Altered Book Collage, First Pages

Before I Die (left page)

Miles to Go (right page)

I lucked upon an over sized journal style book that was remaindered at Borders for just 4.99 (The Greatest Adventures of Indiana Jones).  These two pages are actually parts of the last two page spread at the end of the book.  So far the images that seem to reoccur are: flight/birds/keys/doors.  I like that the last page says "Miles to Fly" and "Doors yet to Open".  The first two pages say "Enjoy This Brief Journey".  I love the idea of an altered book/journal being a "Journey" and a "Door". 

I first gessoed all the pages and then did a wash of acrylic paint. I like the look of an old wall.  Then I added printed and clipped copies of images from books, magazines, online "news" and ad clips.  Also clips from maps and a crow stamp from dragonflylaser.com and ranger ink.

The left page references and uses images from Candy Chang's "Before I die" project in New Orleans.  http://candychang.com/before-i-die-in-nola/  For this project Candy used chalk-board paint and stencils to create a place for people to write their statements about the things they want to do in life before they die. 

I teach my student to set goals in life in order to keep themselves motivated and more unstoppable, so Candy's project seems like a really positive and life changing installation.  She talks about taking a boarded up buildings and making it into an opportunity for positive personal reflection.  Every morning the chalk board is wiped clean so new people can write statements, or those that live in the neighborhood can write new statements.

I found out about this project through the Milliande Woman's Art Community at http://milliande.ning.com/