8 Great Ways to Spend A Year

I've been doing a lot of research on yearlong creative projects lately and I thought I would share (in no particular order) some of my recent favorites and hopefully encourage more people to spend this coming year being creative …

Mask365:
Gary Lockwood in LA was inspired by my Skull-A-Day project to start making a piece of mask art every day for a year. The results, which range from illustration to functional sculpture, are consistently impressive. Be sure to check out his recent Nike and Converse masks made entirely from deconstructed shoes!

Burger365:
Gary's friend Charlton Yu also committed to doing a yearlong project at the same time. His project is filled with an dizzying array of solutions to how you can make a burger out of anything and everything. One of my recent favorites is his literal knuckle sandwich.

Weekly Reliquary:
My friend Tere Hernández-Bonét is an accomplished jeweler here in Richmond, Virginia and rather than commit to making something every day she's chosen to spend more time on larger pieces each week working with small found objects & cherished items and creating beautiful reliquaries for them. I particularly love one she made recently to hold one of cats' baby teeth!

Mailart365:
London based Andy Hoang decided that he didn't want to commit to making 365 pieces of mail art alone so he decided to corral 20 of his friends into doing it as well! There's so much work being posted every day on this group site it's hard to pick a favorite. Though of course I am partial to the pieces that my mom is making for it!

Year of Thanks:
Friends Karlin Lictenberger & Jaime Patterson are taking turns finding someone to publicly thank every day for a year. They're documenting their experiences along the way and so far they seem to be having a lot of fun. What I especially like about their fairly personal project is that it's a wonderfully simple idea that anyone can do right away.

Every Day Is Awesome:
My friend Paul Overton, the force behind Dude Craft, has decided that one blog isn't enough and has committed himself to writing 500 words each day in his attempt to make "every day as awesome as possible." He's off to a rollicking start and has already initiated many great conversations with his readers.

BBCX365:
Johnny Selman decided to create a poster a day for a year as part of his graduate thesis at Academy of Art in San Francisco. He's using headlines from the BBC news website as his source material and has already created an amazing body of work. Check out the compelling images that read like gorgeous protest posters for subjects ranging from Cholera in Haiti to Poaching in South Africa.

Napkin Moustache A Day:
I'm just waiting for friend Phil Ford's project to start a nationwide craze! Phil is wearing a napkin as a mustache at one meal every day for a year and his silly expressions and stories of baffled observers are priceless. The commitment is low and the results are hilarious, so seriously why aren't you doing this at your next luncheon?

Inspired yet?

And hey, if you've done a yearlong project or are in the midst of one, I'd love to hear about it and share it on my 365 blog!