Episode 8: Inside the Hero’s Journey - with Constance Moore
Constance with her first illustrated children’s book! It’s available at your favorite bookshop. (Here’s where I got my copy.)
A new book, a 100-day project... and human nature to examine.
You know that feeling when you do something brave — post your artwork on social media, or sing your first solo in class, or read your poem to a room of 30 people — and your whole body is charged with adrenaline? And then your brain is trying to figure out why it was such a big deal (because in one sense it wasn’t) but your soul is soaring and doesn’t care about the “why”?
Yeah, us too.
There were two main topics I wanted to speak with Constance about, but on the way there we meandered into the fertile territory of creative courage and the hero’s journey. If you’ve struggled to find your voice and use it out loud — or to figure out what you want to say in the first place — you’ll find empathy, encouragement, and some helpful tips for starting (!) as we tell our stories. And share some good belly laughs.
Constance celebrated the “book birthday” this month of her first children’s book (Brown: The Many Shades of Love, written by Nancy Johnson James and illustrated by Constance Moore). Woohoo! I wanted to get a behind-the-scenes look at that process, and also speak with her about the 100-day art project on the topic of VOTING that’s been captivating me each day on Instagram.
I loved this conversation and I think you will, too. So pull a chair up to the virtual kitchen table and listen in as we decompress our wildfire anxieties, try our hand at land acknowledgment, wax philosophical about the state of the world, and struggle to find our reading glasses. Enjoy!
Episode Notes:
If you want to cut to the chase, here’s a rough breakdown of our conversation, with links to relevant places:
Intro
00:38 - LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT (learn more here)
05:36 - How we’re dealing with WILDFIRE (and other) ANXIETIES from our homes in Oregon and California
10:43 - Building EMPATHY in stressful times
12:25 - Advice for consuming THE NEWS
16:06 - Constance’s 100-day art project about VOTING (find it here)
19:55 - Tips for STARTING your project or new endeavor
28:13 - The HERO’S JOURNEY in real life, and all about BEING BRAVE
35:55 - Thoughts on HUMAN NATURE
45:00 - How her BOOK project came about
52:20 - It sounds like we’re done at this point, but wait! There’s more!
She’s exploring my studio over Zoom. (Artists — we can’t help it.)
53:43 - Then she describes the ART GALLERY she hosted (pre-COVID) in her small apartment.
You can find Constance at her website: constancemoore.com, or at these three places on Instagram:
@cmoorearte
@morejamstories
@cmoore.homegallery
The mythology storytellers I refer to are Clarissa Pinkola-Estés and Michael Moore. Check out their work!
Finally, here’s us Zooming, which included some show-and-tell.
Show and Tell: Constance with a painted postcard of AOC as part of her VOTE 100-day project. Behind me you can see the painting she’s asking about at the end of our conversation.
A big thank-you to Constance for joining me on the Accidental Muralist Podcast. You can subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts here.
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Until next time, keep making stuff, sharing it, and healing the world! 🖐🏽 ❤️ 🌍
Pam