I have done collaborative art projects before, but never with such a loose format, and never with cardboard. So I wasn’t really sure what would happen when I decided to do a “Creative Cardboard” live collaborative art installation on Canton’s First Friday two days ago.

I was pleasantly surprised by the creativity and enthusiasm of my “collaborators”!

We had a large crowd of people come through the Creative Ohio Gallery, and many stopped to contribute some creativity to the installation. These two young ladies were some of the most creative of the bunch.

We started with a loosely constructed jumble of cardboard that was build to have some 3-D qualities. I put some base coats of paint on to give us a background and starting point.

Later, I added color to the background, and then I started adding the pieces created by my “collaborators”. Their pieces were applied to the cardboard with permanent “glue dots” that enhanced the 3-D qualities.

We had artists of all ages contribute, adults as well as youngsters, and all expressed exuberant joy in the process. I knew it would be fun, but I had no idea how fully involved in the project some would become!

The end result was a playful microcosm of a very artful city where people enjoy creation just for the fun of it. I think that describes Canton. Does it describe your town?

What creative projects have you done to involve others in a fun and artful creative process?

The “Creative Cardboard’ piece will be on display at the Creative Ohio Gallery at 310 4th St. NW, Canton, OH for a couple of weeks or so, maybe longer. I will post an update if it is moved to another location.