Collage: Art Finds A Way

Most of the time, August's daily collages were creative exercises for me - creative expression rather than emotional. There were two exceptions, though, and they are two of my favorite pieces of the collection.

She Is Her Own Shelter

I created She Is Her Own Shelter after our dinner out that night at our favorite sushi restaurant was nearly spoiled by another customer: a man of a certain age who came in with his family and was loudly self-entitled and complaining the entire time we were there. Seriously, we could hear him from the other end of the sushi bar, he was creating such a disruption. There are a lot of men like that in my family. I have a hard time being around someone like that – I was going to say "in public", but really "anywhere" would be closer to the truth – so instead of being able to enjoy our meal, I felt tense, watchful, and ready to fight or flee.



I came home and starting putting together images that communicated strength, courage, protection and power. The storm represents a negative situation, but she is standing up to it, even taking power from it, completely fearless. She is safe with her raven guardians and behind the high walls of the castle that no one can enter without her leave. Looking at the final result made me feel safer and stronger. It was therapeutic. It was like saying to that man "Look, jackass, you may have disrupted everyone's dinner and made a fool of yourself, but I could still take something good away from that. Being you is its own punishment."

Patron Of Things Lost And Stolen

 A few days after I created  She Is Her Own Shelter, someone stole my bike wheels while it was locked up outside the downtown library in the late afternoon. Now I have to say, my bike is currently one of the most important things in my life. I've been riding miles almost every day, which is helping me to be healthier, happier, and to have more energy for creative projects like this. When I came back out to find that my wheels were gone, after being in the library for maybe half an hour, I was shocked and then furious. And that was before I found out how much it was going to cost to replace them – almost half of what the bike cost to begin with and far more than I could afford!

Thanks to the generosity of a few friends and the kindness of the owner of one of our local bike shops (he took a pair of wheels right off a used bike in his shop to sell them to me), I was back on my bike less than twenty-four hours after the theft, but it was a particularly rough night.

The imagery for Patron of Things Lost and Stolen came together pretty quickly. This rider wears her heart on her sleeve but she is still safe on her bicycle. The wheels can't be stolen; they are the moon and the stars. Her friend watches out for her while she rides and keeps an eye on her bike when she doesn't. I picture her wheeling through the world, keeping an eye out for things that have been lost or stolen, helping them find their ways back to their rightful owners, and making sure that thieves feel the full weight of karma that their actions have earned them.