A big part of my everyday life is work. While I completely understand the underlying concept of this era as related to the Situationist idea of Everyday Life, I have the unusual fortune of being able to make my living by playing. Therefore, I decided to do this task at work (this is the fourth task I've done at work so far!).

Kids and drawing seem to be inextricably linked, so I brought my big drawing pad with me earlier this week when I had a substitute shift at my old store in Woodfield Mall. It's a slow-ish time of year for us, and I figured I'd be able to flag some kids down from the mall and coerce them into making art for me even if they weren't building bears - it would get them out of their parents' hair for a couple of minutes, so I didn't think the grownups would object. I set up an art station at the front of the store with my pad and a box of crayons. I made up some slips of paper with ideas for subjects to draw, in case the artists needed some inspiration. The ideas on the slips were pretty basic - yourself, a kitty, something you did today, your family, etc. I decided that I would offer to tape the drawings up on the walls of our entryway, if the kids didn't want to take their work with them.

My morning bearbuilder, Michael, started us off. He looked at a number of idea strips before choosing "a bear". A word about Michael - I don't know him very well, even though I've worked with him at both my stores for the past year and a half. He got his brains scrambled pretty good in Vietnam, as I'm told by people who know him better than I do. He used to be "normal" previous to that, and now he's, well...not. I thought for a long time he was mentally challenged from birth until I recently heard about his service to the country. He's been with the company for ten years, and he's wonderful with kids. He sings a lot when he works (the best is when he sings Abba's "Dancing Queen"), and he's actually recorded a CD, which I purchased from him over a year ago and never listened to. What I also didn't know about him was that he can draw well.

I asked him if he would like to draw a picture for me to hang on the wall. He agreed in his usual congenial way, chose his subject, and started drawing a realistic bear. We had a bit of conversation regarding his ability, that yes, he did draw at home sometimes and also liked to paint. I realized that I have been avoiding getting to know Michael all this time I've been working with him - mostly, I think, due to noticing the affectionate attention he is prone to giving some of his female co-workers. Nothing terribly inappropriate, just hugging, but way too into the proximity bubble for me personally. I was slightly ashamed of myself, and resolved to work on overcoming whatever my blockages are and learning more about him - he's actually an awesome employee and a genuinely nice guy.

Over the course of my shift, I had six artists do their thing. Olivia and her mom drew a sun, a rainbow, and a tree - then Olivia signed her art with really big letters in purple. Ashley and her mom drew a heart, some fireworks, and a crab, which was apparently Ashley's specialty. It was really cool that these two moms knelt on the floor and drew with their daughters. Heidi chose an idea slip, got "a puppy dog", and drew a weiner dog. Three other little girls (two of them were sisters and collaborated on a single piece) made artwork and took it with them before I could get photos. At the end of the day, I had four publicly-rendered pieces of art hanging in my Build-A-Bear gallery (and one by me, because I just couldn't resist).

The other big take-away I got from this task was from the kids who DIDN'T participate. Some of them were shy or seemed embarassed to draw spontaneously, or in public. Some others really wanted to draw, but their parents said they didn't have time to or otherwise would not allow them to. I was taken aback in these situations - why should something as simple and enjoyable as making a two-minute crayon drawing be seen as humiliating or a waste of time? Also, not a single boy was even remotely interested in participating. I will never understand people, really...