I am just finishing up a new "altered book", this book is from a big bag of stuff that my friend Kathleen gave to me along with a copy of a special book she had from her "young adult" reading days. Wikipedia defines an altered book as: " a form of mixed media artwork that changes a book from it original form into a different form, altering its meaning." It is a work of art, that I relate less to about altering and more about transforming. This new book is magical, and I have kept several pages of the book preserving some of the line drawings. I have colored, glittered, cut, pasted, glued all kinds of goodies that came from little stashes of Kathleen's. Souvenirs and memories, a few things that I pulled out a my "stash". For the first time, I am imagining a show. It would have altered books, collages, felted boxes and bowls, knitted accessories, and felted hats and jewelry, and poetry. The show would honor my art and creativity - and connect to yours. It's just a seed, germinating in the frozen deep within-ness of winter. So as I am imagining all the things I have made with my hands, I am getting ready to meet my sister writing group gals - to have a time to talk about what we want from our writing. I will get to talk about "the stories" that are inside of me, twinkling, vibrating, desiring to be told. I am aware of the 6 generations that I straddle in my life and how I want the #6 generation (my grandchildren) to have stories from the #1 generation (my great-grandparents). I want them to know, and to mix, and blend and shake them all of into a memory of me or the story, of how their Mom beams when we talk about something her and did when she was a kid. Oh praises for the frozen stillness of the winter, the movement from deep deep down. The blanket of white snow that makes for this wonderfully creative canvas of a Sunday honoring our most spiritually gifted creativity and art.
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