Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Story of Me in Typography

I was excited when Marie Z. Johansen suggested that we open ourselves to any media when we (members of Art in the Cards) revisit our ATC themes on Art in the Cards Revisioned.  When Marie choose the Typography theme for us to revisit, I was thrilled.  I love typography! I love words! It was one of my favorite themes. To be able to create in a supportive group is also a great gift. 

My goals lately have included to play more and think outside the box. My intent was to make a quilt. Obviously that didn't happen--yet. I started going through magazines and tearing out interesting fonts and words and well, one thing lead to another. Suddenly the idea popped into my head to create a piece and tell the story of me in words.  I had an old flower pot (11" x 11" x 4") that use to house my hens and chicks in the garage. I wasn't sure that the magazine pieces of text would stick with glue but I liked the shape and the crudeness of it figuring "nothing ventured, nothing gained. To my amazement my simple glue stick worked and soon my pile of magazines had lots of holes in the pages.  While satisfied with the results, I decided I wanted to also have an element of play so I made paper beads, again using magazine pages, that can be picked up and rearranged. I warn you these are addicting. Just like potato chips, once you get started you just can't stop.


My youngest son likes playing with them. I like the tactile feel of the beads and the ever changing nature of the piece.  In the end,  I also coated the entire bowl with two coats of matte medium to seal it. I suspect it might need another coat down the line. For now, it sits on my coffee table and makes me smile every time I look at it.





1 comment:

  1. Karen - This piece is so much fun! I like the fact that you can 'touch' and 'play' with the paper beads. . . I can just hear them moving in the pot. Typography is one of my favorite subjects too. I spent many years working as a Graphic Designer.

    ReplyDelete

Love comments! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.