What Have I Learned From My First Public Interactive Art?
On July 4th, I did an interactive chalk painting at Courthouse Square in Redwood City, CA. I had a lot more fun than I can imagine in the process. This is how it all started:
One day during lunch break, I walked into an art store nearby my office and looking for Chinese calligraphy ink. At the counter, I saw this advertisement about Chalk on the Square event for July 4th. I usually consider art is placed in the gallery and want my art to be highly praised. Felt a little reluctant about exhibiting my art this way. But the inner voice of me said that you should give it a try. So I did. I got my acceptance in late June. By that time, I didn’t know what I would be making.
But I know that I want it to be fun and happy and interactive. But yet, I want something that’s really casual with an air of lightness. Then I remembered in Los Angeles, the angel wings are only available for Instagram influencers who have 10k followers to take pictures. Then it became apparent to me that I want to draw angel wings for this chalk festival due to the following reasons:
- It’s a disruption to this blocking of experiences to be only available to certain groups of people.
- Angels are divine, they speak to people’s souls, people love uplifting artwork like this.
- July 4th is a day to celebrate. The very fact is people are going to be in a good mood and the angel wings will help remind them of the power of their dreams. So that how I arrived at my idea. The main goal is to spread happiness.
I mocked up the angel wings first on my design software the day before. but I still decided the actual wings are going to be intuitive and impromptu. Most grateful of all, my coworker Jocelyn decided to join me in the whole process. I think it’s an angel arrangement.
1. Emotion is the key
The goal of this art festival was to create a place for artists to share their work with people. I was the only interactive piece in there. Everyone focused on the most perfect work. But since the very beginning, my focus has been providing a platform for people to have a good time. So my focus has been delivering a happy moment for people. My expectation is to get the art piece out as soon as possible so that the there is a touch point for people to interact with as soon as they get to the event. I loved seeing all the happy faces and enthusiasm of people taking photos with my art. At some point, people were waiting in line.
2. People love interactivity
I was the only one with the interactivity going on at the event. Some people have the blockers up so that no one goes inside their art and destroys anything. I have many kids come to the wings and take photos directed by their parents. One boy took some photos with his dad and insisted that he also wants to lay down on the ground on the other piece. His dad said, no! you can only lay on this piece, not the other pieces. It’s satisfying for me to see that people having so much fun just interacting with the piece. Even it was a simple design, people were having fun. I notice this is a much more different approach I do art. I used to be a pixel-perfect person who really cares about making every detail perfect. I suddenly understood that the interactivity and also the story behind it are the points that make people become hooked.
3. Be vulnerable, that’s how to be authentic
Before this event, I am scared that people are going to destroy my art. In museums, people have guards to prevent viewers to destroy the art. Looking at how other people are interacting with my art, I feel that I am opening part of myself to the audience. Now that I am not worried about what everyone thinks and just went ahead and express how I felt at that moment. I didn’t like that people have to be 10k influencers on Instagram to be able to take photos with the angel wings. So that my art was a disruption to the whole movement. Also, being open about my art, I put the trust in people. To my surprise, people were really respectful to the art. They walked carefully around the art and make sure their children don’t destroy the art by accident too.
4. Think like a designer, borrow from existing understanding
One observation I had during this art interaction piece was that I had the plan to provide a more detailed instruction on how to take pictures and essentially how to interact with the art piece. My planned instructions would look like this. However, I noticed that people passing by didn’t have an idea of what I was doing in this case. I wanted to write/illustrate with detailed instructions on how to interact with the art. However, the story organically unfolded. As I was working on the piece, people are walking by and looking at my art. I wrote next to the art, “Please come back for a selfie.” And people are reading about it. Once the piece was done, people were standing next to the painting. As my friend Jocelyn who is there helping to clean up and just reorganizing.
5. Sharing is caring
I used to not like sharing because, in Chinese culture, sharing is almost the same as bragging. Especially it’s related to some achievements in this case. However, in this case, I started opening up and talking about what I do. That’s how my coworker Jocelyn said that she is going to help out with the process. I am still grateful that she came to join the process. It’s a compliment to my art that she believes that making art is going to be fun with me. And that spending time on a holiday just to make art is such a testament to my work so far.
6. Keep people engaged in the process
I used to have this ego of wanting just to deliver a finished and polished product to people. But during the process of this interactive chalk piece, I show the cool processes, the fascinating strokes and also the messiness of the creation. People love to be part of a process and that’s where the engagement comes in. As I was making those pieces, I would stop and engage those who stop by and chat. Every feedback is immensely valuable. In the process, I have adjusted my art. As you have noticed, the colors are slightly different from what I have originally mocked up. Some feedback I have gathered:
This is so cool!
I love angel wings, this is my fascination and thank you for creating this. I’m so happy you created this
I didn’t imaging this on my way to the festival, it’s something I totally didn’t expect to have an interactive piece and experience like this.
This feedback will always stay with me and I will remember forever. This makes me realize the most important thing in art is not the perfection in each stroke, the combination of colors and also the different art theories taught in art school. The most important part is the overall appeal to people. People buy into ideas more than the perfection of execution. People appreciate art that connects to them emotionally.
Overall, this experience has pushed me to overcome a lot of my existing boundaries. I have the chance to reexamine my art approach. The interactivity is so simple yet people loved it. I realize that what makes people stick is the simple happiness in art. People love the story behind the artworks and the interactivity that works for them is the process that they are more familiar with, where they can draw reference from their past experiences.
