Local artists start the year with the 12 for 12 Challenge

Fourteen local artists participated in this year's Johnson County Center for the Arts 12 for 12 Challenge; each completing one piece a day for 12 consecutive days. The 12 for 12 Challenge was created seven years ago by artist and Johnson County Center for the Arts Executive Director Cristy Dunn, "It's a great way to start the year by focusing on making art," said Dunn. "It is so easy to put creativity on the back burner, and this challenge gives us a reason to put art making at the top of the list." Each year, painters, photographers, fabric artists, and poets have participated, this year the list of mediums expanded to include leather artist Jason Hughes and jewelry maker/collage artist Colette de Ribert-Floyd. Asked what she enjoyed most about the challenge, artist Tara Belk said, "knowing I was part of a community challenge and other creatives were doing this with me at the same time." This creative camaraderie was expressed by other participants like Temple Reece who said "seeing the comments on social media and the works of the other 12 for 12 artists each day was exciting." Other artists liked the self-exploration part of the challenge. Jason Hughes said he enjoyed, "the learning and personal growth that I experienced during the making process." And first time participant Karin Bell said she liked, "trying different methods of painting and using different materials." While artist Kathy Dawson said she was glad, "just taking the time to paint and create and experiment in the process." Like any challenge the 12 for 12 has its difficulties, and Colette de Ribert-Floyd quipped "the hardest part was picking up a pen and starting." Artist Jeana Chapman said, "The 12 for 12 Challenge was fun. I thought about quitting everyday and then ended-up liking what I'd created, enough to keep going until the end and am now grateful for the opportunity." Other artists in the challenge found the difficulty was in deciding what to create or how to create it in the time constraint. New participant Cindy Escoto said, "it made it stressful watching the clock. However, when the painting was completed, I'd take a step back and look at it. If at that moment I saw what I was trying to capture all along, it made my heart happy." A challenge usually includes a learning experience and for Karin Bell it was "to be more disciplined and try again if something didn't work out as planned." Temple Reece said, "I use the 12 for 12 as an opportunity to experiment with techniques, paints and tools," And poet Denise de Ribert said, "I do the Challenge to exercise my creative muscles." Despite finding 12 for 12 challenging most artists are already thinking of what they will do next year, as photographer JP Jackson said, "I plan to participate in 2027," and photographer Dennis Shekinah added, "This is a great way to involve more of the artistic community, I will definitely partake next year." Join us on Friday, Feb. 6 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m to celebrate the works of the participating artists in the 12 for 12 Show Opening at the Gallery on Main located at 129 W. Main St. in Mountain City, Tenn. This is a great opportunity to meet the artists, see the creations, enjoy light refreshments and as always, a local musician.