flow Project
Vicki Duffy
Artists understand both the physical and the emotional concepts of relativity, distortion, harmony, congruance, space, emptiness. It is important to humanity to allow emotional attachements to physical concepts in order to wholy understand the depth, consequences and magnitude of actions.
Why is this important to you?
As a Suicide Prevention Program Manager for the US Army it is important to me to assist and allow people to experience, release and revel in emotion. Emotions should be as much a part of a Soldier's life as physique.
Why is this important to humanity?
As we move into a world that is so fast, so deliberate, so focused on intellectual and scholastic success we need to attach those successes to emotion through the arts.
Charlie Palumbo
The ability to heal through the use of different mediums, and the ability to shift perspective and see things in new ways.
Why is this important to you?
I believe art is foundational to one's healing process. It is a way to become aware of your emotions, and to let them go.
Why is this important to humanity?
Validation, communication, and acceptance
Sharon Sargent
Some people claim that there should be no meaning or purpose to art. Art for art's sake, they say. I have searched through my environment within nature and find that, so far, everything seems to have a purpose and humans need to have purpose. It is a very serious need. If people feel useless, they can fall into depression and die.
Artists are artists, usually, because they are not so great at writing. There have been exceptions; such as, Makoto Fujimura, Emily Carr, and Vincent Van Gogh. Normally I have found artists to have difficulty expressing what they were trying to say in the written word or in giving talks. So they resort to art.
You have probably heard the expression "A picture is worth a thousand words" and so it is. Often a picture or sculpture or poem can somehow express a feeling, warning, or just a thought that really cannot be expressed properly or totally with words. Also this message within the art can be instantly grasped. This is wonderful! We can feel this when we look at snow covered mountains. The breath taking beauty expresses something to our soul that lowers the blood pressure as we sigh deeply.
Some colours have been scientifically measured to show that they either raise or lower the heart beat and blood pressure. Rooms painted certain colours can calm an enraged person within minutes! I do imagine that shapes can do the same thing.
Some of my pieces painted during personal grief have later influenced children to be calm and older people to exclaim that they felt healing coming from them. These were definately not religious people. They were just people.
So the purpose of art is a large list of things. It is therapy for the artist. It can be healing and therapy for the viewer.
I am sure the purpose list is endless!
Let us decorate the earth with joy.
Why is this important to you?
This is important to me because, like everyone else, I want purpose in my life. The Creator of all did not make junk, so I am not junk. Perhaps He put a little bit of creativity in me to pass on. Creativity is beautiful in some way and so I have a chance to put a bit of beauty into this tired old world. This is a wonderful thing.
Why is this important to humanity?
Perhaps I have addressed that already but let us say that if you take a good look at the news you will realize that something beautiful, calming and loving is always needed. Humanity is suffering so and artists can help with their work in many ways. They can point out the beauty that is there, show love, bring some healing and provide some financial help through the sale of their works. They let humanity know that they see their suffering and they care. They may also suggest solutions or warn of coming dangers in society. Since the works last, the artist can even die, but the work continues to pass on this loving message ong after they are gone.
Ron Kelsey
I believe there are many important aspects of artists that humanity need to know:
1. When faced with tragedies, many artists take in the experience and use the wisdom of their craft to come to terms with the situation. As a Soldier, I have found this process very important in dealing with the stress of war and other situations.
2. Through art I have found ways to relate to other cultures beyond language barriers. Recently, I met a German veteran that could not speak any English. At the same time, I could not understand German. As he spoke about his art in his language, I could see that we shared a common passion for our craft. This experience went beyond what the translator could explain. In the end, he generously agreed to contribute a sculpture he made in response to 9/11 to the upcoming exhibit and plans on attending the event as well.
Why is this important to you?
I desire to explore the balance between war and peace within all forms of art. This passion led to the development of Reflections of Generosity. Through this organization I hope to gain experience and wisdom to transform "humanity's response to the creative challenges of today's world."
Why is this important to humanity?
Humanity seems so big compared to my life. I used to think the same about the military. However, joining other artists in Reflections of Generosity, I have found a voice to a larger audience within the military and the world. This is important because it allows us to have a voice in places that would normally be unreachable on our own.
The Flow Project Introduction
Hello All. This is not an answer but a brief introduction. I am the Inquiry Director in charge of data analysis. Your answers are very important to the work of transforming leadership in the world in a way that may allow for peaceful resolutions to some of the problems in the world.
Why is this important to you?
I have dedicated my life to this work because I believe the voices of artists must be heard in the world.
Why is this important to humanity?
Click here to check out our website.
Click here to join artists around the world who are working on the project.
The Flow Project
The Flow Project mission is to apply the wisdom and experience of art in transforming humanity’s response to the creative challenges of today’s world.