Virginia Art and Soul Workshops
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Juliana Coles 9-4:30 Sunday/Monday	1124 - Reconstruction Era: Rebuilding the Self Through Shadow (2 Days)	[back to quicklinks] $ 270
Official Warning: This workshop can be emotionally intense and psychologically challenging for some. Please read the following description carefully. These courses are life altering and not recommended for those not interested in doing deep inner work. Dear Potential Builders: Discover Soul reconstructed and reclaimed from the bits and piece of self we have discarded along the way by combining journal writing exercises with art making assignments in the remarkable container of an unusual reconstructed artist book. ( a process created by Juliana Coles) Fear, a necessary survival instinct, is our constant companion, no matter how we pretend to ignore her. But by activity seeking her out, challenging her, through Visual Journaling and radical art making, we learn to act on her instincts rather than blocking them or shutting down, fighting and inner sabotage through self inflicted anger. With fear as our ally, we reveal her wisdom in the pages of our reconstructed Visual Journal. We go into the deep recesses of her hiding places: gently exposing them to the light of the page. We learn compassion for her when we hear her tiny child’s voice: we pay attention, comfort her and in doing so, learn to break down her misguided but protective illusions and reconstruct ourselves, in the context of an artist book, but now with a more genuine foundation. It’s time to journey to the deepest part of ourselves by challenging the unknown. The realm of the unknown, or shadow, really contains our authentic self. It’s time to develop that side by letting her voice speak. The Reconstruction Era relates to the rebuilding of the South after Internal Civil War. We are familiar with that dark side of ourselves- a place that would enslave others (or be enslaved) and treat human beings as unfeeling property. We now learn to value our shadow as fuel for expression & unlimited creativity, as we learn to rebuild our self, our life and personal history through art and words. Reconstruction begins with the symbolic removal of the pages or guts of a found book. We rebuild her from the garbage of our lost selves to create a unique artist book, not merely altered, but fully reconstructed. This aspect of the workshop is a real experience in letting go- in creating from nothing- and learning to trust our instinctual side that has been hidden. This is where we give up perfection and our need to control the outcome by allowing art to arrive, as opposed to contriving it or muscling it to be well-behaved or “nice” for some invented audience. The rest of the workshop is spent learning to hear this lost self through Visual Journaling exercises that will serve as life long self dialogue tools. Supplies: You will need: A found book (or 2 or 3!) that appeals to you any size larger than 5“ x 7“ any size thickness, and your travel art kit or favorite mixed media supplies. Please bring: your favorite glue - I love big UHU gluesticks, scissors, some brushes for your paints, a rag or two, and a jar for water. All Visual Journalist’s should have a set of rubber stamp letters. And I highly recommend Staz On stamp pads because we work so quickly. You will need acrylic paint- any brand, any color in at least two colors, one light one & one dark. You will need at least two brush markers in different colors- black would be good. A graphite pencil- regular old number two is fine, but if you can get to an art store get an ebony pencil, or a 6B, or a graphite stick (not charcoal)- just make sure that you have some wet items and some dry items. You will also need your metal cork backed ruler, self healing cutting board - at least 8.5 x 11. and a matte knife, utility knife, or exacto. (If you love imperfection, you can just use your scissors.) Collage: Bring a text book or poetry book to cut up and at least one magazine. You will also need some collage items in various textures that appeal to you (bring copies of things that are precious to you.) Each student will be required to bring a “Mystery Bag.” A plastic grocery bag or smaller will do. Some suggestions are collage items, paper, an old paintbrush that is all glued together, that orange paint you hate, stickers from when you were 14, Artist tools and supplies you no longer use or never liked, torn up pieces of your artwork that didn’t work out (no recognizable artwork, please) books to cut up, magazines, office supplies, sticks, markers, 2 inch chewed up pencils, you get the picture-sort of a grab bag. We will be using these mystery bags as part of a mixed media warm up assignment. What, and how much to bring, is up to you. Don’t worry about trying to include nice things- we’re looking more for garbage items. We all ready have our own nice supplies-we want your cast offs to really make us think! Please email Juliana Coles with any questions or concerns: meandpete@msn.com Check out meandpete.com

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