Monday, April 11, 2016

Four States in Six Days

A couple weeks ago I was even busier than my normal schedule. I touched ground in four states in six days.

Early Friday morning I got on a plane to head to Plant City, Florida with a pit-stop in North Carolina to be with Plant City's First Baptist Church for Holy Weekend. As I landed around noon in Florida, the expected sunshine was missing and instead there was a torrential downpour. But it was still way warmer than the 32 degree climate that I had left behind in Kansas!

Annika Wooton, Miss Kansas, Miss Wooded Hills
The worship pastor and friend of mine, Ken, picked me up at the airport with his son, Ashton. I was immediately welcomed into the Plant City community and made to feel at home. Throughout the weekend, I did a live painting Friday night for the Good Friday service, as well as paintings for Easter services Saturday evening and Sunday morning before hopping on a plane back home to Kansas.

When I do live painting gigs, I get to meet new people and communities. The people in Plant City embraced me with open arms. I so enjoyed talking to the different families and people who I was performing with onstage, riding in their car as they volunteered to drive me to the church, or those who came up after the service to meet me and talk further about my art. I truly had so many connections and meaningful conversations, it's hard to believe I was only down there for less than three days!

One of my favorite things after I do live paintings is hearing what people see in the paintings before the reveal or how my art had an impact on them. The congregation was so receptive of my addition of live painting to the worship service and many had stories to tell of their experience with the arts.

I came back from Florida feeling refreshed and full of joy and love. Then I had less than 24 hours - which happened to be my birthday - to finish and turn in two projects and sit through critiques before I turned around and drove out to St. Louis for ShutterFest 2016.

Annika Wooton, Miss Kansas, Miss Wooded Hills

As I arrived to the hotel room that already had four people scattered about on Monday night, I had no idea what I should expect for the following two days.

ShutterFest is an UN-Conference that is "about growing as an artist and being around like-minded people who share the same love and passion" for photography. With Union Station as the stomping grounds, there were classes and sessions with peers and leading professional photographers and educators as well as spontaneous and scheduled shoots of all kinds.

Annika Wooton, Miss Kansas, Miss Wooded Hills

Annika Wooton, Miss Kansas, Miss Wooded Hills
I was there as a model and was chosen to model for two classes on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. One was a fashion hacks class and the other was Dark Arts - both taught by photographer, Sarah Clements. I was styled for the first class in a red curtain for a dress, poinsettia flowers in my hair, and makeup completely done with just a tube of lipstick. For the Dark Arts class, I got to levitate. For both classes, a group of maybe 30 photographers were there to learn from Sarah and make cool pictures.

Aside from the two classes, I popped in and out of the hotel room that was cluttered with wardrobe, wigs and makeup, changing outfits and went back and forth to Union Station to connect with photographers. From morning till night, I networked and met so many creatives and made tons cool pictures on the fly.


Annika Wooton, Miss Kansas, Miss Wooded Hills


It was energizing too be completely surrounded by likeminded creative people in this surreal hub; To be creating and improvising and not knowing who you were working with next was truly invigorating.  I made genuine connections with photographers from California, Missouri, New York, Virginia, Colorado, and probably more that I'm not even aware of. I made new friends. And I made some killer photos with really talented people.

Part of me was sad when I returned to Lawrence only to go right back to work at the dining hall in my hairnet and scrubs, but most of me was so thankful for those 6 days where I was reminded in Florida of the innate impact art can have on people and where I was fully immersed in the creative soul in St. Louis.


Looking forward to my next creative adventure,
Annika Wooton
Miss Wooded Hills 2016

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Creative Sprint

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to listen to a guest artist speak of a group of us from the Design School at KU. His name is Noah Scalin, and he challenged me to do a creative sprint.

Noah pioneered a 365 day challenge for himself where he made a skull per day out of anything he could think of and get his hands on. This creative practice went viral. From his experiences in the art world and after completing a year of making a unique skull every single day, he has issued the #CreativeSprint art game challenge to anyone who is willing to accept.

So what is it? It's literally a global art game for anyone to join in on. "It engages a diverse group of individuals, businesses, schools and community organizations in 30 consecutive days of making and sharing," as it says on the website - creativesprint.co .

I've chosen the theme of circles to explore for my creative sprint.

Annika Wooton, Miss Kansas, Miss Wooded Hills

To me, circles are pretty magical.

There's the thing where it's a never ending line representing infinity... or how people say, "if you love someone, put their name in a circle, not a heart, because hearts break and circles go on forever."... or circles of learning and circles of influence and the circle of communities that we are inevitably a part of.

That last thing - community - is a circle I am very fond of. I recognize very thoroughly that my success and progress in any field I am involved in is directly attributed to the communities who have invested in me and my passions. Equally, I made the active decision many times to engage with those who were investing in me so that I could learn as much as possible and also gain friends, mentors, and collaborators. I continually remind myself how thankful I am for the people I choose to surround myself with and think of ways I can use my talents to give back to them as well.

I am determined to be a life long learner and creator and to keep expanding my circles and the circle of influence I have among those I come in contact with.

Annika Wooton, Miss Kansas, Miss Wooded Hills

Back to the Creative Sprint - I challenged myself to photograph circles that are innately around us in nature, architecture, design...anything. The circle as a tool of design is influential in its own right. So while I open my eyes to absorb and share the circles I find as I go through these 30 days, they will serve as reminders and thought provokers on how I can expand and utilize the circles and communities I am a part of through innovation, creativity, and fellowship.

Follow my art Instagram page to keep up with my Creative Sprint and follow the #CreativeSprint hashtag on different social medias to see what other people are doing. If you want to start your own sprint, sign up and join us on their website!

Annika Wooton, Miss Kansas, Miss Wooded Hills

- Annika 
Miss Wooded Hills