YESbots

My pal Gina turned me on to the work of Portland, Oregon artist Gary Hirsch, the creator of JoyBots - "A tiny (and sometimes giant) robot army programmed to bring you joy." Hirsch's bots are tiny talismans painted on the back of dominos. They can be left in random places for people to find, or given to people in need. He focuses on JoyBots and BraveBots (for children undergoing medical procedures).


As a teacher of creativity and improvisation, I decided to make YES!bots - the key rule in improvisation is to say "YES, and..." to whatever is presented to you. Participants in my workshops may feel inhibited, afraid of looking silly...so a YES!bot is a silly little reminder to say "YES!" and go for it!


I'm also highly influenced by Lu Ann Cahn's I Dare Me, in which she chronicles a year in which she did one new thing every single day. When I embarked on my own year of new things, I found that simply saying "YES!" to invitations and opportunities made it quite easy to come up with new experiences.


If you've come across one of my bots "in the wild", I'd love to hear from you!