Playing Catch UP

I can hardly believe that is has been nearly a month since I last posted! My how time flies when one is involved in STUFF!

So what have I been up to you ask. Well, here's a brief rundown...

* The Storytellers of Canada Conference
* Lounging on my favourite beach, catching up on some books I have been meaning to read for absolute ages.
* Raiding the library of Polymer Clay books and getting excited about the possibilities for some nifty jewelry and art projects.
* Making an unholy mess in my art room
* Getting sand between my toes at the beach with hubby and friends
* Doing some metal effects art
* Finishing off some project submissions for the Sidney Fine Arts Show
* Making a ton of art cards
* Hanging out with the acupunturist in the hopes of relieving some of the sciatic pain I've been experiencing
* Taking an afternoon snooze at the beach... lulled to sleep by the sound of waves...
* Doing some preliminary set up for recording next month's blog story...

And that's just for starters! I won't bore you with all the nitty gritty details but here's an overview (and photos) of some of them...

Storytellers of Canada Conference

I'm tickled to report that the Storytellers of Canada Conference here in Victoria at the beginning of July was a roaring success! We were thrilled with the press coverage we got... I had a number of interviews with the press and the articles the reporters wrote were spot on... heck I even got my photo in the Times Colonist... our main daily rag!

The turnout for the conference was the biggest ever in their 17 year history. The two storytelling performances were magical... we sold out the Island Tellers performance and the attendance at the National Tellers performance was fantastic. It was great re-connecting with storytelling friends from across Canada and the U.S. In the halls of the university, the back chatter from many of the conference attendees was that this was the best conference they had ever been to! But... sigh... it went by in a blur and *boo hoo* even though I purchased a ton of tickets... I didn't win this year's Story Save art quilt! Sorry I don't have a photo to show you... but I can tell you that it was gorgeous and I absolutely lusted after it!

Playing with Clay

I have decided to play with clay for the next couple of months and oh my is there a lot to learn! I dabbled in it a few years ago... making some minatures for a project I was working on... but never really got into it. Of course, I would pick one of the hottest weeks of the summer to start this adventure. Clay does not like it when it's warm I quickly found out! Good thing I have a little fridge in my art room to cool it down. After my first few tentative forays into this type of art, I have come to appreciate just how much is really involved in creating with polymer clay.

My art room looks like a bomb hit it right now... I raided the local library for "clay" books and they are scattered all over the place. Gosh, I have come across some wonderful projects that would keep me busy for the next five years! It's hard to know where to start first... I'd like to do them all and right now, thank you very much!

As a first experiment, I tried making a cane. Well I was doing okay until I screwed it up. Reducing a cane means rolling it in your hands Sharon to make it smaller not rolling it out like a pancake to make it larger! I don't know what I was thinking but I recognized my mistake right away but too late! I could have kicked myself in the butt right then and there. Here I was with this pile of (screwed up) clay and I didn't know what the heck to do with it. The project I had planned to do was thrown out the window.... I was not amused.

Frustrated, I finally decided to roll some of it through the pasta machine. Hey I had nothing to lose at this point. I was rather surprised when I got this very modern, abstract pattern that I could perhaps do something with. I sighed. Perhaps all was not lost after all. I messed around with it, looked at it from all angles and decided what I'd do with it. Here's a photo of what I came up with...

The pin in the middle on the top looks like a bunch of hurricanes having a tequilla party out in the gulf of Mexico but the more I look at it, the more I rather like it.

On the left and right of the pin are two pieces that started out being earrings but ended up being pendants because they are too heavy! I cut on hole in the middle of the bottom piece and put a bead in each of them that actually spins. That was a fun bit of whimsy!!!

Those squiggly things at the bottom are earrings. I just twisted the clay at the bottom... they look quite nifty when you see them in person... the photo doesn't do them justice.

Last night it came to me that this clay pattern would make some cool looking buttons... so of course I had to make some! I tried taking some photos of my creations but not having my photo light box set up right now, the photos ended up looking pretty crappy. I'll post a photo once I set up my box again but I can tell you that they look really interesting and these one of a kind buttons would look splendid sewn on a black and white quilt, a black dress or jacket!

Messing with Metal

Earlier this year, I got very turned on working with metal. I finally got all the tools from Ten Seconds Studio and some metal to play with. Both of the pieces below are quite large but I sure had fun doing them. The roosters piece is large enough to put in the bottom of a tray under glass and I will probably end up doing that. The "flower" piece would fit nicely on top of a box. They certainly soak up lots of time doing them... easy to get hooked on doing this type of art... it's fun watching the pattern evolve. I am pretty pleased with the way they turned out... it's just difficult taking photos of them because they are so shiny!

The Beach

Ah my favourite spot to hang out... and the weather has been just glorious.

Right now we are in the middle of a "heat wave" ... something we don't get too often in Victoria... and with no air conditioning in our house (we don't need it most of the year... it cools off beautifully at night here), the sensible thing to do is just pack your sunscreen, a hat, a quilt, some good books, nibbles and lots of water and head to the beach! The air conditioning down there is cheap... that nice breeze that blows in from the ocean feels soooo GOOD.

Today it is supposed to go up to the high 80's (that's hot in Victoria) and we will actually have some humidity (but not the stifling kind one experiences down east or in the south) that will likely raise the temperature about 5 degrees on top of that. I've already got my bag packed... just have to get my water and nibbles together and I'm outa here....

Have a great week... and stay cool!

Sharon

Storytelling, Graphics and an Audio Story

I am posting early this week. I am going to North Carolina for a couple of weeks to play with friends, wiggle my toes in beach sand, gather shells, eat shrimp, drink daiquiri at sunset, go fabric shopping and enjoy some of that lovely warm weather that May brings to the Carolinas. My computer and cell phone will be staying at home! But I promise, I'll think of ya'all as I lie on the beach soaking up the sun!

In the meantime... here's a few words about storytelling before I tell (and show) you what I have been up to with my "storytelling" pals over the past couple of months...

Storytelling Isn't Just for Little Kids

It still amazes me that so many people think that storytelling is just for kids... something that you do with them before they go to sleep at night, something that happens at school that they tell you about or an event you take your kids to at the library each month!

Many folks haven't really given much thought to the fact that we are surrounded in story. We hear and tell stories everywhere! At home over the dinner table, at family reunions, at church every Sunday, in the hallways at work, at gatherings with our friends... oh I could go on and on. We are all storytellers whether we realize it or not.

Some of us take storytelling to the next level and attend courses, read "how to" books about how to develop and learn a story, or listen and watch how professional storytellers tell to pick up ideas and tips to improve our narrative when telling to groups at work or at play.

Then there are those of us who go on to do a "Masters" or "PhD" in storytelling by attending everything we possibly can that relates to learning the "art of storytelling". Storytelling courses, university programs, specialty master workshops at conferences that can help us to become proficient in the use of story for our work (executives, marketing professionals, human resource professionals, workshop leaders, public speakers, counsellors, coaches, therapists, etc.) or to become professional storytellers with a specialty in the area of story that most appeals to us (telling to children, young adults, adults; working with folk tales, humour, healing, training or personal story to name but a few) and then find "gigs" in the schools, with corporations, festivals, conventions, conferences, etc.. to support our "habit" (giggle) either part time or as our main source of income.

Do you remember before the advent of television, listening to story hours on the radio and exercising your imagination? Do you long for that kind of experience again? Do you enjoy listening to Garrison Keillor? What about the "Rest of the Story" stories of Paul Harvey? What about Stuart McLean?

If this type of story for adults appeals to you, then you would enjoy going to local or regional adult storytelling performances, story festivals, storytelling guilds that hold monthly get togethers (if you are lucky enough to have one in your town/city) or even conferences like the the Storytellers of Canada, the NSA (National Storytelling Association) in Jonesboro, Tenn. and the NSN (National Storytelling Network) in the U. S.

There are storytelling associations all over the world... in the British Isles, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and Indonesia are just a few of the many who hold festivals and conferences. Want to learn more? British Storyteller Tim Shepard has a Storytelling FAQ that although not updated in some time is a tremendous resource.

What I've Been Up To...

As some of you know, I am the Publicity Chairperson for the 2009 Storytellers of Canada Conference which is being held in Victoria this summer. Since the end of February, I have been putting together the marketing plan for across Canada and the U.S. and executing it through emails. Thank heavens I have two wonderful people from our local guild who will be in charge of doing all the local publicity when the time comes.

In addition to that BIG job, I am also the graphics person (ah... something I love to do!) and writer of "marketing material". It has been my job to come up with a number of graphics to go along with the emails and other publicity *stuff* I have been jotting down. Two of the articles I wrote will be published in the June edition of the Storytellers of Canada magazine. Each month I have had to come up with ideas for the Storytellers of Canada monthly e-newsletter in addition to "Come to our Conference" emails that quiver with all wonderful, exciting things you will do, see and experience (chuckle) in Victoria. Quite the challenge to say the least!

I am pretty chuffed with myself right now. The marketing plan I put together along with the graphics and emails I have written are working beautifully. Like most art organizations, we rely on grants and this year, because of the economic downtown, our grants were cut. We really need to watch our pennies. So far, the only expenditures we have incurred in getting the word out are for the printing of glossy postcards, posters, bookmarks and tickets. I have taken advantage of every "free" way or idea I could think of to market the conference.

Well boy did I get some exciting news at the end of last week. Right now, with still nearly two months to go, our master storytelling workshop is sold out and the conference (with its four other workshops and a ghost story panel) are three quarters full. We are headed towards a sell out and one of the largest conferences we have ever had in its 17 year history. I did a cartwheel (in my mind of course) when I heard that. I am still bouncing around like a woman possessed (in my mind too... my back is still giving me some grief). How exciting is that???

I must say that I am particularly proud of the posters and bookmarks I created for the two public storytelling performances that will be held during the conference. What a thrill it is to see your work spread all over town! "My" bookmarks are in the bookstores where the performance tickets are being sold to the public and in the Victoria and surrounding area libraries. "My " posters will shortly be sprinkled in every nook and cranny we can find in Victoria that will allow us to post them.

Last week I came up with the idea of putting the posters up on the Victoria Storytellers Guild website along with a "sample storytelling performance" audio file. This will allow folks in and outside of Victoria who hear about the performances and want to find out more, to hop on over to the website for more information and hear a "story performance" right on the website!

If you'd like to see the posters I made and hear an unforgettable, true "Vancouver Island" audio story by Nanaimo, B.C. storyteller Margaret Murphy, just click here to go to the VSG site. Scroll down the page until you see "Upcoming Special Events". There are two story performances, "Island Tales by Island Tellers" and "Tales at Eventide". Click on the link "Details and ticket info" to get to the posters. Margaret's story is a clickable mp3 audio file near the bottom of the page. I'd love to hear your comments about the posters and the story, so please come back to this post and leave a comment for me!

See you in a couple of weeks... and keep your fingers crossed that we reach a sell out. What a wonderful thank you "gift" to give to the handful of volunteers who have worked so hard over the past two years to make this conference happen!

Cheers,
Sharon

Beach Therapy!

Today was a gorgeous west coast day so my muse and I (both being solar powered) went to the beach. Just a short, five minute car ride away, these are photos I took this afternoon of one of my favourite beaches in Victoria.

A couple of years ago, I had the honour of being the delegate from Vancouver Island and representing the Victoria Storytellers Guild at the Storytellers of Canada conference in Calgary, Alberta.

That year, I made a quilt square that was included in the Storytelling quilt which was raffled off at the conference. Each quilt square was accompanied by a small "story" about the piece and the artist. The quilt and stories were on display during the conference and the lucky winner , a Newfoundland storyteller, got to take this "one of kind" quilt with accompanying stories home to enjoy for years to come.

As I was getting ready to write this post today, I re-read the small "story" I wrote at the time. I re-worked it some to add to this posting today. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the quilt square at the time, but did save the story!

"Stories and Art are Beacons of Light in the World"

The guiding light of the Fisgard Lighthouse at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour (near Victoria) first shone in 1860. It was the first permanent lighthouse on Canada’s West Coast.

With the lighthouse on the left, the sweeping vista of the Olympic Mountains off in the distance, the swirling waters of Juan de Fuca Strait and a log strewn beach, it is a magical place of beauty on earth. This is where you will find me on any given day of the year, sitting or laying in a log “fort”, sheltered from the ocean wind, wiggling my toes in the warm sand or wrapped snuggly in a colourful quilt.

My only companions are the waves lapping quietly against the rocky shore, the distant greeting cry of seagulls, herons, or eagles flying above and the bobbing heads of harbour seals coming up to say hello as they swim lazily back and forth in the water near the shore. My companions know that this is my special spirit place... my place for meditation, inspiration and creation. They welcome me to this place where I come to read, think, dream, create and every now and again, enjoy a small, but delicious afternoon snooze!

Being in this place, immersed in its quiet splendour and simple beauty has taught me that stories and art are like lighthouses.

Navigating our lives by the light of a good story, the sounds of a beautiful piece of music or the creation of a meaningful piece of art can lead us to a safe harbour when the sea of life gets stormy. Help us journey back to who we are when the way ahead seems misty or foggy. Stand graceful and tall when the sun sparkles on life’s gentle waves. Look beyond the horizon and be awed by the beauty and colours of simplicity. Inspired to dream, create and love by its guiding light.

What inspires you? Where do you go for renewal? If you could do one thing this coming weekend that would bring you joy, what would it be? Will you do it?

Have a great weekend... see you next week!

Sharon