Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Spontaneous Artistic Combustion

Kai's Story Bag front

This morning, while my brother and sister-in-law were packing up for the return trip to New York City, I  pulled out the last two canvas bags and a set of fabric markers. They were the perfect distraction for my 5 1/2 year old nephew and almost 11 year old niece.

While many of us older folk may have hemmed and hawed about what to draw on these bags, my niece and nephew went right to it.

Ivy began by drawing beautiful designs and patterns, carefully (and care-freely) building up the colors.

Ivy's artistic bag

Kai began drawing a dragon and a volcano... a fiery combustible scene. I said, I really like your story bag...and of course he looked at me funny, as if to say, What are you talking about Aunt Julie!?

Kai's Story Bag back

Seeing Kai's bag makes me think of my new workshop, coming up in December A Story in the Making: Creating Story Cloth in Print and Stitch. I have yet to figure out the particulars but am really excited about the concept. I wish to play with some different formats for the story cloths and seeing Kai's bag made me think..aha! another possible format in which to tell a story.

Imagine turning the cloth into a special storytelling bag and inside the bag would be stored some very special items... a continuation of the story.

I'm excited just thinking about it!

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