Journalfest Site Is Live!!

The majority of the work I have been doing over the past few months is the brand new Journalfest site. Since this is a new site I got to design it from scratch again and Im really excited about it. The journal itself is hand drawn by me and all the collaged pieces are taken from my mom (Teesha), my dad (Tracy) and my journals. 

I have also posted a image of the bookmark I designed to promote the retreat. I will also be teaching two new classes at this retreat, Brainsponging and The Travel Journal. I think this is going to be a refreshingly different, more intimate retreat that I absolutely can't wait for.

Speaking of which, Artfest is in one week! My favorite time of year!

Erwin Wurm

So I have been on a path of being fascinated with spontinaeity and trying to learn and explore it as much as I can (as seen in part with my spontaneous bread blog). I was reading an article about spontaneous art tonight and discovered a new artist that I immeadiately fell in love with, Erwin Wurm an Austrian artist. I dont know much about him other than the images I have seen off what I am guessing is his website and other sites but this is what wikipedia had to say about him and his work:
"Since the late 1980's he has developed an ongoing series of "One Minute Sculptures," in which he poses himself or his models in unexpected relationships with everyday objects close at hand, prompting the viewer to question the very definition of sculpture. He seeks to use the "shortest path" in creating a sculpture -- a clear and fast, sometimes humorous, form of expression. As the sculptures are fleeting and meant to be spontaneous and temporary, the images are only captured in photos or on film."

My Hike: Week 2

I went on another hike today, the same trail as before because it's super close to my house and really beautiful. I've been really enjoying this time seperated out to just think, with no distractions or worries that I need to be focusing on something else more urgent. I decided that I'm going to make "My Hike" a weekly feature on my blog as a way to share with you these thoughts and ideas and welcome any feedback or discussions that may arise.

What was on my brain most this hike was the idea of giving yourself a project or series to develop yourself creatively in some way. An example of this would be my Spontaneous Bread blog. I started this blog to get myself to draw on a daily basis, in a set time-limit: 30 minutes, and to be completely spontaneous, no prior thought until I start moving the pen on a piece of paper. The obvious reasons for doing a project like this is to develop my drawing skills, my spontaneity, and to develop a huge body of work that could possibly seed larger ideas and projects. Which is all why I picked this specifically. However the main goal of doing a project like this is to push yourself to the point of discovery, doing something over and over again you will inevitably learn something that you could of never discovered otherwise.

My last project was my journal (page 1 shown above). When I initially started it in 2005 I decided for this journal I was going to set up parameters for myself. These being that I would use mostly pen and ink, b/w, because this was the medium I was the most into at the time, and I would fill up every inch of space on each page. This density of the work on a page is what resulted in my journal taking me 4 years to complete even though I worked on it practically every day. In the end I had discovered what I considered was "my style" and "the way I journal". I had even forgotten that the only reason I do have "the way I journal" was because of these initial parameters I had set-up that had become something much more than that over the years. I knew my journal was done the moment I realized I could get nothing more out of it, that I had pushed and pushed and pushed this project until it was squeezed dry and I was ready to move on to the next thing. I am currently trying to figure out what I am going to set-up for my next journal, but I believe its going to do something with color because this is an area I know I need to push myself in (I know color theory like the back of my hand, but I have done very little color pieces).

In the end the reason I do anything is to understand creativity, the visual world and my own creative instincts. I dont know what further projects I will create for myself but I know there will be lots!

My Hike

Today was a very interesting day. I've been working on the site for my mom's new retreat, Journalfest, all day long. My brain was getting seriously fried and I was in a state of complete non-thought. My friend suggested some fresh air might help, and so I went out for a hike, something I have not done in a long long time. I found a trail near my house and started to explore it. It took me all the way to the top of the mountain where I sat for about 40 mintutes and let my brain get washed away in my environment. Allowing myself to get out of my own head and be entirely and completely in this outside one. It's amazing how powerful something as simple as a hike can be, and while I was up there it was like my brain could finally think again, it was no longer cluttered.

After clearing of my mind, I started gettng heavily inspired by being in an environment you can interact with and explore. Allowing your mind to flow with each new thing you see and every sound you hear. There was a tree that had fallen and the roots created a passageway over the path (pictured above) and just the act of walking through this natural gate made me feel like I was entering an entire new world. I realized that I have a huge interest in creating not just a story for one's mind to get lost in, but a true three dimensional environment that involves your whole being body and mind. The story itself is formed only when an indiviual experience's it.

Obviously these thoughts are in the beginning form but I'm excited at the possiblity of where this may lead me. I would love to start creating some interactive art sculptures and eventually if I ever had the space and the resources an entire interactive world.