diabetes art day 2011

Last year L and I participated in the first Diabetes Art Day, an event created by Lee Ann as a way for people affected by diabetes to express their feelings in an artistic and ultimately therapeutic fashion. You can find my contribution from last year here.

I have such fond memories of L and I creating art side by side last year, so I asked her if she was interested in participating again. But she said she was too busy with the beginning of the school year and soccer and everything. Wah wahhhh. Maybe next year. I didn't let that stop me from getting my art on.

I had an idea to use the many (many!) inserts we get in each box of diabetes supplies. For some reason I thought of paper doll chains. It seems so simple and obvious that I can't imagine someone hasn't already done something similar for their D art project. If you have and you're out there, please consider this my apology/hat-tip. :)

So I made my paper dolls. Then I colored them in, to give them some definition from one another. That was a suggestion from John. He was great to bounce ideas off of. (You can click on all the pics to make them bigger.)

we are the same, but different. and we're all connected.

Then I found a circular pattern for paper dolls, which I really loved, so I made one from that, and added the World Diabetes Day symbol.

representing kids and adults with diabetes here and around the world.

Having created all the elements of the piece, I needed to find a way to present them so my message was clear. I struggled with this aspect the most, until John suggested that I create an interlocking circle with the colorful paper figures, so that they were engaged in a "group hug" of sorts. With all of them standing together, they were strong enough to keep one another steady, as well as support others.

we get to
carry each other

Thanks to Lee Ann for D Art Day, thanks to John for seeing the bigger picture, and thanks to my network of paper dolls for having my back.