art action in your neighborhood

in my artist in society class with karen sjoholm, we are studying eco art--or environmental art--using weekly sessions to reiterate what we are finding as we walk through our neighborhood--in pursuit of making a map.

today we wandered on mt. tam and searched the landscape for a way in. we wandered, we walked together, we stayed in a couple hours of silence in our own little corners of the heaven we'd found there. when we reconvened, she gave us little green pieces of paper and invited a drawing, a blurb, a haiku about our experience. then, she gathered the main arteries of our sojourn and asked us to place our little pieces of paper in the spaces we'd claimed as our own. she invited us to name our places. she invited us to share.

one by one we journeyed around the circle sharing what came up for each of us. as we placed our little slips along the makeshift map, she noticed how we elevated to art that which was simply a matter of getting to a place. she mentioned how inviting it is when a place is elevated to the level of art--how a map, filled with quotes and sayings and haiku about various sites might encourage her journeying to parts formerly unknown.

she mentioned how, on one of her neighborhood walks, she'd found a poem about a tree on the sidewalk underneath a tree--and how the poem opened the tree experience for her. and she invited, perhaps, a neighborhood collaboration--signposting for those of us who look for the art in our own landscapes, to leave some fruit of inspiration in the spots that most inspire us as we make our daily rounds.

and i thought how lovely this would be--to leave evidence of inspiration in the landscape that inspires us. and i can't wait, really--to make my poems and little slips of valentine to leave around my loop.

where can you leave evidence of your inspiration?
how might your community collaborate to follow your example?

if you try this--please, let me know what happens in your world.