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Travels with My Visual Journals - A Personal Experience by Lou Ann:
In
years past, my travel journals at best
consisted of some writing in a lined notebook like
the one here, plus some pictures which might get printed out and stuck in
the notebook (or maybe not). Or maybe just a scrapbook with lots of
photos, plus some ticket stubs and such. I considered myself a mindful
traveler, and tried to be aware of my surroundings, but never quite
connected words and images in the same place.
More recently, I discovered art journals and mixed
media. And I was pretty happy for a while to record some of my
thoughts and feelings in a fairly simple art journal. These simple travel journal pages recorded some surface impressions from travel on the French Riviera several years ago.
Visual
Journaling with Juliana Coles
Lou Ann: My real breakthrough came in a retreat I attended with
Juliana Coles in Ojo Caliente New Mexico in September 2005. I was so
nervous about going, but somehow I knew I needed to go anyway. I
was absolutely amazed at some of the personal symbols, interrelationships,
connections, and meaning I found on the pages I created. I was
continually surprised at the multiple layers and depth on many of these
pages, couldn't quite believe that it was ME who had made them.
In
that workshop, I wrestled with my regrets about some of the choices I had
made in my life, had the courage to place the long-ago-forsaken dreams upon
the page, and to let them go. And only then, upon really digging into
the deep layers of the pages, did I realize that I HAD been true to this
younger self all along. And that I had accomplished far more in my
life than I had ever really dreamed about.
On
the last day at the Ojo 2005 retreat, I put on my favorite 'explorer hat'
and hiked up to the ruins of the Posi village above the hot springs, hoping
to feel the presence of ancient peoples. Instead, I turned and
suddenly saw my shadow. And I stopped and took a moment to make a
rudimentary sketch and take a photo. And there it was that I really
captured at least the shadow of my inner explorer soul. Instead of
seeing what I thought I would see, I saw what was really there.
(I find this explorer symbol emerging in other journal pages I have done since then, and welcome this explorer self when she emerges. )
And that is the true beauty of the Visual Journaling that I have learned from working with Juliana. That you have to work past those first few steps, get past seeing what you think you'll see, and dig deeper to see what is REALLY there. And, it's scary and uncomfortable at first, but only if you're brave and persistent, and willing to dig through the layers, will you reap the rewards of self-discovery.
Visual Journal as a Travel Journal
Lou Ann: I took these lessons with me to Greece this past
summer (2006), when I spent two weeks there with my sister Connie. I
used many of the concepts from Juliana's Extreme Visual JournalingTM to create
a visual travel journal of the trip, to help me be more aware of my
experiences and surroundings.
In many ways, it became one of the best trips of my life.
I really loved working in a travel journal handmade out of lots of different colorful and funky papers all sewn together. I learned to make this book in one of Kelly Kilmer's Avant Garde Journal classes. (I've learned so much MORE than that in Kelly's other classes, too! Check her website at www.kellykilmer.com). I love having colorful pages to start with, and the challenge of turning the page and solving the problem of how to relate it to my daily travels and my visual journaling intent. Especially fun was the challenge of expressing myself with a few limited art materials, plus a few ticket stubs, bits of ephemera, postcards, and other little things acquired along the way.
I
created this two-page spread soon after arrival in Greece. I
loved the small little brass and clay figurines in the National Museum in
Athens.
I wondered about ancient travelers carefully wrapping and carrying these precious beautiful things
for many miles before arriving at a sacred place. What prayers and
questions were whispered to the ancient gods and goddess when these
offerings were left behind?
I
remember arriving in the harbor on the beautiful and rugged island of Milos,
and was suddenly struck with strong feelings about the Venus de Milo statue
being forcibly removed from this island to France after her rediscovery in
the late 1800's. She is in the Louvre now, and she is loved, but ...
she is so far away from home ... and I feel for her.
The
monasteries of Meteora are in a remote region where they could be safe from
invaders. They were outposts of civilization during barbaric times. I
turned the page in my travel journal, only to be staring at the 'problem' of
figuring out how in the world the randomly sewn-in music flash card in my book could
possibly 'fit' into this theme. That evening, I realized, that I had
actually been humming Loreena McKennitt's song, Full Circle, all day.
The lyrics include the poignant words "In your heart, in your soul, did you
find peace there". I wondered about the monks who had left the other
world behind and had gone to live here, and whether they had found peace in
these remote mountaintop monasteries.
While
standing in the aisle on a crowded bus in Milos, a man behind me said "And
now we dance". The bus drove up some winding roads to the Kastro at
the top of the hill, and we were indeed dancing just to keep our balance.
In the next few days, dancing and circles kept appearing as themes in my
travels. Suddenly, in Delos, in the very center of Cyclades, in the
very center of the ancient world, I opened the tour brochure to these magical
words describing this island: "It is situated in the heart of the Aegean, in the centre of
the Cyclades that form a dance circle around it." The
Dance Circle indeed became the theme of my journey.
"Words overheard by chance, have been known to change lives." - Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgrimage.
I
was struck by the sacred pathways in Delos, the lions carved by ancient
sculptors who most likely never saw a real lion, and yet felt compelled to
carve these guardians for the pilgrims arriving at this sacred island.
The marble steps have been worn away in places by the footsteps of thousands
of pilgrims throughout the centuries. I felt very centered in this
special place.
A
particularly difficult moment in this trip, and one I'm not proud of.
Driving back into Athens traffic, getting lost, not being able to turn, and
only finally reaching the hotel after making many ever-smaller circles. It was indeed
the dreaded labyrinth, and I felt the presence of the monstrous Minotaur
within myself. Later that day, relief all around as my sister and I were whisked
away to our beautiful ship, where we could let someone else worry about
piloting and navigation. But, oh the anxiety, before we were able to
follow the precious thread, the precious clewe, to escape.
A
special moment after swimming off Cape Sounion, below Poseidon's Temple.
On our way to Sifnos later, we saw dolphins. These beautiful creatures
followed our boat for several magical
minutes, and then disappeared. Inside a seaside church in Sifnos, the
sky was represented by gold stars against a background of blue, and the
earth was represented by red crosses against a background of white.
Here
on the island of Aegina, we found a beautiful temple built long before the
Parthenon. Surviving bits of color on some of the friezes preserved
from the temple have let us know that that they were not originally just
white marble, but included blues at the top for the sky, and reds at the
bottom for the earth. This was a sacred place many years before the
Greeks built their temple to Aphaia here. How strange, that we
do not even know the name of the goddess who was first worshipped in this
ancient place.
Our last few days in Athens, and we had a wonderful view of the Acropolis from our hotel balcony. I turned the page in my travel journal, only to be confronted with the paper on the right-hand side with very un-Greek-like images of birdcages and birds. Only to finally see how they did indeed represent the temples on the Acropolis and at Cape Sounion. I sketched them both, along with a television antenna that seemed to be a directional sign and a call to action. A poem came to mind, and I did indeed see "A Temple of Eternity". On our last morning, right before leaving, we were visited by a morning dove on our balcony. This moment of peaceful contemplation of the bird with the temples of the Acropolis in the background, turned into a very precious memory of Greece.
I long for a return to this magical place....
And so, for me, the Visual Journal as a Travel Journal
became the key to unlocking the potential of this journey,. And
through the Visual Journal my travel was greatly enhanced, and the senses
were heightened. I was so much more aware of my surroundings and my
feelings, and of the places and people I encountered.
I love how the pages capture so many thoughts and impressions and memories. When I look back at them, there is so much more than just a logical written record guiding me in a linear path to record my memories in a linear fixed progression. I find that my eyes alight upon the images and the words and the page elements in a different order each time, and I surface different impressions and thoughts each time. The pages have many layers, and I do not yet know everything they contain, and have not yet explored all the memories and possibilities that they have captured. There is much left to discover, and more to be learned from them in the future. And so my journey has not ended with my return home, but continues well into the future.
-- Lou Ann Granger, November 2006
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