Journaling June

On Monday June 2nd 6pm at the Creative Access Art Center 500 S. 8th st. in Boise I will be part of a panel discussion on Art Journaling led by Dr. Kathleen Keys. 

Other panelists include Melissa Chambers, Lisa Cheney, Jeanette Ross, and Beau Van Greener.

 This event is free and open to the public. 

Everyone is invited to bring journals to share afterwards.

 Click here for the Facebook invite. 

  I have been creating in journals since 1995.

 Hope you enjoyed pursuing just a few of my journals and pages.

Treasures from my Aunt

This little metal book is only one inch, with a working hinge and clasp.

 Inside are some wonderful old photos from Europe.

I called me Aunt to find out the story behind it. She said there was no story. She had purchased it as a souvenir years ago on one of her travels.

Also, in the package was some old money that she said no longer had any value and that I could use  it in my art.

I noticed Pesos and Centavos from Japan. That was odd. So I looked them up. Those were from  Japanese Occupied Philippines during WWII.  My uncle, who is still alive was stationed there. He was invited back in 1955 as a guest of the state. My aunt said they sat on the front row and she remembered she wore a yellow dress which just happened to be the favorite color of one of the dignitaries and my aunt was recognized for wearing yellow!

 There was also money bought by my uncle's father as an investment. Due to Hyperinflation in the Weimer Republic 

...he lost all of his money.

There was even a mental disorder linked with this collapse of the money called Zero Stroke, people would just write endless rows of zeros. It is hard to fathom just how much the money devalued it went from one to one trillion paper marks per gold mark!

It was quite fascinating to research and find out some history I was not aware of, I was also glad I had the chance to talk to my aunt.

I have yet to decide how to incorporate the money into an art project. If you have any ideas please comment.

Thrift Store Fun

I love this place...a huge warehouse filled with goods that did not sell at the thrift store...last chance to help out the Idaho Youth Ranch...and they sell it by the pound. Perfect for assemblage projects. I bought an armful for under $2.00!

Poor rubber chicken!

My haul from the day. Three different thrift stores. I know it's not a very large haul...I am trying to show restraint as my whole assemblage theory is to use up what I already have. 

And then I received goodies from two of my husbands friends. This pile was all bike parts. (Which I need for my public art project coming up)

This stash of goodies was from a friend remodeling his home and has a 10 year old daughter.

 Now I have grown men saving stuff that could be used in an art project just like I used to have my students saving stuff.

Thanks guys!

The angst of a blog writer

As you may or may not have noticed I haven't posted in almost 2 months.

Thinking goes like this.

It's a lot of work. Does anyone even read it? Is it relevant? Does it help me?  and better yet does it help anyone else?

So while fretting over the question at hand,  "Do I want to continue my blog postings?" I received this email today:  I'd love to talk to you about art journaling--I hope to have an example for critique :-) I very much enjoyed your blog post about the book your daughter handed down to you. It helped me feel less intimidated. I know it doesn't have to be *perfect* but that white paper is really scary! 

When I responded that I appreciated her comment because I was thinking about giving up on my blog- she commented: Don't give up! It was just what I needed when I needed it. Thanks!

Well I think I have my answer!

Here are some new pages from my journal.

I like using maps in my journal while I am traveling. I like to take out the journal at the end of the day when everyone is sitting around visiting with each other. I am not good at sitting still so this is a good way for me to be a part of the group.

While traveling, the journal is also part diary with out being boring.

It's fun going through all the papers I collect and cut out what is useful for me to tell my story. It's also a good way for me to reuse items that would normally be thrown away. 

I hope I have inspired you, remember: don't give up!