Mary Jo Hoffman inspires me. Her book STILL: The Art of Noticing is now out. Look at some of the images here.
It's been more than 12 years since Mary Jo committed to a daily art project where she finds something in nature that inspires her. She photographs it (often in a collage) and posts it on her blog and Instagram. That is more than 4,500 days. She says "the art of dailiness" has changed her so she is often in a state of creative noticing or deep play. She made it simple enough to fit around family life. She found through this practice that the process is sacred, not the results.
Image by Monicelli / Phaidon
She graciously answered my question, What do you want to give the world?
"I would say the most important things I want to give the world are the following:
1) I believe that art is an energy transference from the artist to the viewer. When I share my art, I hope to pass on my wonder and awe at our natural world;
2) I created STILL with an implicit promise that it would be a quiet corner of the internet that my viewers could visit when they felt a need for simplicity and beauty.
3) Finally, I hope to inspire my viewers to see their own environments with new eyes. Nothing makes me happier than finding a new way to present the most ordinary of subjects, so that it catches people by surprise and reminds them how much beauty they are surrounded by every day, wherever they happen to be."
Image by Monicelli / Phaidon
She shares her idea of radical incrementalism and how we can tap into our creativity by doing a little bit every day in a podcast with Julie Berman of Woman with Cool Jobs. Watch a short video from six years ago (when she was only at 3,000 photos) to catch a vision of her vision (and how she shared it with her family).
Image by Monicelli / Phaidon
