What does it mean to be an explorer of art? To reach out and investigate out of curiosity. Right now I am curious about analog art, that which is done by hand and not digitally like I have been doing for the past twenty years.

As a child, I was naturally curious in just about everything. That curiosity has been set aside through education and a career. Always on a back burner simmering until recently it has been boiling over and ready to go.

So why explore now? To inspire myself, to see new things or to see things in a different perspective and to create something different.

Recent examples have included making zines of my photos using Affinity Publisher or Apple Pages. Or by pushing buttons in GarageBand to generate “music” on a loop for a photo collage soundtrack.These are creative ways to explore the art of making photo books or collages. But there is still so much left to be explored and conquered such as sketching, painting, paper collage and somehow creating a hybrid of these with my photos. That reminds me to send some images to a photo lab and make paper prints for use later.

YOU ARE AN EXPLORER.
YOUR MISSION IS TO DOCUMENT AND OBSERVE THE WORLD AROUND YOU AS
IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.
TAKE NOTES.
CoLLECT THINGS YoU FIND ON YOUR TRAVELS.
DOCUMENT YoUR FINDINGS. NOTICE PATTERNS.
COPY. TRACE.
FOCUS ON ONE THING AT A TIME.
RECORD WHAT YOU ARE DRAWN To.

HOw To BE AN EXPLORER OF THE WORLD
I. ALWAYS BE LOOKING. NOTICE THE GROUND BENEATH YOUR FEET.
2. CONSIDER EVERYTHING ALIVE & ANIMATED
3. EVERY THING•iS INTERESTING. LOOK CLOSER
4. ALTER YOUR COURSE OFTEN.
5. OBSERVE FOR LONG DURATIONS (AND SHORT ONES )
6. NoTICE THE STORIES GOING ON AROUND YOU.
7. NOTICE PATTERNS, MAKE CONNECTIONS.
8. DOCUMENT YOUR FINDINGS (FIELD NOTES) IN A VARIETY OF WAYS.
9. OBSERVE MOVEMENT.
10. CREATE A PERSONAL DIALOGUE WITH YOUR ENVIRONMENT. TALK TO IT.
11. TRACE THINGS BACK TO THEIR ORIGINS
12. USE ALL OF THE SENSES. IN YoUR INVESTIGATIONS.

Keri Smith, How To Be An Explorer of the World

Explorers, scientists and artists analyze the world around them in surprisingly similar ways, by observing, collecting, documenting, analyzing, and comparing. I don’t know what will come from all of this new art kick but I will enjoy exploring and discovering the world in ways I haven’t done or even imagined until recently.

Time to log off this laptop and apply pencil to paper.