This summer’s BuildaBridge Institute offered our Director an amazing opportunity to serve as faculty for a Methods Lab mini-course in Altered Book-Making.  Six seniors from Caring Heart Manor shared their stories with us, and beautifully re-created books to make their stories tangible.  Over the course of four sessions, the senior participants wrote their stories and collaged and painted their way through their very own book.  BuildaBridge Institute participants shadowed Jesse White as she created a safe space for personal and creative exploration.  Our final celebration was rich with the vibrancy of the stories and the books and everyone present was touched and honored by what the seniors shared.  We’d like to thank both the participating seniors and staff of Caring Heart Manor, and the BuildaBridge Institute participants for making this program a great success!

Below is a gallery of images from the Altered Books Methods Lab at Caring Heart Manor.  (Please click on a thumbnail to see the full image.)  Learn more about BuildaBridge at http://www.buildabridge.org.

Oil Painting I and II

Thursdays, July 23rd – September 17th
(No Class on September 3rd)
6-8pm
Class size: 2-4
$250, plus the cost of some materials

A mixed class of introductory and intermediate oil painting students, this course will cover/reiterate the basics of color mixing and theory, brush techniques, texture and surface preparation, designing compositions, how to “be in dialogue” with a painting, and stretching and priming canvas/other surfaces. The session culminates with a final piece in the distinctive style of each artist.

Altered Art/Mixed Media

Mondays, July 13th – August 31st
6-8pm
Class Size: 2-5
$275, includes most supplies

Re-create your sentimental keepsakes, photos, board games, books and other items that you just can’t seem to throw away!  Learn how to transform your items into beautiful and personally important works of art. You may wish to explore collage, painting, sculpture, basic wood-working, altered books or other creative mediums.  As a multi-media class, each artist will work within their areas of interest, gaining inspiration and insight from the work of their fellow artists.

NEW! Open Studio

Sundays, July 12th – August 30th
2-5pm
Minimum donation: $5.00 per hour, if you bring your own supplies; $10 per hour, for use of Pigeon Arts’ Studio supplies

Create in community with other Pigeon Arts’ students! Jesse will be present if you need some advice as well. Call for entry to use the space.

Private Instruction

Available Afternoons, Evenings and Weekends.

Please visit our CLASSES page for more information and our REGISTER page to reserve your space!  If you have any questions, please feel free to email Jesse White, Director, at Info@pigeon-arts.com or use our comment form.

We hope to work with you soon!

Jesse White is thrilled to serve as a “Master Teacher” for the Methods Practicum Lab portion of the BuildaBridge Institute.  She will be modeling for Institute participants a mini-course for 5-8 seniors entitled “Self-Portraits: Visual Storytelling through the Altered Book.”  Here is a short description of the course:

Our stories are like our shadows; they travel with us wherever we go.  They are the less corporeal pieces of our person.  In this workshop, we will make our stories tangible, creatively capturing pieces of our historical selves.  Through spontaneous exploration of our stories through creative writing exercises, we will find our voices in the written word.  We will then illustrate our words through the use of collage and/or paint in a structurally altered book.  As we re-create a book, we may find a re-connection to the intuitive and spiritual places with us.

BuildaBridge is a non-profit 501(c)3 arts education and intervention organization that engages the transformative power of the arts to bring hope and healing to children, families, and communities in the tough places of the world. BuildaBridge motivates, enlists, trains, and connects those with artistic gifts with those in greatest need.

BuildaBridge Institute is a research and training institute designed to prepare artists, social service  professionals, community and congregational leaders, youth workers and non profit organization personnel to integrate the arts effectively in education and community development.  BuildaBridge Institute embraces the power of the arts in community outreach by teaching arts based tools for healing and empowerment, and efficient ways to implement them, to better serve those in need.

BuildaBridge Institute 2009
“Transforming Lives Through the Creative Arts”
Bryn Mawr College - Bryn Mawr, PA
June 3-7 (Open Institute)
June 3-10 (MA in Urban Studies Graduate Residency)

For more information about BuildaBridge and the BuildaBridge Institute, please visit: http://www.buildabridge.org.

The “Trans Altered Books Project,” funded by the Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant, offers those who identify as Trans to participate in a nine-week Altered Books Course by Pigeon Arts’ Director, Jesse White.

This project, designed for the Trans community of Greater Philadelphia, will offer participants the opportunity to explore self-identity and combat self-stigmatizing labels. The project includes creative writing exercises, focused on positive self-identifying roles. From what is written, participants will construct their stories through the creation of altered books. Each artist will transform an existing book into a new work of art through multiple techniques: painting, drawing, gluing, cutting, folding, layering, collaging, adorning and more! Having doors and drawers that open, inserting mini-books and pockets, and other techniques will help artists to create incredibly distinctive, functional pieces of art.

Healthy and nurturing communities are born from healthy, self-aware and enthusiastic individuals. This project offers trans people the opportunity to safely explore their own self identities and how that relates to the larger communities of trans people, LGBT people and the general community of people living in the Greater Philadelphia area. The goals of this project are to provide a cathartic and healing creative experience that will foster self-esteem, enhance each artist’s creative experience in a positive and lasting way, and to strengthen the group’s sense of community and supports for trans people.

Check out the Trans Altered Books Project page for more information.  We hope to see you this summer!