Raw Art Journals--We don't find meaning, we make meaning.
Book Reviews 2
See book reviews for Journalution, Making Memory Books by Hand, and CD review for Snakeskin Violin
PoemCrazy
Freeing your life with words
By Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge
If poetry has always seemed elusive and not accessible, this is the book for you. Wooldridge invites you into a delightful, surprising world of fun and laughter, wonder and delight. And yes, it is the world of poetry. She finds poetry in unexpected places--in grocery stores and parking lots, and in everyday life.
Wooldridge doesn't leave you behind in academic dust, either. She shows you how poetry is constructed by example and exercises that you can't resist. Wordpools, lies, exaggerations have a part in her poetry, and you begin to feel you can write, too. And you will. Maybe just a short one, on a Post-It note, maybe a few lines in a journal. And all of a sudden you will discover that poetry is something you can handle, you can manage, and it has always been a part of your journey.
Her stories make words have meaning, have rhythm, have strength. And by the time you reach the end of the less than 200 pages, you will be writing because you want to.
PoemCrazy
Freeing your life with words
By Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge
If poetry has always seemed elusive and not accessible, this is the book for you. Wooldridge invites you into a delightful, surprising world of fun and laughter, wonder and delight. And yes, it is the world of poetry. She finds poetry in unexpected places--in grocery stores and parking lots, and in everyday life.
Wooldridge doesn't leave you behind in academic dust, either. She shows you how poetry is constructed by example and exercises that you can't resist. Wordpools, lies, exaggerations have a part in her poetry, and you begin to feel you can write, too. And you will. Maybe just a short one, on a Post-It note, maybe a few lines in a journal. And all of a sudden you will discover that poetry is something you can handle, you can manage, and it has always been a part of your journey.
Her stories make words have meaning, have rhythm, have strength. And by the time you reach the end of the less than 200 pages, you will be writing because you want to.
1000 Journals Book
1000Journals DVD
Here's the story: In June of 2000, a graphic designer, known in this project as Someguy, had an idea for a collaborative art project. He would distribute 1,000 blank journals, allow people to fill them in any way they wanted to, and return them to him.
According to Someguy's story, "In August of that year, I began distributing blank journals around San Francisso. I left them in bar bathrooms, at cafes, and on the bus, and gave them to friends and strangers. Each journal contained instructions inviting participants to contribute someting to the ournal, and then to pass it along to someone else."
He had no idea if the journals would ever return. But he started a website on which people could post their journal artwork and sign up to have a journal sent to them when they returned.
What happened next was the topic of a fascinating documentary. (The purchase link for the DVD is below.) People who found the books eagerly looked forward to leaving their mark. Faced with filling a blank page, some filled it eagerly, some couldn't decide how to fill it. Many had trouble sending the journal onto the next person. (Artists frequently have trouble letting their work go into the world without adult supervision.)
Because the books traveled to every state in the union and into 53 countries worldwide. People began to add rules to the journals. "Finish them in 24 hours and pass them on." "You have two weeks." And then, some artists decided they didn't like the writing of others, painted over the pages and added their own artwork. Some people who got the journals wrote angry, damaging entries to previous artists and sent the book back to the original artist. The documentary covers it all--the joy, the sadness, the weird rationalizations.
The book is the same size as the journals, and is full of color spreads of the creativity of people who found and filled the books. It has stitched entries along with photographs, writing, confessions, collages and raw art. The artwork is preceeded by an explanation and an explanation of what happened to the journals the author could track down and retrieve. Most of them are still circulating. This is a wonderful book illustrating an amazing collaborative art project.
1000Journals DVD
Here's the story: In June of 2000, a graphic designer, known in this project as Someguy, had an idea for a collaborative art project. He would distribute 1,000 blank journals, allow people to fill them in any way they wanted to, and return them to him.
According to Someguy's story, "In August of that year, I began distributing blank journals around San Francisso. I left them in bar bathrooms, at cafes, and on the bus, and gave them to friends and strangers. Each journal contained instructions inviting participants to contribute someting to the ournal, and then to pass it along to someone else."
He had no idea if the journals would ever return. But he started a website on which people could post their journal artwork and sign up to have a journal sent to them when they returned.
What happened next was the topic of a fascinating documentary. (The purchase link for the DVD is below.) People who found the books eagerly looked forward to leaving their mark. Faced with filling a blank page, some filled it eagerly, some couldn't decide how to fill it. Many had trouble sending the journal onto the next person. (Artists frequently have trouble letting their work go into the world without adult supervision.)
Because the books traveled to every state in the union and into 53 countries worldwide. People began to add rules to the journals. "Finish them in 24 hours and pass them on." "You have two weeks." And then, some artists decided they didn't like the writing of others, painted over the pages and added their own artwork. Some people who got the journals wrote angry, damaging entries to previous artists and sent the book back to the original artist. The documentary covers it all--the joy, the sadness, the weird rationalizations.
The book is the same size as the journals, and is full of color spreads of the creativity of people who found and filled the books. It has stitched entries along with photographs, writing, confessions, collages and raw art. The artwork is preceeded by an explanation and an explanation of what happened to the journals the author could track down and retrieve. Most of them are still circulating. This is a wonderful book illustrating an amazing collaborative art project.
FoolsGold: Making Something From Nothing And Freeing Your Creative Process.
By Susan G. Wooldridge
Ten years after she wrote Poemcrazy, Wooldridge returns to add creativity to your life. She writes from a different perspective for this book. Having just lost her father and still suffering from a broken marriage and a subsequent romance, it would be easy to forgive her if she was self indulgent and weepy. But then she wouldn't be Susan Wooldridge.
Instead, she packs inventive and remarkable word considerations, games and treats into 48 chapters. And there is a lot more. Foolsgold is the work of an alchemist who takes the dross of life and changes it into the gold that makes meaning and brings worth to our lives. After all, before she was Susan Wooldridge she was Susan Goldsmith.
She does more than charm readers with words, she adds collage, found objects raised to the everyday sacred. In this book, everything can be transformed by our seeing and creativity.
It's another book for the timidly creative, or those who aren't sure how to handle their creativity.
By Susan G. Wooldridge
Ten years after she wrote Poemcrazy, Wooldridge returns to add creativity to your life. She writes from a different perspective for this book. Having just lost her father and still suffering from a broken marriage and a subsequent romance, it would be easy to forgive her if she was self indulgent and weepy. But then she wouldn't be Susan Wooldridge.
Instead, she packs inventive and remarkable word considerations, games and treats into 48 chapters. And there is a lot more. Foolsgold is the work of an alchemist who takes the dross of life and changes it into the gold that makes meaning and brings worth to our lives. After all, before she was Susan Wooldridge she was Susan Goldsmith.
She does more than charm readers with words, she adds collage, found objects raised to the everyday sacred. In this book, everything can be transformed by our seeing and creativity.
It's another book for the timidly creative, or those who aren't sure how to handle their creativity.
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