Collaboralchemy

Sara Deutsch says we each have gifts. A magic happens when we create art together in a playful way. She calls it collaboralchemy.

She convenes groups to do art in collaboration. They may dye colorful silks as a group; "one will make nice splotches, someone else great stripes, and another makes squiggles. At the end when the fabric is dry, everyone's part will have dripped in together, making something beautiful and unexpected."

We learn from each other. Sara's workshops are conducted in silence. Without words to separate us, we pay good attention to the way each person paints. "After painting together for an hour, each person knows how to do what each one else does. You absorb their skills."

It is about harmony that naturally emerges when we collaborate. In this complex world, we each hold different pieces of the puzzle. Sara also uses resonant singing together in circle, or toning. Group mind maps are another game they play, building a tree of shared lines of thought. She sometimes has a game of collage, in which everyone picks out pictures they each resonate with, then the group collages them into one big picture, assembling it like a puzzle.

Then there is the one to one spontaneous co creation, in which she simply finds some interesting way to do art with another artist, as above.

It is about harmony and synergy that naturally emerges when we collaborate. In this complex world, we each hold different pieces of the puzzle. Everyone has pieces missing. It is about coming into relationship.

(All of the paintings featured here are Sara's)

"I think collaboration is a good idea. As long I'm the one who is in control."- Wisecracker