Staff Post - Andrew Lantern

     

There are things in life that come and go; their very passing can leave unforgettable memories, deep rifts and the like. Their very passing may leave you feeling as if you’ve just been visited by a silent wind that was gone long before you were able to acknowledge it. This group, this collective: of friends, of artists, of creatives, of muses, of the inspired and those seeking to be inspired, it has exponentially expanded the boundaries of what I know and understand about the persistence of human nature to create. 

Some folks build with their hands. Some with their words. We’ve taken a liking to building with a lovely amalgam of all our senses.

I became involved with thevisualCollective as it was a thought developing in the head of my friend and colleague, Matt Beaty. He set out to create a platform in which he and other sensory artists he knew could have a semi-frequent fresh canvas on which to practice and develop their passions. What set this apart from other startups, organizations, cults or groups I’ve been apart of was despite the work that was demanded of it to organize and plan, the rewards we reaped even after the first outing were measurable. This was to change, rapidly. You can view some of the early visual demos from those day outings here.

Matt and I planned and executed three separate day-long outings over the course of late winter. He knew he wanted to try something bigger, more encompassing, more in-depth. From these notions the idea of the first visualCollective extended outing was born. In mid-March, 2011, we and 5 other friends departed through the deserts of western Arizona, Nevada and eventually to Death Valley; nestled between Amargosa Valley to the north and the Sierra ranges of southern California to the south. Upon our return from this first foray into outfitting a group of artists and traveling to a destination with little more than an inkling of ‘what images I’d like to capture’ it was apparent the rewards of this collective were now immeasurable. 

We have since executed a second extended outing, with more artists, more immersion, more everything. I will save my ramblings on that particular span of time for another entry but I will comment that my faith, love and personal mental, emotional and spiritual investment in this collective have only grown.

I have met knew people, learned things about old friends I never knew, learned things about myself; and that alone is worth it. That in and of itself makes this collective a success on all accounts.

We haven’t even touched on the successes of the artists themselves.

Best Regards,

Andrew