Friday, July 07, 2006

Does a good art class make you want to do your thing or their thing?

I did this spread in a class with Juliana Coles (www.meandpete.com). I adore her passion. I am in lust with her supersized art journals. I love that she breathes art journaling as freedom/ugly/true/art with "art" in the formal sense of the word as kind of the least important of the goals.
So, I did this spread in the second class I took with her. The first time I took her class, it triggered me in such a way that I had to get up leaving, in tears. I am not sure that I feel like a class of that size (20ish people) in a hotel conference room is the best place for this kind of intensity to be explored. I let myself go there, and I tear easy enough. But it took away a little from my experience and ability to make art at the art convention, and I think I wish it might have been different.
But I went back for more, because despite the tears, I enjoy Julianna and I enjoy art journaling. The second class I took was at A Little Bazaar, and was thematic and not quite as intensive. Her classes are pretty structured/coached, and this part isn't my style. I think they are meant to tap in to something, especially the "fast" sessions in which students pass/add things quickly to the paper. The work I've done in these classes has been the least favorite of all my art journal pages, and I haven't used much of the technique gained in her class again. Most of my positive experiences from her classes comes from sharing art journaling as a group, seeing her journals, and seeing journals of other class members.
So this spread, above, is actually one I did between "assignments" in JC's class. The actual work I did in her class I've painted back over, for the most part, because I haven't been thrilled with it- mostly because it felt forced versus my authentic voice. In the spread above, I photocopied various things, such as my hand, to which I applied real nail polish. Got to be girly sometimes, huh?

1 comment:

  1. Hi Melanie. I am reading all your posts and want to comment on this one. I am signed up for Julianna's class at Art & Soul this October. Have never had a class from her before but like you I find her journals intriguing. I love your pages. Journalling means so much to me and I see that intensity in your pages too. I am interested in how you will use this in classes in the future and also in the fact that your mom is in the paper arts biz. I hope you meet you some day. In the meantime, thank you so much for making yourself available online. It really serves to inspire others (like me!)

    ReplyDelete