Found Poem-Mixed Media Workshop Highlights!

What fun!  I was honored and thrilled to present a found poem-mixed media workshop here in Beaufort last week, downtown at Coastal Art Supply, just a block from my studio. We had a full table with nine folks, with lots of earnest creating and snips of scissors. (This was a more intimate version of the Found Poem Makerspace workshop I presented in Bellingham, Washington, in the fall of 2016 with a few dozen children’s poets and other brave creative souls. Revisit that link for more of the step-by-step process.)

DSC07450 group shot workshop 2018 03 p a

Our text for finding poems, also serving as our substrate (surface) were Edu-cards from the 1960s or so.  I offered a choice of “shell” or “butterfly,” with complementary vintage bookplates, postage stamps, and bits of stamped brass bling. Of course, the actual subject of the poem and visual elements were up to each artist!  That’s the fun part.  The art (made in just two hours!) was tucked into a 5X7 mat, ready to pop into a frame.

Jill made this gorgeous piece:

©Jill W.

©Jill W.

take a hike

in the spring encountering

Every roadway while

butterflies

rise in clouds

Being strong intelligent

they have 

ability

are

successful

©Jill W.

Yes!  Butterflies as strong and successful!

Jill and Sierra creating mixed media magic!

Jill and Sierra create mixed media magic!

For her collage, Jill’s daughter Sierra conjured up WONDER, from an Edu-card with text about a shell.  (I’m featuring this poem over on my author blog for Poetry Friday, too!)

©Sierra W.

©Sierra W.

WONDER

grace    beauty   perfect

strange

oriental

But, let’s stop and think.  Maybe it is

a builder

for 

ideas.

©Sierra W.

I just love that – and the cool tones and mysterious palette Sierra chose to illustrate it.

Kim Poovey reads her found poem as her mom, Karen, adds finishing touches..

Kim Poovey reads her found poem as her mom, Karen, adds finishing touches..

I was thrilled to have Kim Poovey, author and historic reenactress, join the party!  She came with her creative mother, Karen. In fact, we ended up with three mother-daughter sets – an extra fun element to our creative afternoon. Can you tell Kim is a novelist from her workshop piece below? She picked some lovely language, including “…winged creatures/fairies arising/ nightly wanderings/Luna glow….”

©Kim Poovey

©Kim Poovey

Here’s one last sample from the day – ALL of the pieces were unique and beautiful! This colorful creation is from Mikka Dutton:

©Mikka Dutton

©Mikka Dutton

I love that Mikka included the “From the Library Of” part of the bookplate(!) and followed that with some sassy introductory lines and images – “one courtly/highly prized/”hard to get”/as well…..”

I am always surprised and delighted by what folks come up with, and it’s magical to me to see individual personalities shine through the choices of words, elements, colors, and the particular combinations of all of these.

MANY thanks to all of our afternoon creators – and thank you for letting me share your work.  Thanks also for asking if I would offer another workshop sometime – I am DEFINITELY game!  :0) If you’d like me to keep your email address handy for info about future classes, toss me a line at Robyn@artsyletters.com

Library Card Catalog Cards! & Vintage “Found Poem” Valentine…

DSC09230 simple attraction magnet library card card c

‘Tis the Season of Love… and I love some new adventures in the studio making greeting cards from altered vintage library card catalog cards!  Depending on the year of your birth, you may or may not wax nostalgic about those big, clunky, glorious card catalog files which used to be a fixture in every library.  Sighhh.  Swooon.

I’m always on the hunt for vintage items and ephemera to re-purpose into found poem art.  (Click here for a post about a workshop I led at Poetry Camp a few months ago if you’d like to see some details about the process.) When I stumbled into purchasing a big batch of catalog cards which used to live in an elementary school library, my heart skipped a beat.  While most of these don’t easily offer up a found poem possibility, some do!  (I’ll use the others in something else, I’m sure.)

I first tested this project with a Poem Postcard Exchange  with my Poetry Friday crowd over at my author blog. The exchange was organized by Jone MacCulloch, and I posted about the cards I received here and here.

I made five different cards to send out by 1.) “antiquing” the edges of thick Stonehenge paper with inks, 2.) carving and printing a “back” for the postcard:

IMG_6318 printmaking postcard back p
DSC09183 postcard back print p

3.) picking out phrases from the catalog cards to highlight as found text (the words covered up here by adhesive strips of sticky notes):

IMG_0365

and 4.) painting glossy washes over the words, 5.) removing the sticky note strips, and 6.) adhering the cards to the front of the postcards. Oh – and I used this great little antique key to print its shape onto the cards.

I completely forgot to take a picture of any of the finished ones, so Jone kindly sent me a photo of the one I sent to her!

20170205_172612 my postcard i sent to jone 2017 her pic ADJ sm

Jone writes haiku, as I do, so I thought she’d enjoy the haiku-like vibe of this one.

I’ve made a few recent cards for family and friends, and employed this catalog card idea. Then I decided it would be fun to find one that might lend itself to being a Valentine, or at least a romantic card, above.  Here’s a closeup of the text:

DSC09240 simple attraction includes magnetism close up c

For fun, I attached a vintage library card pocket inside, and tucked in a blank vintage check-out card for a personal message:

inside magnetism card c

DSC09233 magnet valentine library card cThe illustration on this card was clipped from the February 1927 issue of Country Life.

   

I had time to make one more before leaving for the day:

LIFE a poem library card card c

 

This one reads:

 

LIFE – 

a poem

of

wanderings,

wilderness

family,

and

Stories

 

It’s topped off with an illustration clipped from a McGuffey’s Eclectic Reader (1920).

And, yes, it’s hiding away a vintage blank check-out card in a vintage paper pocket, too:

DSC09187 life a poem with inside card c

These cards are made with Strathmore textured paper and come with matching envelopes.  At 5 X 7, they can be easily framed if desired. They’re in my Etsy shop, and I’ll be making more, for sure. :0)

Thanks for visiting, and wishing you love for Valentine’s Day and all days!

Happy Poetry Month! Sharing a Vintage Mixed Media/Found Poem Piece…

 

vertical for blog heart poems c I hope you are having a Wonderful Poetry Month!  In my corner of the virtual world, the Kidlitosphere, bloggers and poets are celebrating all month long with fun and inspiring projects.  You can find a roundup by the terrific Jama Kim Rattigan at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.

One of these years I’ll have it together to do something beyond a few special posts on my robynhoodblack.com blog in April. Like last year, I’m participating in the Progressive Poem today and will host Poetry Friday this coming Friday.

But I did sneak over to the studio to finish a little project I’ve been wanting to make for weeks. (I was “homebound” in early April finishing some freelance writing assignments and hosting company.) This little framed mixed media piece features highlighted text from CROWN JEWELS – OR GEMS OF LITERATURE, ART AND MUSIC, compiled by Henry Davenport Northrop, D. D., copyright 1887 by J. R. Jones. The original text was given a glossy acrylic wash and boasts a vintage heart key, a snip of vintage lace, and a small fancy vintage watch hand from France.

heart poems close up cIt says:

life

contains

heart-poems.

 

 

The frame is one of four I found in an antique shop a few years ago. It’s about 4 and 1/2 by 5 inches – wooden, made in Italy.  It has the loveliest handpainted turquoise color, with antique (very antique-y looking now!) white paint as well.  It’s full of character (slight imperfections), and I kept the little triangle brass hanger attached at the top.

I was tempted to keep it, as I rather like the simple message this old text yielded.  But I also love it when someone comes along and says a piece like this speaks to them, or they have the perfect person in mind to give it to.  So I listed it in my Etsy shop.

heart poems with hand c

Whether it sells quickly or hangs around a long while, I wish its sentiment for you always:  that your life is full of heart-poems!  Happy Poetry Month.

Art Break Wednesday (on Thursday!) – More Altered Book Collages

 

Somehow, Wednesday slipped right into Thursday over here.  I’ll simply share a few items I’ve just listed in my Etsy shop.  Here’s another literary red door, featuring an altered book from the 1800s and an original relief print, with vintage embellishments:

red collage door front 2 arch macl with watermark

It has a couple of lines taken from Archibald MacLeish’s “Ars Poetica”:

Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

A poem should not mean
But be.

red arch macl with handred door collage arch macl inside 2 with c

Plus it has a cool illustration of an owl from an 1882 Reader.

I’ve also had a Fey bent lately. Here are a couple of altered miniature books as Fairy Doors.

(Fairy, Faerie – whichever you prefer!)
They also feature vintage metal elements, repurposed text/ephemera, and hand-pulled original block prints.

blue fairy door with window front with csmall blue fairy door inside with windows with w

Descriptions and more pictures of these are at my Etsy shop.

 

small red door inside 2 with wDSC05320 small red door collage front with w

 

 

 

 

Here’s another Thursday update, a variation:
b w fairy door 1 angled with wb w fairy door 1 interior

Thanks for taking a look!

 

 

(And, which DO you prefer – Fairy or Faerie?) ;0)