2020 has been quite a year hasn’t it? As we enter the last months of the year, we have a lot to reflect on. With pandemics, hurricanes, wildfires, and so much more, I know many of you have experienced financial, health, and mental stresses. The first place I look for comfort in the midst of stress is my faith, but I also turn to art making as an effective release. It seems to just sooth those tensions away and help me work through and express things that it can be hard to find the words for. It is my safe place to let things just boil over.
I suspect the same is true of you (even if you haven’t discovered that yet!) and so I have created a special edition, cut up and use, zine to aid you in processing the events of the year through art. It has pretty papers, words, and 2020 themed images throughout. It includes pages straight from my own art journals and sketchbooks, as well as compilations of patterns and images.
I understand that my meager illustrations can’t begin to touch on all the heartache and tragedy that the year has held. I hesitated to even publish this little zine because I was afraid it would seem to minimize some deep hard things. But it seemed worse to me to not acknowledge in some small way the events happening in the world around me. In fact, historically that is much of what art has been, a response to the world in which the artist lived.
Here are a few ideas of how you can use this zine:
- Leave it intact and just let it stir some time of reflection and prayer. Let it be an honest acknowledgement of distress, as well as stir in you hope and strength. Reflect over all the kindnesses that have happened this year, and all of the heroes who have taken action. If you have lost someone, or a business or livelihood, let it be a memorial to that grief.
- Add to it with your own writings, glue in clippings, dab in some paint. Use it as a mini journal, a background to jump start your own project.
- Cut it up, or tear it up, and use it as elements in your own artwork, journal pages, scrapbooks, Project Seeing 2020 journal, or whatever helps you process the year. I love the idea of transforming negatives into positives and I hope that by dismantling this zine and turning it into something else you can enjoy visualizing just that!
- Gift it, times two! This zine can be a great gift for friends or family, but when you purchase this zine you will also be gifting someone in need as every cent of profit from this zine will be donated to a local food bank. It has been a tough, tough year for so many, and this is one small way that we can join forces to help others.
There is also a bonus included with this zine, a set of little 2020 themed stickers to use as you wish.
Right now, this zine is only available right here in my website shop, or by direct inquiry. If you want to take part in a donation to the local food bank, you can purchase here.
What are some ways you have dealt with stress this year?
Thanks for stopping by!
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