At the very first I Am More exhibition in 2018, with no idea where the project was going or if anyone would care or show up, we went a little wild and threw everything at it that we could, because if you only have a weekend to get your message out you might as well go big. It included student art from Gloucester High School and contributions from Cape Ann professional artists, plus an audience participation piece and resources from Cape Ann non-profits like NAMI.

But when it morphed into a traveling exhibit, there was barely enough time to organize the schlepping, press, and a couple of organizations at each location. There was no time to make much contact with each community, beyond what they could gather as viewers of the portraits.

This spring that is changing, as we head back to Northshore Mall in Peabody, MA for the 4th time, this time as a long-term mental health resource center for the north shore of Massachusetts [siren and fireworks emoji]!!

This has been brewing for a year, and as much as I thought I had new ideas and opportunities, it is now exploding by the day, so here is what we have coming up and how you can participate and share your voice:

The opportunity returns for artists to share a self-portrait of any medium accompanied by a short piece of writing about what “I am more” means to you. Each piece will be displayed for at least a month. You can find all of the instructions here.

Art educators and art therapists can invite their students to submit a self-portrait accompanied by a piece of writing. All of the instructions for students and teachers can be found here.

And, finally, any group can create a collaborative collage of short statements of what “I am more” means to them, as a way of including more voices in an anonymous way to provide a quick read to shoppers passing by. This is a great opportunity for support groups, art clubs, writing clubs and senior centers. Instructions for the collage project can be found here.

All of these options are on-going, beginning in late April and contributions will be exhibited on a first come/first serve basis, and rotated monthly. I cannot tell you how encouraging it has been for me to connect with new individuals with gifts to share, I’m so excited for you to see their contributions!