The horror… The horror.
Seems like there’s a lot of it around, these days. From pandemics and war to corruption, lies and the death of truth, it’s hard not to feel like we’re watching the end of the world in real time, while (as a popular meme says) somehow still having to go to work.
Welcome to the apocalypse.
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I believe in staying informed about what’s going on in the world. But, doing so has been hard on the ol’ “reason to keep getting out of bed in the morning” reserves lately. Everything seems terrible. Mostly because it is.
I felt the need to do something about that (for my own mental health and to try to inject something good into the world), and realized that the things that feed me and keep me sane usually revolve around creativity and art in all its forms.
I am not an artist by any stretch, but in addition to my love for consuming and enjoying others’ art, I do like to dabble in making art, despite not being very good at it. Finding the time and making myself do that is sometimes a struggle, and I do better when I’m given parameters - an assignment, a theme, some kind of structure, and maybe even a deadline.
I asked a couple of friends if they’d be interested in joining me in committing to weekly art assignments or “missions” as our own way of being defiant in the face of the apocalypse and its horrors. They stupidly said “yes.”
So, now we’re taking turns assigning art projects each Thursday, with our submissions due the following Thursday. The point isn’t necessarily to make “good” art - it’s just to commit to doing something creative with some regularity, and to enjoy seeing the art that others create.
If, like us, you feel the need for something fun and creative amongst the horror, you’re more than welcome to join us.
You’ll find the “rules” (loose as they may be) below.
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Each Thursday, a new “mission” (art assignment) will be posted below.Participants can devote as much or as little time and effort as they want and/or can afford that week. Spend five minutes jotting something on a napkin if that’s all you have time or energy for, or get carried away with a project and spend days on it - any amount of effort is welcome.
The point is not necessarily to make good art – it’s just to be accountable enough to others that you force yourself to make art of some kind each week, to share it with others, to get to enjoy others’ art, etc.
No one has to give any critique or suggestions or feedback at all. Of course you’re welcome to tell someone you really like their work, but this is not about criticism or even artistic feedback - it’s just for fun.
Submissions are due each Thursday by 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), but you can send them earlier that day or even earlier that week if you want.
For now (until/unless I come up with a better vehicle), projects are submitted by email to artpocalypsethursdays@gmail.com.
Attach a JPEG or PDF file of your artwork (if the assignment was written work, you could paste it in the body of the email instead of attaching, if you prefer).Along with your submission, include your name or (preferably) an alias you want to go by (Some of us feel more comfortable posting our art publicly under an alias instead of our actual names and, besides, it’s more fun that way). Bonus points if your alias is a reference to the movie Apocalypse Now.
Submission of your art is considered permission to include it on this website and/or associated social media accounts.
Don’t want to have your art viewed by the public? (even under an alias?) Totally understandable. Feel free to lurk and just enjoy what others create, or use the weekly missions to create art for yourself that you don’t share with us.
Submissions will be posted on this site for all to view - hopefully sometime on the Thursday they are due - perhaps slightly later when I’m busy. :)
The Missions:
Third Anniversary Triptych: March 6-20, 2025
The Mission: In honor of the third anniversary of Artpocalypse Thursdays, create a triptych using any medium you like…
Best Picture(s): February 27-March 6, 2025
The Mission: To celebrate the Academy Awards this week, pick one of this year’s Best Picture nominees and take photos inspired by that film. Arrange them into a collage (digital or print) that speaks to you...
Sketch a Show: February 20-27, 2025
The Mission: Using pencil or pen, sketch a scene from your current favorite TV show - preferably a scene iconic enough to easily identify which show you are sketching...
Roses & Violets: February 13-20, 2025
The Mission: Write a poem or poems that start with the line “Roses are red, violets are blue” - the more creative you go from there, the better...
Soap Carving: February 6-13, 2025
The Mission: Carve a bar of soap into a sculpture of your choosing...
Real Life Rothko: January 30-February 6, 2025
The Mission: Make your own art in the style of Mark Rothko’s color field paintings by finding things in the world around you that mimic his abstract expressionist style of rectangular regions of color - photograph them, paint with them, or use whatever method you like to create your real life Rothko...
Junk Mail Collage: January 23-30, 2025
The Mission: Using pieces of mail you would normally discard, make a collage or similar piece of art...
Statement through Contrast: January 16-23, 2025
The Mission: Take photos of contrasting ideas or subjects and arrange them together to make a statement...
Winter Playlist: January 9-16, 2025
The Mission: We haven’t done music in a while, so for this week’s assignment, curate a winter playlist that captures the essence of your winter mood or just features favorites you like to listen to this time of year. Submit a link to your list via Spotify or other app, or just send the titles and artists for me to try to put together and share with the group...
Snow: January 2-9, 2025
The Mission: Create snow art - art made from snow, art about snow, art about how much you hate snow - whatever. Use any medium you like, from prose to photos to paint to whatever you can imagine, but bonus points if you use actual snow...
New Year Care: December 19, 2024-January 2, 2025
The Mission: In past New Year assignments, we’ve focused on intention setting and your mantra for the next year. This year I think we all know on some level things will be rough, given the state of the world at the moment. So for this assignment, make art of your choice that depicts how you plan to take care of yourself and others in the coming year. Happy holidays, and happy - or at least peaceful - new year to you all...
Synonym Roles: December 12-19, 2024
The Mission: Write a synopsis of your favorite holiday TV special or movie, or re-write your favorite Christmas carol, using synonyms for the obvious words and plot points to make your synopsis accurate, but funny. (i.e., for Frosty: An anthropomorphized frozen precipitation sculpture…)...
Wrapping Paper Decoration: December 5-12, 2024
The Mission: Making use of what you (hopefully - if not, hurry up!) have around the house these days: Use wrapping paper to create some kind of holiday decoration for your home...
Fake Nature: November 1-December 5, 2024
The Mission: Make something that looks like it came from nature using materials that definitely are not natural...
Halloween Scene: October 24-31, 2024
The Mission: For Halloween, recreate a scene from your favorite scary movie, using whatever medium you like - draw, paint, sculpt, collage, diorama, whatever...
Street Art: October 10-24, 2024
The Mission: Take a picture or several pictures of street art you see around you this week. Write a short poem inspired by what you saw...
Inktober: September 26-October 10, 2024
The Mission: Jake Parker created Inktober as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits by creating a drawing in ink every day in October. We only have a week, so let’s make our assignment to make three ink drawings, as simple or complex as you want. Two rules: 1. Use black ink only. 2. Choose your three drawing subjects from the official list of 2024 Inktober prompts...
Vote!: September 19-26, 2024
The Mission: This week, renowned artist Shepard Fairey visited our town to install five wheat paste murals that encourage voting. For our next assignment, design a poster, flyer, or mural of your own that encourages people to vote...
Marker Nostalgia: September 12-19, 2024
The Mission: Relive your childhood in two ways by using markers (Crayola, Sharpie, whatever you’ve got) to make a drawing of a place or thing that you miss from when you were a kid...
Pop Art: September 5-12, 2024
The Mission: Create a piece of Pop Art, using imagery from popular culture, advertising, or other familiar materials. Use whatever artistic medium you like to create your art...