Doings
I have been off on various adventure-like things over the past week.
I spent two days with my friend, Julie Dermansky. She lives on a former farm on fifty acres in Upstate New York. The barn is now a welding studio where she makes beautiful and hilarious metal sculptures and furniture. The chicken have been run out of the chicken house and now painting and ceramics gear fills the huge loft. I did lots of drawing of her taxidermy collection and her tools, shot photos of the fog-filled valley and threw sticks in to the river for Tess, her aging poodle. In the evening, we barbecued and talked about art. In the near future, I shall write more about Julie's work and the year she spent on a grant in Europe doing illustrated journaling.
By the way, Julie is selling her farm and much of the art, furniture and stuff she's collected. A lot of it is amazing and wild and well worth a look. I bought a taxidermy dog throw rug.
On Friday, we drove to Atlantic City, our car reeking from the two dozen garlic bagels I had brought along for the class to draw. We spent the day on the Boardwalk, sort of a convergence of three types of vileness: Times Square, 14th Street and Coney Island. The the skies opened and we dashed twenty block along the shore through torrential rains and were utterly soaked to the marrow (nothing like being in an air conditioned hotel room filled with heaps of wet clothes and several other damp people).
The Artiology conference I was attending featured about a dozen classes a day, most of them crafty, textile-y, embellishing paper and collaging sorts of things and I was a little intimidated that my 'students' wouldn't emerge from my tutelage with some perfectly crafted final project in hand to show to friends and neighbors. Journaling is in the end a lifelong endeavor and one rarely a accomplishes that much in a single day. Oh, and the Atlantic City Convention Center is frankly the last place you'd pick to spend the day drawing in , full of industrial-aesthetic columns and beams, and the occasional giant goldfish mobile to break up the monotony.
Armed with these excuses, I faced the nineteen erstwhile journal keepers. They were a mixed group — well, all but one were female — of varying degrees of ability, experience and enthusiasm. Some drew quite expertly, others cringed and moaned that they could never and would never be able to draw. Some seemed quite familiar with the whole Everyday Matters oeuvre while others knew me not from an Adam (one student approached me after lunch and said "Ooh, I was telling one of my friends about our class and she told me you were a celebrity!" How did it come to this?).
I began the class with a gaff: going around the room asking people to share about about themselves and what they hoped to accomplish. Two hours later, we got to work. We ran through a series of drawing exercises (drew and thankfully disposed of the bagels) and confidence seemed to rise sufficiently so that by the end of the day everyone was quite happily scattered around the convention center filling pages with drawings and writing down their thoughts in various ornamental ways. We also went through my huge satchels of illustrated journals, mine and others, which seemed to inspire rather than intimidate. I do hope that it was a help to some and that there are now a few newly-minted journalistas among us.
I'd very much like to try my hand at it again as I learned an awful lot in Miami and in AC and am distilling the key points further and further each time. We'll see if any one asks.
On Sunday, we drove home in the sunshine and went to Radio City Music Hall to attend the World premiere (red carpet, stars,etc) of the new Harry Potter movie. It was all very heady and the movie was by far the best one so far.
A record of my exploration into all aspects of drawing, illustrated journaling, creativity, and the inspiring aspects of art. By the author of "Everyday Matters," "The Creative License", and "An Illustrated Life" and other books.
Comments
The dog rug. I know, I know.
Posted by: Danny | May 24, 2004 10:06 AM
PLEASE have a journaling class in NYC...I will come if at all possible (meaning there is no previously scheduled work or VERY important personal commitment). My expectations would be to spend the day in an inspirational setting with inspirational people and materials and to come away a bit better at thinking through what I want to journal and a bit better at composing and executing it. I KNOW you will exceed this expectation in every way...and then we can have a real cocktail party.
Posted by: dana jenkins | May 24, 2004 10:32 AM
how strange... you've made me want to draw a pile of bagels.
where is julie going? why is she selling EVERYthINg??!!!
Posted by: soren | May 24, 2004 10:52 AM
"journalistas"!!!
wonderful, i love it!!
ooh, glo and i sooo wanted to go your class in A.C.!! (artiology is how we found you :) ) well, maybe next year! :)
Posted by: pixie | May 24, 2004 11:37 AM
I would love to know if you plan to teach - or facilitate, perhaps? - more classes. I would love to get to one! Please be sure to let us know of any, as I'm certain there are many others who'd want to attend.
Posted by: Lee | May 24, 2004 11:52 AM
My comments (as a student in your class at Artiology) are posted separately. You will see that I did not consider it a "gaff" that you went around the room and our introductions took two hours.
I love your sketch of Caesar's and Trump Plaza, the definitive view in my opinon of AC!
Posted by: Rita | May 24, 2004 12:19 PM
Yes, have a class in NYC. I will come to your class if afforable. I am looking forward to it. : )
Thanks Dana for your great suggestion. Danny, please consider it.
Happiness,
Gail
Posted by: gail | May 24, 2004 12:53 PM
Danny, have you seen these?
Boxing Squirrels at Castle Ward
Posted by: Marisa | May 24, 2004 08:35 PM
Artistry aside, I find the dog rug disturbing. Are you going to walk on it? That was once someone's pet - hopefully it was loved. It's remains should be respected. You knew you'd get at least one negative comment, didn't you?
Posted by: Suzanne | May 25, 2004 03:17 AM
That dog rug is so sad it's horrible. What on earth made you take it, of all the things you could have chosen?
Posted by: dosali | May 25, 2004 09:42 PM
If you have a class in Oklahoma, I'm there.
Posted by: dosali | May 25, 2004 09:55 PM
Come to CT too!!
Posted by: Kim | May 26, 2004 10:52 AM
I found your site through Mike Daisey's, and with each scroll through the archives, I've been developing a plan to get off my sofa and run out to get a notebook (maybe a couple - one to carry around, one to keep at home) and some pens, and start one of them 'arty' journals. And then, thinking back through some of my recent experiences, I wondered how I would draw the 'Harry Potter' premiere--not the show itself, which I wasn't lucky enough to see--but the throngs of screaming teens with their signs, and the faces of the young actors, who seemed so small in front of all the grasping hands and flashing bulbs...and just then I read of your having gone to the premiere and I thought that was a neat little synchronicity.
Posted by: Ginger | May 27, 2004 03:00 PM