What to do: Push boundaries
As I was looking through some old journals, I got a needed reminder about experimentation.
These scans are from an older journal — artwork done on a Mexico trip a few years ago. I mentioned when I posted some of my Mexico pages a few weeks ago that I had gone on this trip without taking a camera. That’s how serious I was about visual journaling at the time.
But, I didn’t just sketch and paint in my journal. At that time, I was so into visual journaling that I started to push the boundaries of what could or should be included in a journal. In a bound book. On paper, even. The spread above has shapes I made from some colored wire that I found. These are attached to the page with glue. Later in the book, I attached another wire sculpture to the page with stitches. It’s wonderful.
What happens when we push the boundaries between the expected and the unexpected? The possible and impossible? The traditional and non-traditional? We can end up with tin foil, popsicle sticks, and snippets of armature wire stitched into books (as above). Swatches of colored masking tape. A traced-around pair of scissors. We invite happy accidents. We shake off experiments that don’t quite work. We move on.
On this page, I remember I really wanted to include some of the Mexican coins in my journal. They were so beautiful — so much more artistic than our boring, patriarchal, American coins. I tried several ways (glue, tape, etc.) but each time, the coins fell out. So, instead, I made rubbings of the coins, cut them out and pasted them into the book. I’ll never forget the cafe where I sat as I worked on this. It’s not something I would have ever done before, but I was experimenting.
I don’t have other great words of wisdom on this today. As you can see, these pages were made almost 5 years ago. Today I feel somewhat overwhelmed by issues at work, the sort-and-purge project at my apartment, a complicated social life and (of all things) budgeting. But, I am reminded that sometimes experimenting — pushing the boundaries of what we are accustomed to — is a quick little pathway to freedom.
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I LOVE the coin rubbings! I used to do gravestone rubbings a million years ago and still have my super-crayons; I would not have thought to put them to this use though.
Comment by Sally — 14 May 2009 @ 1:39 pm
Experimenting is a very good thing. However, it requires discipline as well, or you may find yourself *just* experimenting :} I gave myself a year to play with new materials, processes and end results, and finally realized all the “new” things i was trying were still possible with my old favourites of needle (whether by hand or machine) and fabric and thread. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else and trying to keep up can be exhausting. I also found that because there was a new material didn’t mean i couldn’t do the same thing with the old standbys—new media and tools can get quite expensive, and i am very budget conscious :}That being said, if we didn’t let go once in awhile, with no expectations, things can get rather stultifying!
Looks to me like you were waaaaaay ahead of everyone else 5 years ago in experimenting with your journal.
Comment by arlee — 14 May 2009 @ 4:15 pm
Here, here! to pushing boundaries! A good thing to do when your in a rut. learning something new, sparks new ideas… For me just hitting the bookstore to find anything, inspires me to try new things… I’ll see something and think, hey! maybe I can do that! Then I run out of the store to go home and play…
Comment by V — 14 May 2009 @ 7:00 pm
I’m self-taught in all of my favorite media (fabric and stitching, collage, 3D soft sculpture)…and frankly, the processes in which I’ve had actual training (drawing and oil painting) are my weakest art skills. Being self-taught has meant, for me, that I fall in love with a material, bring home a little of it, and play. I might glance through a book about it or look for info on the Internet, but mostly I just experiment. It’s not about doing it correctly, but about having fun doing it. And limitations are a fabulous form of structure for me, because with too many choices, I freeze up and do nothing!
Working with kids has taught me many lessons about what it is to be an artist. Kids see a new material and immediately grasp its possibilities. They have no preconceptions about “what you are supposed to do” with fabric or cardboard or tissue paper–they just dive in and create.
Comment by Tracy — 15 May 2009 @ 1:16 pm