ARTU 05 The Prospector's Handbook

The Prospectors Handbook: Extreme Journalism

Price: $140

Juliana Coles

Prospectors, there's gold in them there hills. So if you are ready to experience a meaningful encounter with the self, and then come with me, you know who you are. Strap on your helmet, switch on your light, 'cause we're going down...deep into the center of our being for treasure beyond our imagination: that's right - gold, jewels, and the occasional artifact of our existence. I'll watch out for you as we travel through various journal writing assignments combined with art making exercises to dig deep to find ourselves and tell our unique story in the container of a mixed media book of self exploration. In this creative and expressive excavation, we'll journey to our rich interior and return to tell the tales of Eureka ! We've found her in all this mess, this dirt, this garbage, this blackness like coal, and this unentered darkness like the burnt remains of the Phoenix : this is where our real life wants to be resurrected and dug up. Not perfected, controlled, or prettified for some imagined audience that ain't us or who we want to be, but raw, honest, gut-wrenching, pure and powerful - as is- without the need for embellishment or damn critic. A welcome fellow miner, this underworld is my terrain: I work and create in these dark mines so frightening and yet so hauntingly beautiful. And as the Guide, I know where the hidden veins of gold are. Deep within. Isn't it time to uncover your true being? Let me take you down, I know you're ready for this descent. All participants will receive a Me & Pete's Prospectors Extreme Journaling Handbook.

Supply List : Your Visual Journal (or two or three!) and your favorite mixed media supplies. (suggestions following.) Bring your favorite glue, scissors, some brushes for your paints, a rag or two, and a jar for water.

Each student will be required to bring a "Mystery Bag." A plastic grocery bag or smaller will do. Some suggestions are collage items, 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, 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!

Suggested Supplies : Please bring your favorite supplies as well as favorite collage items (use copies of things that are precious to you) and one or two magazines. Bring different kinds of things in your favorite colors. I like Black and White acrylic, (its always good to have at least one light color and at least one dark color) cheap craft paints in light blue and butter cream, brush markers in orange and hot pink, yellow black and red permanent markers, some colored pencils, a regular pencil, a sharpener, all kinds of tape, even a little stapler, India ink and walnut ink, red watercolor, a few water color crayons, my rubber stamp letters, poetry books to cut up, Staz-On stamp pads, ...just make sure you have a few wet items and some dry items.

Please email Juliana Coles with any questions or concerns: meandpete@msn.com