SerendipityArt

I have been terribly behind with uploading pictures (I'm adding a few pictures to this posting for fun) from the collaborative journal project because it is a lot of work to upload the pictures into the proper galleries. Once, I considered just doing a bulk upload without documenting which book the pictures were from…that would be SOOOOOOOOO much easier, but that would just be a mish-mash of pictures with no context. Aligning the pictures by journal number makes perfect sense, but it is time consuming. The one piece that I might have to let go of is putting peoples names on every single picture. There are so many journal and so many spreads. I have to go into each picture and add their name, city, state, and county information – I think it’s just too much for one person to do. If I have to make a choice between putting names on every picture, and uploading the photos in a timely manner; I pick getting the photos up quickly and assigned to the appropriate book. I will add names as time will allow. As it is…I will be putting names on pictures most of New Year’s Day.  I have uploaded all the photos on my camera…they are journals 13, 18, 38, 46,44, 42, 31, 32, 59, 60, 43, and 64. These books have all been sent back into the world, though several of them are banged up. Journal number 32 is probably in the worst shape. The cover has come apart, leaving the binding exposed…which with improper handling the book will continue to deteriorate. This journal will only go out to experienced book artist, or people that journal (write) more than ‘art up’ their pages. I may even have to be retired early. There are also several books that have become so chunky they barely close. Normally this might note be a big deal, but for a journal that travels as much as these journals do…this is a death knell.

Even though all of the books have sewn pages, the pages are still just paper…and very few artists are reinforcing their spreads (which gives added strength to the over all book). The pages are ripping, which means they will ultimately fall out unless I retire them prior to being completely filled. I would do some reinforced pages, but I just haven’t the time to work in all the books (unfortunately!).

I’m thrilled to see that most people do about six 2-page spreads per 15-day visit. The cost of shipping (both for me and the artist) gets a little dicey when someone only does two spreads. The guideline says to work in the journal for at least 10 days…and I think six 2 page spreads is about right. I would love to hear what other people think.

Oh…and on the "what-other-people-think" tip…I’m wondering what people think of me replacing the missing books. Meaning, starting a new book with that number. I’m not going to re-use the book numbers of journals that were worked in and I have photos of…those books will forever stay. (I admit, I hope those will find their way home.) The books I have in mind are those where the first person stole the book (kept it) and no work was ever photographed; like the one I sent to Sharon B. in Australia. If anyone has thoughts, I would love to hear them.

Anyway…this project has been my lifeline this past year. I love seeing peoples work and have several books that are almost ready for retirement. I have had some informal conversations about places to exhibit the books, but that’s still up in the air. I need more completed/retired books before I can start shopping around for exhibit opportunities.

Though…I did have a thought and again, could use some thoughts from you…If I picked a day and a place…say, maybe a couple of different cities (since I do travel a lot for business), would people come to work in a book for a few hours? Say, I broadcast that I’ll be at a Starbucks from 9 am to 8 pm with 15 books. People can come and work in them for as long as they want. You bring supplies…and I’ll have stuff you can use (watercolors, colored pens and pencils, stencils, adhesive, etc.). Would people come or would I be sitting there all day by myself? I could swing several LA locations, a couple of Chicago, a Minneapolis, Baltimore, Orlando, Dallas and Houston date as well. Thoughts???