A Host of Workshops: Retrospective

Marilyn's "Between Kisses" AB Spread (Collage Cafe 1.21.12)

Here are photos and links to more photos (click on the captions) to Express Yourself! Workshops and Collage Cafes that I've held over the past few months. An assortment of women and men from the Bay Area keep proving to me how rejuvenating it is for the average human being to create something artful! Making art is a way one can be brave and take risks in expressing oneself without having to think too much about it. This is especially true I find with altering books: accomplished artists can renew and expand their creative spirit, and so-called "non-artists" can easily discover their creative side with the added benefit of the pleasure of seeing something that only they could have created. Marilyn (above) came to a collage Cafe and had this to say about it:

"Thank you so much for the collage cafe and more! t was so nice meeting you and your wonderful studio, jewelry, journals and inspiration! I did 3 more pages when I got home! I lovelovelove them... I can see the growth already. Again, thanks for all the fun and inspiration!"

Janet's Back Pocket AB Spread (Express Yourself! 2.3.12)

Janet's work was a great example of an artist trained in a specific area (mono print) who desires to experiment in another medium. Her use of color and choice of images is bold and experimental. Janet said this about the workshop:

"I had a wonderful time at Virginia's Introductory class. What fun to play with all those art materials and to start to transform a regular book into something so rich and original. I've wanted to learn to do "altered books" for some time and when I first met Virginia and saw one of her books, I knew she was the one I wanted to learn from. And I loved working in her studio. Everything you need is there. I look forward to going to her "Cafe's' and learning and playing some more in my book! Thanks Virginia!"

Express Yourself! at Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA (1.28.12)

My Book Passage Express Yourself! workshop in January was a lot of fun for me and the participants. Attendees ranged from "I've never done any art" to people who had attended art school. A fun note were two women friends who each brought a teenage granddaughter. Here's what Leslie (she created the above spread) said about the experience:

"I attended your Altered Books Workshop in Corte Madera, along with my granddaughter, sister-in-law and her granddaughter. We all had a wonderful experience and hope to continue altering books (and maybe our lives). Thanks again for sharing your talent with all of us. Each of us came away inspired to explore and develop our own artistic abilities."