AccessArt Value #3: Having the Confidence to Hold Ideas Lightly, Enables us to Create Space for Everyone to Reach their Potential

AccessArt Core Value #3 “Having the Confidence to Hold Ideas Lightly, Enables us to Create Space for Everyone to Reach their Potential” illustrated by Jagoda Sadowska.

Core Value 3 'Hold Ideas Lightly' by Jagoda Sadowska

Jagoda is a Polish illustrator and designer based in Glasgow, Scotland. They are a big advocate of joyful colour palettes and a great enthusiast of textures. Jagoda’s work is full of juvenile sense of humour and hopeless romanticism. They enjoy exploring narrative abilities of illustration and tell absurd stories or complex feelings through their work. They find a lot of beauty and inspiration in mundane, day to day life.

At AccessArt we love the colour, energy and humour that Jagoda pours into their work. The playfulness of their artwork brings a real joy to the viewer and we are really excited by the clever way in which Jagoda has communicated the core value ‘Having the confidence to hold ideas lightly, enables us to create space for everyone to reach their potential’.

We feel that this illustration really resonates with the AccessArt core value highlighting that there is importance in giving people the freedom to face the unknown, get lost in their ideas and pave their own path. Existing in a space of ‘not knowing’ and finding your own way will result in a journey that is authentically yours.

AccessArt Value #3

When we feel threatened, or lack confidence, we have a tendency to hold things tightly. They might be entrenched ideas, beliefs, behaviours – even loved ones – fear of uncertainty keeps us tense, rigid, small.

But the opposite is also true. It’s so much easier to be open and embracing towards others when we ourselves feel at ease. Think power pose – body open, strong, reaching outwards. Taking up as much space as can be taken up at that moment. But remember there is no aggression in power pose – the body is actually exposed and vulnerable, but there is no fear – instead there is courage to be open enough to be strong.

When exploring ideas and practices in art, holding ideas lightly is such a helpful process. When artists make work, they often start from a position of “not knowing” – that is why they make the work – to explore, to find out, to uncover, and they can’t access that journey if they are not willing to hold their thoughts loosely, letting them ravel and unravel.

Through holding lightly, art can help us feel safe in the territory of “not yet knowing” which is a useful place to be, a place which helps us to learn to feel safe in the face of uncertainty.

And when we facilitate that exploration in others, holding ideas and preconceptions lightly allows space for our learners to make ideas their own. Art is all about experiential understanding. As facilitators we can help our audiences grow, and we can hint and tempt and signpost them towards discovery and understanding, but if we can do this by offering rather than telling, then we leave space for the learning to be truly theirs. By growing our own knowledge as facilitators we build our confidence to not be afraid, not be threatened and not hold tightly. We are able to see the teaching of art for what it really is – a service which taps into fulfilling a human need for expression and empathy.

But few of us can thrive when there is too much space. We do need structures to help us think and operate, so the question for facilitators (and for AccessArt) is how do we provide enough structure to help people feel safe, and enough space to help facilitate exploration.

So next time you feel contraction from fear or uncertainty, think about the confidence and openness of power pose. Better still, visualise yourself holding your hand out, palm upwards. What sits on your palm? And how loosely can you hold it?

See all our core values here.

Paula Briggs, April 2023