The 100 Day Project 2022: Endings

This year’s global 100 Day Project came to a close in May, but if you’re familiar with the “rules,” you know that many people stop and start as they go, or decide not to complete 100 days after all. So here we are, thinking about endings!

Today we’re doing a final check-in with the Alexandria Art Therapy team about how their projects have wrapped up. You can read more about Adele Stuckey, Celeste Cantees, and Dot Dannenberg’s project beginnings here, project progress in the first 30 days here, or view all of the completed days on Instagram @adelestuckey, @celestecantees, and @dotdbergpaints. 

I’LL START THIS LIKE I STARTED OUR LAST CHECK-IN: HOW’S IT GOING? WHAT DAY ARE YOU ON? 

ADELE STUCKEY:  I last participated on Day 22. 

CELESTE CANTEES: I made it to 50 drawings done on irregular days

DOT DANNENBERG: I’ve just posted Day 100!

ARE YOU STILL PLANNING TO FINISH ALL 100 DAYS? 

ADELE: Likely not. I paused in mid March and have felt stuck in approaching the project. 

CELESTE: I think I will finish, but I do not think it will look like it did at its beginning. I think I will continue in a looser, as-needed fashion, which might look like making a small watercolor painting on mornings I feel the need for further reflection and quiet time before beginning my work day, which is how the project ended up manifesting. 

DOT: Last year I made it to Day 50, and I really wanted to challenge myself to push through to the full 100 this time. I kind of can’t believe I did it? 

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM THIS YEAR’S PROJECT? 

ADELE: I have wondered about the stuck energy around this project. I recently explored the idea that the content was so dynamic that it felt quite complex for a quick daily ritual. I have also noticed that there seems to be a difference when I’m pulling a card for my own personal ritual versus engaging in the process with the intention of sharing it publicly. I imagine the extra steps of taking a photo, creating a description, and posting online adds one too many steps for it to feel accessible at this point in time.

CELESTE: To go with the flow of your process. While I know this intellectually and clinically, it is always a new learning experience when I go through this again in my own art making or writing. The plan looked one way before I began; now it looks different based on the experience I had during the project, and that’s okay. I think I processed some of the concepts I went into the project needing to process, and now, it doesn’t have to be quite so regimented and/or routine. It feels lighter now. 

DOT: I think because I’ve ended up making so many of my tiles while my daughter did her own art in her high chair beside me, I’ve taken more of a childlike attitude towards this project. A commitment to a creative practice doesn’t have to be grand. It can literally be scribbles. You can do it in your dining room while you’re waiting for the noodle water to boil. My kid’s favorite art medium right now is to layer about a hundred tiny stickers on one piece of paper. (My husband says this is like El Duende for kids.) So the end product really isn’t something you can frame, you know? It’s really about the process for her–like, literally the fine motor skills that are developing every time she has a sticker session. This has stripped away a lot of the pressure of the hundred days for me. I don’t have any ideas today? Well, I can scribble something. I can make some paint blobs. Let me just work on holding the paintbrush and see what happens. 

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE “DAY” NOW THAT WE’RE AT THE END? DID YOUR FAVORITE STAY THE SAME? 

ADELE:  Day 14 is another favorite. I appreciate when the Mother archetype shows up, as it represents generative, creative energy. 

CELESTE: Day 49–this watercolor embodies the small process painting that I found solace in while making the last few pieces. I follow the spontaneity of the water, then begin to define areas and lines with different colors and shades. Each small painting can hold an intellectual meaning, but more importantly, the process of making them calms my central nervous system and allows me to be present for a few minutes before doing work or doing something that moves faster and takes more discipline. I find this is needed in everyday life right now. 

DOT: My new favorite is Day 67: Murmuration 3, or as my friend Natasha re-titled it, “Topography of Flight.” I think with this one I struck the balance between something meditative that also was visually appealing. Drawing the flock of birds-as-dots took a long time, but I also didn’t find my attention needing to be on my pen. This has been one of the harder parts of the project for me–I’m interrupted a lot. But with this piece, those interruptions weren’t disruptive to where the drawing was going. 

WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO TELL YOURSELF AHEAD OF STARTING A 100 DAY PROJECT NEXT YEAR? 

ADELE: It’s okay to start and stop or change your process in the moment. Consider how to engage in the process without creating a framework that feels restrictive or overwhelming – minimize the overall number of steps so that it can be easier to access. Ease is so important in my creative process and the ritual itself can be the way to invite a bit more ease into the experience. Get simple. 

CELESTE: Change with the days! It’s okay to go into a project with linear goals and outlined needs; in fact, this is a good way to begin something new. As I move through a series of tasks, though, I find that making I need to check in and balance who I was when I began the project with who I am as I engage with it. 

DOT: When I set out on this project, I wanted to get the benefit of doing a small, creative project every day. But there’s this thing that I always forget—I have a finite amount of stuff I need to get out. Feelings, ideas, experiences to process. And when I’m making little paintings, I’m not writing as much, which is usually my primary mode of processing. This is the beauty of art therapy, I guess. It taps into that part of your brain where you don’t need words, and it gives you art on the page. But I think I, personally, need the words. Each day after I’d finished a tile, I did feel like I’d expressed something, but I don’t love the process or the end product as much. I have more skill in writing, and it captures the feelings more accurately for me. With art, I find that the things I’m trying to convey come out pretty messy. A new practice is exciting at first, but around day 50 both years, it began to fall flat. I think this tells me that if I participate next year, I need to go with photography or writing—something in which I’m a bit more fluent. Fluency, I think, is the key. 

A LOT OF PEOPLE SEE THE 100 DAY PROJECT AS A QUEST FOR IMPROVEMENT, OR AT LEAST TO LEARN SOMETHING. BUT IT’S ALSO ABOUT PROCESSING TIME. WHETHER THE PROJECT HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT, HOW ARE YOU DIFFERENT NOW THAN WHEN YOU STARTED ?

ADELE: I am looking at this experience as a reminder that creative processes don’t have to follow a specific framework and there is no judgment regarding the capacity or interest in completing a process as planned. Often life requires flexibility and the ability to shift, and it’s okay to go with the flow. 

CELESTE: I am now more accepting of my current circumstances (full time work, new motherhood, balancing lots of life transitions…) which may mean projects and commitments aren’t quite as robust or “full” as I initially would envision them. As my circumstances change, I know that my artistic output and ability to multitask will, too.

DOT: Once again, the 100 Day Project saw me through a long winter and into warmer times. I finished my last tile on my child’s last day of school, which felt fitting–coming to the end of this particular project does feel satisfying and complete, like finishing a grade in school. And now I’m ready to spend the summer emptying my head out again. 

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