Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

Burning Man has been canceled this year, but the online Burning Man is alive and well!  I have been participating this year with people from all around the world.  It is incredible to drop into a zoom call, meet new people and make an instant connection.  It’s all about creating intentional community.  Last night, I looked at different zoom links where I could drop into a room and there was one about art.  It sounded interesting, so I clicked the link.  

When the zoom opened up, there were about a dozen different artists silently painting and listening to the music that was being played over the computer.  I was intrigued.  I looked at everyone’s art that they were working on and it was beautiful.  A woman with flowers in her hair typed in the chat box and welcomed me in.  I was responding to emails in another minimized box while I continued to watch them paint for about another 10 minutes and then the artists began having more of chat with me in the chat box and then after a while, they all unmuted themselves and then we had a chat all together.  Here is what I had learned.  They were artists all around the world.  One was from Canada, another from Ireland, another from New York, another from Australia and so on and here were all together having a conversation about art in our different time zones.  Here’s what’s insane.  MJ from Canada told me that they have all been on the zoom call since March.  And I said, “Wait, what?  Are you telling me that you have been on the same consecutive zoom call for 5 months straight?”  Yes they have!  Can you believe it?!  They told me that zoom shuts down for five seconds a day to reset, but then it starts right up and keeps going.  Because it’s different time zones around the world, when one artist is signing off to go to sleep in one time zone, another is waking up on the other side of the world and beginning their day.  Talk about creating creative community in quarantine!  They call it the art train because it just keeps going.  It’s a collaboration of 2000 participating artists who want to go deeper into their practice in a supportive community.  They have never met each other in person, but they are creating real friendship all around the world.  They decided to bring the art train to Burning Man to open it up to more people and even if people aren’t professional artists, they are invited to just come and do whatever art they want.  They told me that someone from Burning Man started doing art on an etch-a-sketch just for one and to be a part of the conversation.  They also graciously invited me to join them whenever I felt like it 24 hours a day.  It’s nice to know that I have a community present, even at 3am, if I need them. I haven’t done any painting or drawing for a long time, but this moment inspired me. I felt inspired to go back to something that I have loved so much in the past, but because life has become so busy with “to do” lists that I have forgotten to replenish my creative side. So why not?  Why not hop on the art train from time to time and keep this momentum of beauty and community chugging around the world.  All aboard!  Choo-Choo!

If you are interested in checking this out go to: Facebook.com/groups/nonstopvisiontrainglobalartjam