Why are we still collaborating as Art is Moving (16 years later)?

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As their 16th year of collaboration gets underway, Lisa and Lauren, the artists behind Art is Moving, reflect on why they are still here. Why are they still working together and collaborating as Art is Moving to get everyone to join the Take an Art Break Movement?

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

Episode Transcript

Lisa (00:00):
Okay . Hello. It's Lisa and Lauren from Artist Moving .
And guess what? We're stillhere, right?

Lauren (00:06):
. We're still here. This is year 15.
Together, collaboratingtogether. Mm-Hmm .
. And that's aquestion we wanted to talk
about today. Why are we stilldoing this? Why are we still
Art is moving. Tell me Lisa

Lisa (00:23):
. Tell me. Uh , tell . Well, it's , um, it's
our relationship. Obviously.
It's the synergy between ourtwo personalities . We came
together 2008 ish , um, uh, ona mission to get art in the
hands of all people, I think.
And we, at that moment in time, uh, art was very exclusive.

(00:47):
Um, you know, there was noscience. I don't even know if
there was science at that timebehind art. Like now, if you
look up the benefits of art ,you know, it's everywhere. But
I don't think at the time whenwe were like, oh my God,
everybody needs to take an artbreak. Or everybody needs to go
to a museum. That there was ascience. And now there's this
like, wave of information aboutthe, the benefits of taking art

(01:10):
. So it's almost like, I don'tknow , we didn't start it, but
we were part of that wave oftransformation of that , you
know, this is what it means tobe human .

Lauren (01:18):
Yeah. Make our

Lisa (01:20):
Create .

Lauren (01:21):
I'm gonna , I'm gonna claim that , that we started to
take our break movement. Youknow, I'm just gonna claim that
right there. I love ,

Lisa (01:27):
I love that.

Lauren (01:28):
Yeah. That be in our many, many conversations
walking around , uh, museumsand , uh, you know, talking
about art . We came up with anotion that everybody needs to
take an art break. Right. Iremember it was like, take an
art break. It's just like acoffee break. Except, yeah .
It's, it's , um, art and it'sto the benefit of your mental,

(01:51):
emotional wellbeing. You know,we wanted everyone to implement
art into their daily life, likeeating right and exercising and
things like that, because weknew that if, if the whole
world, right? We imagined thewhole world , uh, making time
in their day to take an artbreak. Like, how amazing would
the world be? Because, becausethe individual would be

(02:12):
healthier. And so the worldwould be healthier. And that's
why we started. And over thelast 15 years, we have
definitely seen, as you weresaying, Lisa, the world change
around their viewpoint oftaking an art break and, and
talking about the benefits of ,uh, taking an art break ,
making art, looking at art,going on a walk through nature.

(02:36):
Because we define an artb breakas an intentional act of
creativity. It can be anything.
It can be baking, it could bework , you know, woodworking.
It could be looking for shapesand clouds. It can be anything
that , uh, you intentionally doto, to sort of stop your daily
routine. Mm-Hmm. .
And through the last 15 years,we've constantly pushed our own

(03:00):
sort of notion of interactiveart and what it means to take
an art break and trying toreach that whole audience.
Right. 'cause our audience iseveryone. And that's a
difficult audience to reach.
Right.

Lisa (03:12):
I think , I think to add to that, we've always
challenged ourself , how can wereach that person that's so
fearful of taking an art break? You know? I think with that,
though , the edge that we'vealways wanted to do, that's why
we did Art Break Day. We wantedto reach people that typically
are like, Nope , I can't dothat. You know what I mean?
Like the No, the no . We alwayshave wanted to make the no into

(03:34):
a yes. And that has been ourchallenge, . Right?

Lauren (03:39):
I , yes. And I do think we've changed a few nos into a
few yeses. So , um, but why arewe still here? Why are we still
doing this 15 years later, if,you know, it seems as though
that , um, more people areaccepting of, of art being to
the benefit. I mean, we, weinterviewed some , you know ,

(04:00):
uh, your brain on art thisyear. And that is the science
behind the benefit of artmaking and having art
intertwined in your life. Right.

Lisa (04:11):
And I also , um, I know a doctor in the Bay Area , Dr .
Alan Siegel , he's developed anonprofit that they're
prescribing art to patients.
Mm-Hmm. . So, Imean, wow. Where are we from ?
It's just like,

Lauren (04:24):
Right. A lot , a lot has changed in 15 years. So
what do we, what is , what doesartists moving do now? What do
we do now?

Lisa (04:33):
? Good question.
Well, we, it's about expansionand evolution. But I think we
also wanna talk about, like, wewanna get real for people. You
know what I mean? I think we, Itold, I was talking to Lauren
earlier, , and I said,you know, we birthed our movie
. We're the maiden and themother, and now we're the

(04:54):
Crohn's. We're kind of the oldwise women right now. And I
think we wanna share , um, our,our experience, our wisdom with
the world, with other peoplewho want to do this, who have
an idea, and they want it tobecome, you know, they want it
to become fruit to bear, to, totransform the world. And I

(05:16):
think right now, our, our rolein this, this collective is to
be the, the, you know, to shareour wisdom. That's what I
think. But also to share thereal like behind the
scenes, pull back the curtain.
It , you know, it's all that ,like, it's all like unicorns
and rainbows and, you know,things like that. Right.

Lauren (05:37):
Yeah. No, I think there's , uh, yeah, I like
that. So, I, I , so where isart is moving going now, right?
What's, what's, what's sour?
What is our next year looklike? In my mind? Mm-Hmm .
. If I could tryto predict the future for a
minute. And I do, I see usgoing more towards the role of
highlighting people who aredoing the, the work , uh, the

(06:01):
work. Who are doing the work inthe world of making the world
better through art in variousways. 'cause there's lots of
folks out there doing that,connecting those people
together. Because we havediscovered that connection
leads to , uh, conversation andcollaboration, which leads to
even , uh, better projects, youknow? Um , Mm-Hmm .

(06:22):
, we've done acouple of them ourselves. And ,
uh, we've connected some , uh,people in the past. And it
feels so good to do that, tosee what comes of that. Mm-Hmm.
. So I see usdoing more of that, the
connection. Um, and I, I see usYes. Being here Mm-Hmm .
telling peoplewhat it takes to make something

(06:43):
like this happen. Mm-Hmm.
. And , uh, forexample, art is moving is we're
, we don't have a brick andmortar. We are a, I guess you
would call it us , a cyberbased , I don't know
what to call us , uh, artmovement. Yeah . We've existed
online and in our owncommunities. And , uh, just

(07:05):
connecting with people acrossthe world through email , uh,
phone conversations and , um,everything like that. To have
them take on the, take an artbreak movement and join and
then join on Art Break Day, or, um, facilitate an art show
that has , um, interactive arttables at it , or pass out free

(07:27):
art packets , uh, et cetera, etcetera. We've, we've worked
along , uh, with amazing peoplethroughout this 15 years. And I
think I see us going more inthat direction, guiding people
who don't know what it's liketo do that. Which means , um,
you're not gonna get a grant.

(07:48):
Like Right . You know, youmight not get a grant the first
time you try. You might notever get a grant. Uh, and you
have to ask yourself, are youwilling to do this without
that? Mm-Hmm. ,um, you know, and Lisa and I
are willing to do that. Uh, we,I, you know, when, when we ask
ourselves, why are we stillhere? Mm-Hmm . ,

(08:09):
I, you know, and a lot of itis, I don't know. I don't know
why I do this. I love hangingout with Lisa. Um , you know,
and , uh, I always feel goodafter our conversations. Um, we
come up with really cool stuff,and then we make it happen. And
that feels good, especiallywhen you see what happens to
people who are involved. Uh,but , uh, have we ever been

(08:31):
paid to do this? I think we gotpaid like once for one of our
projects way back when. Uh, and, uh, that is, that's kind of
hard sometimes to be, to feelas though what your work , what
you're doing is not monetarilyvalued. Um, you know? Yeah. To
add to that ,

Lisa (08:51):
Um, there's two things that's come up is like, to do
this , this , um, as anonprofit , as we are just two
people not getting paid. Youhave to get really creative.
And I think that is part ofthe, the zest in artist movies
relationship, is that we, wehave to put on our artist hat
or Creative hat and say, oh, , how can we do this?

(09:11):
How can we navigate? How can wemake this happen? How can we
give, you know, a thousand freeart packets away? How, you
know? And it's almost like wehave to get really, really
creative. But then yes, on the,on the like, shadow side, it's
like we, we became a source, Asource where we're like, free.

(09:34):
I mean, we started out as afree art movement. I always
, I have to remindmyself so free. And then, so
we're like, we're giving freeart packets to people to pass
out for free. And then we'relike, how do you do that when
you have no resources, likemonetary resources? So it's
like, interesting. But then,you know, and then , so part of

(09:54):
this is like, you know, it'slike human nature to go, oh,
I'm not getting paid. We don'thave any money. How are we
gonna do this? Do you know whatI mean? And we could, you know,
throw our hands up in the arm ,you know , whatever, like in
the air and go, I quit. But forsome reason, that has never
entered the conversation. Sofor those people who are, you

(10:16):
know, wanting to do a project,don't have resources, you know,
how do you get creative? How doyou, how do you have the
motivation to continue? And forsome reason, we together, I
think, and for example, Lauren,I would never have continued
this without you. There'ssomething Yeah . A
collaboration with somebodythat's like, you know, when I'm

(10:37):
down, you're like, oh , . And when , when I'm down ,
I'm like , no . It's almostlike for some reason , we , you
know , we rise up for eachother , each other . And so
that's part of the, the, therecipe or the magic in artist
moving , I think.

Lauren (10:53):
Yeah. And I think that it's the every year, I , um, I,
I've thought about thisconversation we had with
Catherine Josten, she saidduring the , uh, um, every
year, right. Because she doesa, she has a similar vibe to
our break day , right. With theglobal , um, project for, you

(11:14):
know , um, global Art Projectfor Peace. Yeah. And she said ,
uh, you know, she's always like, she always is like, oh, I
just, I don't know if I can doanother year. And then she gets
a, she gets an email fromsomeone, or a phone call or a
postcard, and that reignitesthe fire that had almost burnt
out. And that's what happens tome every year at Art Break Day

(11:36):
is it's a lot of work Yeah . Tofacilitate it. I mean, we've
turned it into a well-oiledmachine. Yeah . Um , because
we, we we're well practiced init, but it still is time,
energy , um, et cetera. And,but then I go and I watch what
happens when people sit downand make art together. And it ,

(11:57):
I'm, I'm re reminded Mm-Hmm .
that we need. Weneed this in our life. We, we ,
we just, we just , it has to bethere. It makes the world
better. It really does. And so,I, I can't stop myself from
doing it. Yeah. Um, you know,part of it is my personality,
you know what I mean? I'm likethe type of person that's like,
if I, if I, if I know I can dosomething that helps, I, I'm

(12:21):
just gonna do it. You know? I ,I just can't not do it. Um, you
know, I've, I'm, I've almosthad to learn how to, like, not
overdo it in terms of my ownself care . Um, but I just, I
just, I , I don't know. I liketo help. I like to make people
happy. I mean, making peoplesmile is an incredible feeling.

(12:43):
It's an incredible feeling, youknow? I know,

Lisa (12:46):
I agree with you. Um, our break day does that, and I
think since 2008 I've seenmore, there's art , art tables
everywhere, art making tables,but it's usually for kids. And
I think the cutting edge of artBreak day is , it's for all
people. So you have adults sitdown and for some reason that
is cutting. It shouldn't becutting edge. But for me, like

(13:08):
my last heartbreak day, it waslike a micro , the macro, you
know, the macro, it was like wehad these people sit at the
table for the whole time, likefour hours connecting. Yeah . I
mean, we have deepconversations. One guy was
homeless, we always havehomeless person there, you know
what I mean? But reallyunraveling their story. And
it's just like, it , it'sreally amazing that yes, you

(13:31):
can go, oh my God, you know,today I made a difference in
someone's life. Mm-Hmm .
. I mean , it'sreally, it's really emotional.
Yeah. I think that's the hook.
I feel the hook .

Lauren (13:42):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's a , yeah. It's a , I , so,
okay. Um, so obviously we'restill here. We're still gonna
be here, we're still gonna bedoing our thing. Um, what kind
of, you know, 'cause you're ,we're like transitioning away
from, because I feel like theway we've operated for the past
15 years is we, you know, youand I come together every

(14:05):
January and we're like, oh myGod, we should do this. We
should do this,

Lisa (14:07):
We should do this . We , we , like , we have too many
ideas. Then we . No ,no, no, no, no, no , no .

Lauren (14:13):
Yeah. And we pare it down to, to one. And some
projects stick. Right? Like ourbreak day , we've done that
since 2011. Um, we've done someshorter projects, you know,
like art card and the postcardprojects. Mm-Hmm .
and things likethat. And , um, I think in the
last year we've gone throughthis transition of realizing

(14:33):
that we're at a point in ourlives where it's , um, we don't
have the necessarily the timeor the energy to , um, put into
facilitating the projects. Butwe're at a stage now where we
would like to connect withpeople who are sort of at the

(14:54):
beginning stages of theirprojects or who have an idea,
but just don't know what to dowith it. And we have the
experience of having that, ofgoing through that and, and
having an idea, and then goingthrough the step-by-step
project of making it happen.
And so maybe that's the new,the sort of transitioned role
of artists moving, is that theway we're, we are moving

(15:16):
forward, the way we're pushingour own edge Mm-Hmm .
is that now weare becoming , um, the, the
mentor instead of the, thementee. Right. I feel like you
and I have been mentoring eachother, right? Mm-Hmm .
. It's not just acollaboration, but it's more
like , um, bouncing off. Right?
That's the power ofcollaboration. Mm-Hmm .

(15:37):
. So I thinkthat's what we're, we've slowly
opened ourselves up to that. Ithink the podcast has also done
that of like collaborativeconversation. Mm-Hmm.
. And I see, Isee us moving in that
direction. Mm-Hmm .
, um, as art ismoving, opening more in terms
of , uh, conversations , uh,connections and collaborations.

(16:01):
Mm-Hmm . . Mm-Hmm. To, you know, for taking our
breaks.

Lisa (16:07):
I think we're in the harvest space of our, of our,
of our , ourexperience. So we've done a
lot, you know what I mean?
We've done a lot. I mean, ourcart , our break day , um, free
our projects, art in yourpockets . Um , we've done a
lot. And yes, when we gettogether, we're like, oh my
God, what, what if , what , youknow, what can we do? And it's

(16:29):
almost like we have to cap it.
And that's, that's kind ofunpleasant at times. ,
you know what I mean? Because I

Lauren (16:35):
It's really hard .

Lisa (16:36):
Yeah . It's like, ah , what , you know, we can't do
that. You know, we could do it,but we both , you have three
children. You have a business,I have a business. So it's
like, you know, the nonprofitis, is in our blood, but it's
like, I think it's time toharvest. And, and in that
harvest , we have the abilityto , um, elevate people to

(17:01):
their best potential, to , youknow, if they have an idea. And
it's hard, it's hard to do iton your own. And that's the
beauty of Mm-Hmm . Ourcollaboration. It's like we can
elevate people to do it, youknow, because it's really easy
to give up . Right . It's

Lauren (17:16):
Really easy to

Lisa (17:17):
Just go , I mean , ah , it's too much. It's
overwhelming. But the , youknow, I think we always talk
about this, it's the rippleeffect. Even like, you know,
that one person at Art BreakDay, you change their life and
they're gonna go out and belike, oh, yeah. You know, and
it's just the ripple effect.
And it's like the micro on themacro, it's like this small ,

(17:38):
if you can just do it , and Ithink we can elevate people .
That's where our right now iselevation of people through
conversations , throughmentorship, through coaching ,
coaching, you know? Um, I thinkthat's where we're at. It's
just like, it's, it's almostlike the maturity of art school
. It's , yeah . Because I feellike this is just the reality.

(17:59):
I feel we have , um, at least Ido. Like, oh, what we're not
gonna do, you know, freerpackets anymore, , you
know what I mean ? Likeconstruct like thousand , you
on our own , like , you know ,this , we've done throughout
this , you ourselves need to dothe physical, you know,

(18:29):
except for our break day . Doesthat make sense?

Lauren (18:32):
Yeah. I think that it's, for me, the wor words
that keep coming up for me isnow it's your turn. Yeah. You
know? Yeah . Um, we, we, wehave proven that it's possible
Yeah. That, that oneindividual, one individual can
make a difference. Yeah . Ialso think that that has been a
deeply rooted notion in ourcollaboration is that mm-Hmm .

(18:54):
, an individualcan have an idea and, and, and
can wanna make the world abetter place, make their
community a better place.
Mm-Hmm . . And itdoes happen when one person and
one art break at a time. Wetouched on that in our last
conversation. Yeah. Um , withthe calling and the 6,000
Circle project, I think it'sthis notion that , um, and, and

(19:14):
we want to support people whoare interested in, in doing
that. And so that's why we, wesort of have this open source,
take an art break movementwebsite, which is like, this is
how we did it, and you'rewelcome to do it the same exact
way. Or you can reach out to usand, and ask us those questions
you might have. Or if you justneed a cheerleader as someone

(19:35):
to be like, you can do it, thenthat's what we're here for.
We're here to, to back you upor to , um, hold your feet to
the fire if that's what youneed. Mm-Hmm . .
Or to be , um, the encouragerwhen you're not feeling valued,
because it's really hard to geta grant to do art , uh, for

(19:56):
some reason. Uh, we cancertainly dive into that this
year . Uh , . Yeah. Ijust , um, it feels good. I
feel like Mm-Hmm .
, um, we're , Ijust, I, I see this year being
a really , uh, us pushing thatedge for ourselves , uh, I
think it's gonna be a littlebit of a vulnerable year

(20:16):
because we have to open up tothe, to talk about the, the
personal reasons why we dothis. Yeah. Even when we're,
even when it's, you know , um,we're not being monetarily
valued in a capitalist society.
Um, you know what I mean? SoYeah. I'm, I'm looking forward

(20:38):
to it. I really am.

Lisa (20:40):
Yeah. We're gonna dive deep into that . Um , we're
gonna pull back the curtain .
. Yeah . Just be real.
And it's not, we're notcomplaining, but, you know, I
think the bottom line is we'renot in the system. We're not in
that , um, art grant system.
We're not a capitalistorganization. So it's like, how

(21:01):
can you, how can you navigateit? How can you swim? And then,
you know what I mean? And then,you know, continue swimming
through it and, and through allthe challenges, the, the, the
amazing ahas, you know, the,the beauty, the transformation
. Well,

Lauren (21:19):
I love that . We, we, we've shown that you can do it.
You can do it even if you don'tfit the mold. And , um, and,
and that it's okay to dosomething that you're
passionate about. It doesn'thave to pay your bills. You can
have a passion that doesn't payyour bills, and you can make a
positive contribution even ifit doesn't pay you. You know?

(21:45):
Um, you can volunteer for yourpassion and you will make a
load of difference, positivedifference in someone's life.
And I would encourage morepeople to do that. Maybe that's
what I wanna do this year.

Lisa (21:59):
I love it. It's , it , it flash in my mind. You know, the
, you can do it . The Rosie .

Lauren (22:04):
Yeah , you do . Alright . Yeah , we can do it . Yeah .
Let's

Lisa (22:07):
Do it . Four . Right .

Lauren (22:09):
Alright . Welcome The new year .

Lisa (22:11):
Hmm .