Every January, The Artists Gallery holds an exhibition called Fabulous Forgeries. It is my favorite! Our task is to copy a master’s work, create a new work in the style of the master, or add some sort of twist when we copy the original.
When your medium is altered book art, which is a relatively new art form, there are no old masters to copy! What is a person like me to do?
I turned to the book world and pondered the great masters of literature. There were so many to choose from! Shakespeare immediately came to mind, and everyone else seemed minor in comparison.
I found The Complete Works of William Shakespeare on line. What a beautiful tome! (It was actually a little hard to cut into, to be honest.) It’s carved with how I think a teenager would emote one of his most famous phrases:
Whenever I create a piece of art, I set an intention at the onset. It channels the creation process into a sort of prayer, if you will.
My past posts about what happens in the brain during this type of activity explain why the intention is so important. Whenever the brain is engaged in relaxed creative activity, it’s as if a portal is being opened to God and beyond. Setting an intention is ESSENTIAL to focus the activity and make it purposeful. (Check out the “brain science” category of my blogs if you want to read more.)
My intention with this book, all 1476 pages of it, was discern what my purpose is in the year 2017. What am I meant “to be” this year? Or “Not To Be?”
It would be nice to say that the answer hit me like a lightning bolt. But that’s now how it works.
Instead the answer is coming through small insights along the way. Right now I feel compelled to share the process behind the books so that you can learn and enjoy it as well.
That’s why I’m in the middle of creating an on-line class for how to create folded book art. Join me on Wednesday for the first step of that–a webinar where you’ll see the process explained, and you can try your own hand at making a book if you like. Soon after, my website will have a full video-course with all the nitty-gritty details about how to create this type of book art.
I hope you will give it a try. It’s actually not that hard! (Well, I do the hard part and then provide you the tools so that you can do the easy part.) So keep an open mind and tune in on Wed., February 1st at noon to see how these crazy book art pieces are made. You’ll be amazed once you see the basics of how it works.
And in the meantime, what are you meant “To Be” in 2017? (or not to be?)
