Squirrel & Nut Art Collective

Art Journaling Series: The Hero Journal

Intro meeting online for Q&A, etc.

This summer we'll take 6 weeks (or so) to meet more often for Art Journaling. Our meetings will be on Tuesday evenings (probably at the Can Opener), and you're welcome to come to the whole series or just a few meetings!

-- What's an art journal?
-- What's the Hero Journal?
-- What the heck is this series?

An art journal is like any journal, only using art and image instead of (or, more than) words and writing.

The Hero Journal is a clever idea that went around back in, what 2020? 2021? It was a Pandemic thing. It's based on the Hero's Journey archetypes (you remember this from middle school): The Call to Adventure, The Meeting with the Mentor, etc. It was a goal-setting journal, plus Hero-Archetype coloring book pages. :/

Nothing against coloring books; we all love 'em. But, you know.

We decided it was more fun to take the whole thing WAY too far.

So, this series will take us through some different iterations of the Hero Journey + Heroine's Journey motifs and themes. Each week we'll have a specific art activity related to one of the major themes, and in between, there will be online opportunities for other activities and discussions.

Some folks might enjoy doing this as a goal setting journal, while others might prefer to do it as a reflective or meditative journal. Or heck, both!

We'll start with a meeting online to ask/answer questions, gather supplies, and if anybody wants the cliff notes version of the Hero Journey themes, we've got you. Feel free to drop to just check it out. Super chill.

If you got here via the tags "Norse Mythology," "Fantasy Books," or "Creative Writing," I promise you I am doing my best! Meetup tags are the worst. I hope you say "Oh, this looks weird but fun" and not "Wtf? Why am I seeing this?"

Our Heroic Journeys begin!

We'll warm up with a hilarious group activity called "Face Jam" (from Lynda Barry's work), and then create Protagonists in our journals using collage and/or "paper-doll" techniques.

We can share ideas about how to set up journals, different ways to focus the project, etc.

Each week we will also invite participants to share a favorite myth, folk tale, or fairy tale!

The dates and times for the online Hero Journey meetings are flexible! Let me know if something different will work better for you.

Your hero meets a Mentor early in the journey! We'll think about where a Mentor's guidance fits in, in the real world, and play around with randomized mentor tables.

I'll demonstrate the "four panel comic" activity from Tivka Wolf -- a way to channel your own wise mentor!