In preparation for doing a guided mixed media art piece on the themes of homeland and journey (i.e., journey from one's home of origin to the present location), two of us experimented on an "art morning" and put together a mixed media piece of our own journey from past to present. The left example is a mother's example through deep pain and mourning from the death of a teenage child. The right is my journey from my hometown/state (Wichita, KS) to Cape Cod, MA after marrying my husband, and then to Texas where I was/am called to be organizing pastor of a new church. The left example used a "timeline" concept to portray her experience in grief. Both examples rely upon symbols which resonate with the story we are portraying.
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| The timeline includes a quickly written summary of the ups & downs. |
The mixed media pieces include cut paper, stamped images, sponge painting, stamped words (left) and stenciled words (right). The purpose of the exercise is to reflect on your journey from past to present so that the experience can be visually shared.
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| The state flower is a sunflower so that was an symbol for "home." |
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| A wine cork to imprint the "path" and direction of the journey. |
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| Sponge painting on the bottom and stamped question marks on top. |
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| Words reflect the key themes of the journey. |
The symbolic shapes give visual impact to the story. The butterflies and dragonflies are often used as symbols of transition, and the dragonfly reminds the mother of her child because of its energetic "darting in and out of your face."
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| On each petal of the sunflower I included the name of each state or country where I've spent significant time. |
