How was your 2024 Art Break Day?

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Lisa and Lauren chat with a few of this year's Art Break Day hosts about their experience hosting and what tips they have for anyone thinking of joining the Art Break Day event next year. Admittedly, we had several issues with this podcast, both technical and schedule wise. Check out the webpage to get written reflections from some of this year's hosts. And, feel free to learn more about Art Break Day here: https://artismoving.org/artbreakday/

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Learn more about the Take an Art Break Movement on the Art is Moving website here.

Episode Transcript

Amy (00:00):


Lisa (00:02):
All . Hello, it's Lisa and Lauren from , we're here
today with two of our awesomeBreak day hosts , and they've
been with us for some time .
Number one , we thank you for your volunteering
for this movement , which isreally core . It is movement .
So I'd love for Amy for you tointroduce yourself and like,

(00:22):
how long have you been doingthis?

Amy (00:25):
Oh my gosh. Hello, I'm Amy Bauer. Uh , I've been doing
this forever. Can I say that?
Mm-Hmm . ,

Lisa (00:31):
Yeah . Forever . ,

Lauren (00:35):
I think at least since 2013 , right? Yeah.

Amy (00:39):
Forever.

Lauren (00:40):
We've been pretty steady

Amy (00:42):
And I move it around every year. I'm currently in Long
Beach, California, so that'swhere I've been doing the last
several, and it's awesome. I'man artist by profession, so
this just fits in exactly withwhat I do, so.

Lisa (00:54):
Fantastic. All right , joy.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
So I'm , I'm Joy Neas. Um, this is was my , uh,
12th year of , uh, doing artbreak day .

Lauren (01:09):
Wow. Great . And you've been in Stockton, California
for those 12 years, correct?

Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah. So e each year it's , uh, in a different
location in Stockton.

Lauren (01:22):
Okay . Wow. Wonderful.

Lisa (01:25):
So , um, I would love to know how was 2024 our break day
for you each ? And maybe we'lljust go around the round table
. So Lauren, you first ?

Lauren (01:35):
Sure . Yeah . So , uh, I hosted my Heartbreak Day in
Corvallis. That's where I live.
That's my town. Uh, I had aprobably around between 60 and
70 participants. Um, and I hada, I had a fabulous time. A lot
of it was people who justrandomly discovered the site as

(01:57):
they were taking their walkaround for lunch break, which
is my favorite. That's one ofmy favorite participants, is a
participant that doesn't knowit's gonna happen. And then all
of a sudden they're there fortwo hours and they tell me that
they forgot how fun it was tojust sit down and make some art
and scribble for a while. Uh,so I had a lot of those kind of

(02:19):
participants. I always lovesomeone , uh, this year said, I
feel like a kid again. Uh, andthat seems art making seems to
bring that quote out ofparticipants quite a bit. Uh,
we had Clay this year , uh, airDry Clay, which was very
popular. Uh, I think that it'sa , seems to be approachable

(02:43):
for kids to just dive in andcreate whenever they want. Uh,
I watched a lot of kids combinea lot of medium, you know, with
Clay, with they made clay, andthen they painted it and just
saw what happened when itdried. And it was really fun
just seeing everyone hop fromtable to table and come up with
ideas together and share that.

(03:05):
So yeah, it was just , uh, it'sa really, I feel really honored
that I get to offer that to mycommunity on an annual basis.
Of course, everyone always askswhen I'm going to be there
next, and I have to politelytell them that it's an annual
event , uh, and , uh, explainto them , uh, that it's global

(03:27):
and that there's a lot ofpeople doing it simultaneously,
which always gets people veryexcited , uh, and that , um,
I'll see them next year . So,yeah, it was good.

Lisa (03:38):
Awesome. And joy, you wanna go next? Maybe frozen,
Amy, maybe.

Amy (03:48):
Yeah. , well, this year , um, it was 108 degrees
outside. Mm-Hmm.

Lisa (03:55):
Wow .

Amy (03:56):
A couple days before. I always do a lot of marketing
for the event. So a couple daysbefore I put, we have air
conditioning in the marketing .

Lisa (04:06):
Good

Amy (04:07):
Idea. So a few people did show up just for the ac. Um ,
but it was great. We had , um,enough AC that, and a packed
room. It didn't feel hot oranything, and people were just
coming and going. And as , um,in my own personal art and all
this stuff I do, I alwaysrecycle everything. So I had a
bunch of cardboard boxes andstuff, and I had some paint and

(04:29):
markers and kind of let peopledo what they wanted. And it was
a lot of fun. There was evenone point , um, it was a good
mix of adults and children ofall different ages. Um, but one
child saw the box and said, Iknow what I'm gonna do. And
then the next thing I know, shewas wearing it. It was amazing
. . That'sincredible . I have a bunch of
photos on my blog because itwas so fun, but I was so

(04:51):
involved that one of my friendswho showed up was like , you
need photos? And I'm like, oh,yes I do. Please do that.
.

Lisa (04:58):
Mm-Hmm .

Amy (04:58):
. It's hard when you're in the middle of
it. Yeah .

Lauren (05:00):
Oh,

Lisa (05:00):
Yeah.

Lauren (05:01):
Yeah . You always know you're having a good time when
you forget to take photographs,right? ? Yeah . Yeah .

Lisa (05:07):
Right . And Joy , are you unfrozen, or, let's see . Hello
. I think she's Rose , right?

Lauren (05:14):
Yeah . Yeah, it seems like it. Why don't you go,
Lisa?

Lisa (05:17):
Okay. So mine was , uh, actually Epic. I, I got support
from the city of Santa Monica.
I was in Virginia Park, and Iover these, I met you Amy in
Venice when I was on VeniceBeach. It was totally different
vibe. I've been wanting to getsupport from Santa Monica, the
city, and , um, Virginia Park,like jumped in. So they

(05:38):
advertised it a lot. They gaveme three canopies. Beautiful
setup . Yes, it was a hundreddegrees . It was a
heat, but somehow under thecanopies there was , um, air,
you know what I mean? It wasn'tas hot as it , it was , um, in
the morning , um, they offeredthe city of Santa Monica, the
library to do , um, a littlereading for kids for toddlers.

(05:59):
So they had a storytelling andthen they went on , and then
they did chalk on the ground ,which is really cool . So that
was the first influence andflux . And then I had like four
volunteers, no , maybe sixvolunteers. So I had a lot of
volunteers, which is fantastic.
And then the adults startedcoming in and it was those
random adults that were like,what's going on here? And then
once you say, this is aworldwide event, they sit down

(06:22):
and they never leave .
I had this one woman who just,just randomly, you know, was
there and basically was therefor four hours . It was
amazing. Wow . And then in theafternoon I had an influx of
afterschool kids. So that's, weknow, it got crazy. There was
tons of kids just creating, itwas really fun. Um, and then we

(06:42):
had a poetry reading , whichwas cool. I think people really
loved that idea of poetry. Andthen , um, I did collage. I did
my normal stuff like paint anddrawing. Oh, yes. Also we did ,
um, we collaborated with the6,000 Circle project, which is
on our Mm-Hmm . one of our podcasts. And it's
all about honoring thefeminine. So I had circles as

(07:04):
the , you know, as the , theconstruct that people create on
and really jumping off, youknow, what is the feminine to
you . So that was exciting. Um,yeah, it was an amazing event.
I, I , I had an epic time andwas really happy. It kind of
felt like the first year we didit in San Francisco. Mm-Hmm .
. It was justfelt really like, wow. You

(07:24):
know, people were lots , I , Ithink I had over 300 people. It
was amazing. But the , after Iwas completely exhausted,
Sure , yeah , I'm sure. I mean, the whole thing is, I
thought about it, the wholething is it's , we're offering
space, right? A safe space forpeople to create and, you know,
and acceptance and permissionfor creating and just to hold

(07:45):
that space takes a lot ofenergy. We don't know it
, you know what I mean?
But I , I kind of analyze itand it's like, because
afterwards you're like, wow,what happened there? You know?
And I guess, let's see, one ofthe most meaningful moments,
like a , I think was just likeone woman who didn't know that
what it was, she sat down withher iPods on and basically did

(08:10):
a mandala, like reallyintricate for like four hours
, and was so happyafter she got up. I took a
photo of her and she just wasbeaming. So that was cool. Very
cool.

Lauren (08:22):
Yeah. I , I wanna hit on what you said about the sort
of the energy it takes to dosomething like that. This , um,
you know, Lisa and I are sograteful to our volunteer hosts
and any volunteers that come inhelp with sites because we know
the energy it takes to makesomething like that happen. Uh

(08:46):
, 'cause we've done it before.
Uh, and it, it is, it'ssomething, it's kind of like
you , 'cause you have to be onbecause you're , you're there
and you are, you know, you'redoing the background stuff of
checking on supplies and, andkeeping the paint going and the
water going, and the cleaningthe collage table and putting

(09:07):
out more clay. Uh , but you'realso, it , the energy it takes
to , um, sometimes recruitpeople to sit at a table Mm-Hmm
. , because they,they always feel like there are
, are ulterior motives. Ithink. Mm-Hmm . ,
it's sometimes people aren'tvery trusting of something that
you tell them is free. Mm-Hmm .

(09:27):
, uh, I , I ,that's one aspect of our break
day that I, I really enjoy isoffering something for free to
a community. Because so manythings, I mean, there aren't
very many things that are freethat don't come with some sort
of catch. I mean, I guess thecatch is that you feel better
when you're done. Uh ,basically what we're doing ,

(09:50):
uh, because it really does, it,it , it shakes people up a
little bit. They get a littleuncomfortable with the notion
of it. And then they, and thepeople who choose to, to sort
of trust me and trust the groupand sit down , uh, are , you
know, they get to experiencewhat it means to trust a

(10:10):
community and do something withthat community. Uh, and and I ,
you , you know, everyone alwaysleaves , uh, happier. I did
have one , uh, participant who, uh, who was very apprehensive
about sitting down. Andespecially the blank piece of

(10:31):
paper and the blank piece ofpaper was very intimidating.
And I said, what I tell a lotof people, which is it's, oh,
it's about the, the process.
It's not about the product. And , his reply is, but
what's the process? And thatwas so interesting to me
because I, I just take forgranted that it's, that I'm so

(10:56):
used to it, right . And herewas someone who was trying
really hard, but didn't knowwhat that, what what process
even meant . Meant. And so I, Isaid, you , you can literally
just like start scribbling on apiece of paper. You could
crumple the paper. You could ,um, you know, do a dance over
there, whatever. So he, he didit. He dove in and filled a

(11:18):
whole piece of paper with alandscape. And then I asked
him, I, you know, and I said,how do you, how do you feel
now? 'cause he told me duringthe process, I haven't done
this since elementary school.
And he looked like he wasprobably in college. Mm-Hmm .
or graduating.
And I said, how do you feelnow? And he said, conflicted.

(11:40):
Um, because he, he didn'treally, he really wanted his
art to look like it looked inhis mind. Yeah. And so I got to
reiterate the, it's not aboutthe product, it's about the
process. Like, how do you feelabout, how do you feel now, you
know, and . So it wasreally interesting. I always

(12:01):
enjoy getting other people'sperspectives. I learn a lot
about, because of course, Lisaand I, our main goal, and Amy,
I'm sure yours is too, is justto get everyone to kind of take
a break and , um, you know, andjust whatever that break looks
like, that's the important partof it. And there are benefits
to making art your break, butwe just want you to take a

(12:23):
break and , um, breathe for aminute. Uh, you know, and it's
interesting how differentpeople approach it differently.
I, I always learn a lot everyart break day .

Amy (12:36):
Yeah. I think I mostly , um, utilize the children,
especially when they come inwith their parents and I'm
like, oh, here , here'ssomething for you to work on
too. And I was like, and even,you know, if they're stuck, I'm
like, just let the child beyour director.

Lisa (12:54):
Oh ,

Amy (12:54):
I love that you what to draw and what to put there. And
they always do it . It'sso fun. And then they get all
into it . And they've madetheir own piece of art too.

Lauren (13:04):
Yeah . Yeah .

Lisa (13:06):
Joyce, can you hear us?

Lauren (13:16):
Technical issues?

Lisa (13:18):
Yeah.

Lauren (13:19):
It always sounds like .

Lisa (13:21):
I think. No , that's the beauty of our break day ,
because it's reallynon-technical, right ?
.

Amy (13:27):
It's true .

Lisa (13:29):
It could be , but it's not . Um , what , for me , you
know , observation that I hadwas , um, I love kids and I
love how they create. And it'slike, you know, they don't have
any, right. They should be thedirector of the adult that's
kind of like, oh , I dunno whatto do. I dunno what to do, tell
me what to do. Right. But , um,the feedback that I got is when
the adults were created , theyhad more connection and more

(13:50):
conversation. And I had oneparticipant who was an adult .
She's like, I really liked whenjust adults were there,
. Because when the kids camein, it was just like, what ,
you know what I mean? So , butshe appreciated it . But she
liked the deep conversationsthat were happening when just
people, you know, adults sittogether. But then of course,
you gotta vibe off the kidsbecause , you know,

(14:13):
they , they know how to do it,you know, with no event . So,
yeah.

Amy (14:19):
Well , yeah , we had a 5-year-old who was the only
child for a while . Mm-Hmm .
. She did nothave a problem telling us all
what she wanted to do, . And it was fun because I also
, um, I brought a sewingmachine and we had all sorts of
stuff. We had , um, pieces oftriangle fabric that was
supposed to be banners. And I,I said to her, oh, let's make

(14:41):
this into a purse. So I did thewhole thing, but her father
kept saying, look , watch, youknow, because I was showing her
as I was going, I was like, howdo you know, turn this piece
upside down, pick the ones youwanted. And we did it. And then
she left with a little bag thatwas perfect for her.

Lauren (14:54):
I love that . That's awesome. Yeah. I love that.
Yeah. I love , um, uh, one ofthe reasons I love having
multiple sites is that, youknow, you, you get so many
different ideas from all thedifferent hosts and what
they've done. Um, because oneyear, Amy, I know that you did
just a collaborative paintingwhere everyone added to a
canvas, and that's such a greatidea. Uh, and, and

(15:18):
approachable, you know, foranyone that may not have a lot
of space or a lot of supplies .
Um, and then I love yourintroduction of reusing
material and just, you know,'cause that is the essence of
creativity. You know, what canthis become? So that's, that's
so great. Yeah . Do we have ,uh, joy, do we have you, are

(15:39):
you on audio?

Lisa (15:43):
No,

Lauren (15:43):
I still can't hear joy.
No , it's a

Lisa (15:47):
Bummer . Let's see . We can't hear you. Bummer.

Lauren (15:59):
Yeah. Hmm .

Lisa (16:05):
Yeah .

Lauren (16:05):
Well, if I can attest to joy , um, we've seen
pictures years , uh, yearsalong the way and , um, there's
always bright smiles on theirfaces, and I know that , um,
there have been events acrossStockton and everyone that
participates, I'm sure , um,benefits from , um, those art
breaks . So we sure doappreciate it.

Lisa (16:27):
Yeah. And I love what joy is that too really involves the
city. I believe mostly it'slike the city is a really good
collaborator, which isfantastic. So , um, I just
think for me, our break day islike a joy fest it for kids,
for adults, for the hosts. Andthen, so I'd like to put it out
there, you know, we have a lotof questions come throughout

(16:49):
the year, like people want todo our break day , but there's
some sense of , um, that it hasto be massive, you know, that
it has to be epic, that it hasto be , you know, like
a , you know, a Burning Manfestival or something. So what
I like about the conversationabout small size , you know,
medium size , big sites , likehow do , how, you know, what

(17:10):
would you tell that person whowants to do our break day site
and , you

Amy (17:14):
Know, oh , any site, it doesn't matter. Even if it's
just like at a one picnic tableoutside at a park. And the best
thing I like to do is try toget my friends involved and get
more people. So currently Ipartnership with a little
theater and they bring in, theysend out their newsletter and
invite people, and so we get abigger crowd. Um, but I think

(17:38):
that's the key is inviting yourfriends and telling everyone,
even if you don't tell 'em tillthe last minute, because
technically they could come infor 10 minutes and , you know,
and then leave. And I alwaysmake sure, sure. That all my
advertising and even verballyor in print, it says, you know,
you can drop in. You don't haveto be there exactly at the
start time, you know, and youdon't have to stay, and you can

(18:00):
come a half hour before weclose the door , you
know?

Lauren (18:04):
Yeah. Yeah. That's a good tip. I lo I like the
reminding people, participantsthat it can be drop in and that
it can be something that you dofor 10 minutes, because that
really will make a difference.
That 10 minutes will make adifference in your day. Yeah .

Amy (18:21):
Because then they can help me clean up. Yeah .

Lauren (18:25):
The cleanup is always, is always tough after it's ,
I'm always glad I always getreally energized though, by my
Heartbreak Day event , so I canusually push through the
cleanup, you know? And thenI'm, the next morning though,
I'm, I'm pretty much, you know,I'm, I am so tired. Yeah. But
it's worth it. It's worth itevery year.

Amy (18:45):
Totally .

Lisa (18:46):
Every year . I like the idea of drop in , like for
participants and even for yourfriends, just drop in, just say
hi. Just make a mark, you know,create together. Um , you know,
just connect with people andthat's beautiful

Lauren (18:58):
Joy . Yeah . I , yeah .
Yeah. I would just say that ,um, for anyone who's thinking
about hosting an heartbreak ,uh, day would be also that ,
um, yeah. That it's sort of,you can start small and you
can, you can even stay small ifyou want to. Um, and an

(19:23):
heartbreak day can really beanything you want it to be. I
mean, that's the beauty of art.
That's the beauty of art Breakday. And it's the beauty of
doing something yourself , uh,is that you can make it what
you wanna make it. And so , um,you know, I , I really do think
you can change the world whenart break at a time. So even if
only one person , um, if it'sjust you, you know, just, if

(19:45):
that's how you start as aparticipant, then that, that's
adding something positive tothe world. So at the beginning

Lisa (19:54):
Yeah, I agree with that.
I mean, it could one person, itcould be 300 people or a
thousand people, like our , oursighted Florida Flo lives , I
mean, they have like 50 siteson their one , you know
, in their one thing. And it'sfantastic. Um, so I would say
just do it. And I think thepower is that we're all
creating together at one time.
You know, our break day islike, and I think that's the,

(20:16):
the , the, the gift. It's likeyou can be creating with
somebody in India and you know,when people, you know, kind of
think about that, that's reallycool. And it's just the act of
creative . And when you,obviously when you create, then
you feel better and the worldfeels better, . And,
you know, and I think also, aswe all know, everybody talks
about it right now. Everybody'sso divisive. You know, there's

(20:39):
all these people in differentcamps, and it's like when you
sit down at an break table withstrangers or with friends ,
it's like that all itdissolves. Like it's , yeah .
You know, it's, it's a reallycool, safe, accepting space
just for your own creativeexpression.

Lauren (20:56):
Yeah. Yeah. Well , um, joy, are you there? Can we hear
joy yet?

Lisa (21:04):
No,

Lauren (21:05):
No. , we , um, I , I'll just say thank you again
to you two , uh, for , uh, notonly hosting Art Break Day for
years, forever, right. AmyForever

Lisa (21:17):
, um,

Lauren (21:17):
, but also for taking some time out of your
day to day to talk to us , um,about your experience. Um, and
, uh, give some tips for anyonewho might be thinking about
doing it themselves. Um , andthen , and we look , yeah, go
ahead. Oh,

Lisa (21:33):
I was just saying, joy, we would love to hear , hear
Your Voice , but that's nothappening. But we would love if
you would write us somethingthat we can , you know, put on
the below on this podcast sopeople can tap into what you've
offered in Stockton over theseforever years.

Lauren (21:50):
. Yeah. That sounds great. Yeah. Thank you
so much. And we look forward tonext year,

Lisa (21:56):
2025

Lauren (21:57):
. Yay .

Lisa (21:59):
Thank you all guys . Ah , it was bummers. How do you
think that ?

Lauren (22:13):
Oh, good . Okay .
You're still , you're stillrecording .

Lisa (22:17):
Oh .