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The Artists' Loft Ever since she read about the lost museum in Alexandria, Heather Blakey has been on a quest to re-establish a fragment of the 'House of the Muse' in Melbourne, Australia. The Alexandrian museum was, and remains, a beacon. No one is certain what the great institution looked like, but the Greek geographer, Strabo, describes it as part of a richly decorated complex of buildings and gardens. The whole complex was a centre of learning and research, organised into faculties, whose scholars were paid by the royal purse. The library's broader mission was to rescue Greek literature from decay. The artists' loft is a virtual world where Soul Food artists can claim space and decorate the walls of these cyber hallways with their rich writing and artwork. The Soul Food Cafe promotes and fosters creativity and encourages a diverse company to work in this collaborative environment. Advent Calendar
The theme of this year's Advent Calendar is Journey of the Heart. A group of courageous travellers packed at a moments notice and headed off for a three month trek along the Soul Food Silk Road. They discovered a road that twists and winds endlessly and met the Amazon Queen, a Hermit, a Mystic, Gypsy Travellers, Fortune Tellers, a Bath-house Madame, the Sacred Warrior Knight, the Mistress of the Wardrobe and many more. This year's calendar preserves the journey of these travellers and provides everyone else with the opportunity to pull out their visual journals and participate in many of the activities they undertook. Each day a new bright light will appear on the calendar and open a new link.By December 25 the heavens above the Silk Road will be aglow. There will also be opportunities to join bloggers in order to complete activities and interact with the Silk Road travellers. Don't wait for invitations! Be assertive and contact Soul Food's Webmistress, Heather Blakey, for more information Enjoy! SoulCollage®.
Fall in love with yourself one SoulCollage® at a time. Visit a SoulCollage® Playground today. Visit the Armory During the 16th Century the craft of armor making reached a peak with armorours not only producing armors for war but elaborate ones for parades. All the armors were carefully designed to give as much protection as possible. The shape and surfaces were planned to deflect a blow. Pieces that covered the head and chest were thicker than the back plate where there was less danger of serious injury. Creative armory draws on the principles of this timeless art. In this project the object is to protect the fragile creative spirit from attack by disparaging forces. In this project you will use a range of materials to defend and keep would be assailants out. Your armory will protect the creative spirit from almost any siege. Make creative armor Magic Writing Tram
To participate in the primary school writing program clamber aboard the Magic Writing Tram, designed by Greg Blakey, and do some of the exercises that you will find on board.
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Walk on the Wild Side
Meet Shari Vogt Shari Vogt believes that everyone is an artist. Everyone naturally creates. Whether it be a comforting home environment, a delicious batch of cookies, a sculpture, a song, or a gentle caress that communicates compassion, we all create. And it is that essence of creativity that is a form of communication that comes from our souls. When Shari creates, she may not know what she's creating at first. It may not come to her until she's finished, or even days later. Shari sees her art as a communication from her soul, almost like a dream is a communication from the subconsious. And it is through those communications that Shari learns to see the world and the people and nature around her in a whole new light, a warm and loving light that unites us all. What Shari enjoys doing second to creating is inspiring others to create and to give. Through FoundArt Shari has formed a global community of artists who give without expecting anything in return. Members of the site leave their art in public places for others to find and enjoy. The surprise of finding something and then realizing it was left intensionally often leaves the finder with a sense of connection to others and optimism towards the community. "Others" are no longer nameless people who could care less. There's now at least one person out there that does care, who took time and effort to create something just to make another's day. Visit Soul Food Artists Little Spirit Art Project
Stephanie Hansen likes to tell me that her eclectic Papier Mache Little Spirit People are dead easy to make and that she is not particularly clever. Well Steph can go on believing that. I personally love the quirky, eclectic, original things that she has a habit of making. Readers of Soul Food will surely remember the collaged perfume boxes that she presented for the 2004 Advent Calendar, not to mention her Double Dare Greeting Cards and fun House Project. So when she started showing some of us at Soul
Food her latest Papier Mache work I got down on my knees and begged her
to have a showing here on the site. Steph can never refuse my 'Puss in
Boots' of Shrek fame look. Participate in
her workshop now. I love a sunburnt country...
Celebrate being Australian, learn about Australian History and discover the essence of creativity all at the same time. The Dig Tree, is etched into the Australian pysche as one of the greatest ironic tragedies. Dig and unearth some of the secrets of creativity. The Dig Tree was designed by Greg Blakey, a talented design student, with flair, imagination and the ability to meet the needs of his clients. Greg has created, amongst other things, Soul Food's zany Magic Writing Tram.
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Soul Food Art Rooms
Are you interested in joining one of the Soul Food Art Rooms? If so simply contact heatherblakey at dailywriting dot net for details. Mail Art at Soul Food
Manhole Cover Project
Manhole Covers Project - "The notion of our inner world being beneath a manhole cover is one way of explaining why some of us are reluctant to enter an inner world. Some of us may be prevented from doing this because the manhole cover is so tightly fitted, so heavy, that we quite simply cannot go within". Visual
Journal Lounge Help Build the Do you long for the contemplative solitude of a monastic retreat? Would you be interested in exploring and following the Soul Food Way? If you wish to join the Lemurian Abbey send an email with the subject heading 'Soul Food Way' to Heather Blakey for details. Footprint Challenge. Artists who participated in the Footprint Challenge were sent a small stash of paper, fabric and oddments together with a shoe insole. The challenge was to make something with this. The morale of the story is that when you challenge an artist to make something out of nothing you can expect to be surprised. Community Literacy Initiative Soul Food is releasing creative writing magic by providing a community literacy program to over five hundred students in Melbourne's Northern suburbs. A cursory glance of the work completed amid the participating schools will reveal the success of the innovative Writing Passport Program which marries literacy with the visual arts. This program promotes positive habits of the mind in order to develop creative thinking and self expression using a wide range of materials. An important side benefit of this program is that students gain self awareness, self confidence and they become more socially resilient. 2004 Advent Calendar
Soul Food was proud to launch what will become an annual feature. The December 2004 Advent Calendar was full of projects that have been test run during 2004 in Melbourne schools, and features the work of artists from around the world. The 2003 Advent Calendar is another valuable resource for those looking for ideas and inspiration. Make sure to let all you friends know about these fabulous calendars or print and bind them and give them as a gift.
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