The MAMF March 2026 Facebook Banner

This month MAMF is focusing on finding inspiration in hard times.

As an artist, I subscribe to the belief that when times get tough we make more art. I find inspiration in artmaking and finding that flow that occurs when I lose myself in an art project, lose track of time, and connect with something bigger than myself.

This is not unique to me, nor even just to those of us who claim “artist” as a vocation. During WWII, when Japanese Americans were interned in concentration camps right here in the United States of America, they found inspiration in hard times by recycling their trash into art. Called the Art of Gaman, these beautiful pieces of art are a testament to the durability of the human spirit and creativity that defies persecution or captivity.

Similarly, during WWI soldiers in trenches with time on their hands gathered spent shell casings of all types and sizes and made art out of those. They made crucifixes, matchboxes, ashtrays, letter openers, and decorative items of all kinds to pass the time. Others engraved designs on their canteens, or decorated their helmets. These handicrafts have been dubbed “trench art.”

Art as an antidote to war or other difficult circumstances is a timeless practice that provides us with insight into the creativity endemic to the human spirit.

That should be an inspiration to us all in any time period, in any circumstance, as we experience our own difficult situations.

The images in this month’s banner come from the following sources:

• WWI Soldier Writing in the Trenches
  W. Rider-Rider – Imperial War Museums
  https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21506/wwi-soldier-writing-in-the-trenches/
• 159 Trench art Images: PICRYL – Public Domain Media Search Engine Public Domain Search
  German Military Activities and … description · Trench Art (Shell Casings, Canteens, Mess Kits, Souvenirs), World War I, Western Europe….
  https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/topics/trench+art

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