📣phase 1 is ACTIVE! our first pop-up event will take place on 11/2 in Manassas, VA. click here to RSVP (or share if you're not local)!

{ meraki fusion } started as a personal art project. as a late-blooming artist with aphantasia, i tend to use music in place of my nonexistent mind's eye. i avoided art for a long time because i knew i could never "see" what i wanted to make. still lifes? never gonna happen when the second you look away from the subject, all you have is a running description of what it looked like playing in your head like a soundtrack.

i had been listening to music as background noise for a while, but it wasn't until a specific song came on (Medusa, by SkyDxddy) that i found myself fully immersed in transforming my own reaction to the song into a work of art. i found myself singing along, dancing, creating sharp angry lines to the beat of the chorus, even crying at one point as i tried to pour the injustice and misogyny of the Medusa story (both literal and figurative ones) out of my soul and onto the canvas.

but here's the thing - i'm almost 40, married with 3 kids, paying bills and dealing with inflation and car repairs and DENTAL PLANS and everything else that comes with this subscription to adulthood i unfortunately signed up for by being alive. i'm not going to sit here and pretend like i'm trying to raise a million dollars so i can open a fancy art gallery and never work a day in my life again.

what i REALLY want to do with this idea is turn it into something everyone can enjoy. i want to open a studio or a workshop (or any space, really) where others can walk in, choose a canvas and playlist, and see what happens. we're not all trying to recreate the same piece, but we are all trying to create a piece with meraki (the act of putting soul, creativity, love, and something of yourself into your work). the "fusion" aspect refers to blending music and movement as tools of inspiration, not just background noise or restless energy.

most importantly, i want { meraki fusion } to be a place that combines all the best aspects of paint and sip, silent disco, rage rooms, and those spontaneous dance floors patrons always seem to create whenever there's live music at a winery or brewery. i want all of my fellow late-blooming and/or anxious creatives to have a third option between "sit still and paint what the lady tells you to paint" or "destroy your eardrums and shoes at an EDM glow party". i want someone who never knew they loved painting to make that discovery while scream-sobbing along to Delilah Bon or falling into the rhythm of a step dance they always wanted to try but the fear of going viral in a bad way held them back.

follow @thepromptedcanvas on IG and { meraki fusion - paint your heart, shake your soul } on facebook for local updates!

{ meraki fusion } paint your heart, shake your soul

By Katie Stanton

{ meraki fusion } paint your heart, shake your soul

experience a one-of-a-kind form of creative expression: 1/3 dance party, 1/3 paint party, 1/3 emotional release