Yay! Desert Wisdom Cards — Now Available

October 23, 2013 by 3 Comments

The Desert Wisdom Card sets are now available. Printed in a limited edition of 26, and numbered and signed by me, the Wisdom Cards are featured in my Etsy shop. See the shop for more photos and full details.

Desert Wisdom Cards

I created my first Desert Wisdom Card in March of this year. It was the PLAY card and featured happy, pottery jackrabbits playing an assortment of musical instruments. The photo made me smile every time I looked at it, and I wanted to share that happiness, so I posted the photo on my blog. I added a quote, some musings on the benefits of play, and a few suggestions for adding play to one’s day.

In the next months I created a total of 24 cards, and I featured many of them on my blog from March through June. Then I worked on a template so that I could create a limited edition set of the Wisdom Cards. I wrote about the final piece of the puzzle falling into place when I shared about my letterpress discovery.

Once I printed the cards, I constructed a four flap portfolio to hold the set and tied the folio with a leather tie. There is also an attached milagro, or tiny miracle, charm. (These Mexican folk art charms feature natural symbols of the desert region.) The portfolio comes in a simple muslin bag for added protection.

Desert Wisdom Card - Delight

There are many ways to use the desert wisdom cards. A few suggestions include:

  • choose a daily card as a focus card during meditation
  • choose a card as a journal or art prompt
  • enrich your daily spiritual practice through contemplation of nature
  • inspire and nurture your creative muse

These cards are not only a wonderful addition to a practice of self-discovery and contemplation, they are also a work of art – modified book arts.

Please check out my Etsy store for more information or to order the Desert Wisdom Cards. Or contact me at bo(at)bomackison(dot)com with questions or comments.

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Watching Ink Dry

August 21, 2013 by 3 Comments
Drying Time on Drawers of Type Cabinets

Drying Time ©2013 Bo Mackison

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”
~ John Quincy Adams

Another look at the letterpress room at Whispering Woodlands. Isn’t this an amazing sanctuary?

The cabinets, a half-dozen metal cabinets, aged, battered with hard use, and yet fully functional, even beautiful. Each cabinet holds dozens of trays of type — mostly lead type, but there is a bit of vintage wood type, too.  Type for 6 point to 60 point. Each tray in precise order, so the same motion that fetches a Capital T from one tray would find a Capital T of a different font in the same space in any other tray. It’s the tiny organizational things spread throughout the entire process that I find so appealing.

And yes, in a letterpress room filled with a cylinder press, and a wall full of cabinets and other necessities, the most convenient drying spaces for the just printed papers are on pulled out trays. The rubber based inks are slow drying, and dry by actual absorption into the paper instead of drying upon it. A full day process. They are lovely inks to work with – smooth, slightly opaque, and forgiving of a beginner’s practices.

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Instructive Papers © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Finding a sanctuary, a place apart from time, is not so different from finding a faith.” ~ Pico Iyer

Truly, I do feel rather as if I am creating in a sanctuary – private, quiet. Just me and the letterpress, just the power from my arms and my body to turn the crank and “walk” the paper through the press. Then the process in reverse — walk back and crank in the opposite direction.

On this run, I did the words “SANCTUARY” and “LETTING GO” together, more because of the length of the words than the meanings. But I like the idea of working in my little printing room, repeating the same practice for each sheet of paper, while letting go of outside distractions, old conversations, difficult encounters, stinging words embedded in the subconsciousness. WOW! What a healing experience — running a letterpress.

Interesting that there is personal healing in the process, as I create this first edition of the Desert Wisdom Cards — cards which I hope will inspire self-discovery and inner healing in the people who work with them.

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Bo Mackison is artist, photographer, book-maker, naturalist, poet, curator, and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is learning the wonders of the cylinder letterpress, and also experiencing personal healing in the process, as she prints the Desert Wisdom Cards.

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A Letterpress Day

August 19, 2013 by 12 Comments
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Letter Press circa 1930s ©2013 Bo Mackison

On March 17th of this year, I made my first Desert Wisdom Card. It was on the theme “PLAY” and I included a photo of a bunch of pottery jackrabbits playing musical instruments. The photo made me smile every time I looked at it, and I wanted to share that happiness, so I posted the photo and my thoughts about play on my blog.

On March 20th I posted the second Desert Wisdom Card. The second one was on QUEST. A few days later I did a third. ATTENTION. And so every few days, for the next few months I wrote another card. I posted the last one, SIMPLICITY, on June 23rd. When the card set was complete, I’d created 22 cards.

During the summer, I experimented with many ways to create an art edition of the Desert Cards. I studied templates from indie games manufacturers. I created cards with photos and ink and rubber stamped titles. I did several renditions using photo processing software. None of the prototypes were quite right.

Until…

…I went to a book structures workshop at Whispering Woodlands in Verona, Wisconsin. Owner, book artist, and instructor Jackie Hefty showed us the many books she’s created and collected over the years. I was especially drawn to her many books printed on the letterpress. Later we toured her studio, and there, in a small room in the back, was her letterpress — ah, love at first sight!

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Imagination – Perseverance ©2013 Bo Mackison

And so the final piece of the puzzle fell into perfect place. I imagined printing the first edition of the Desert Wisdom Cards on the letterpress, and so Jackie and I made the necessary arrangements.

In the last weeks, I’ve learned how to set type on a composing stick, tie type, position type on the letterpress bed, and clean and work a letterpress. Currently, I’m printing the first set of cards. One page at a time, and a truly Zen experience — the simple yet precise machinery, the repetition, the rhythm.

When I took a few photos to document the process, I photographed two lines of type which I had tied together. (When I set the words on the press, I separate the words so I can print one piece of paper with two cards each time I crank the press.) I realized I had bundled the words “imagination” and “perseverance” together.

How appropriate, I thought, as I considered the journey of the Desert Wisdom Cards — from a vision in my imagination to their physical creation, a path which required lots of perseverance along the way.

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Bo Mackison is artist, photographer, book-maker, naturalist, poet, curator, and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is learning the wonders of the cylinder letterpress as she prints the Desert Wisdom Cards, two at a time!

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Simplicity – A Desert Wisdom Card

June 23, 2013 by 3 Comments
Simplicity - A Desert Wisdom Card

Simplicity in the Desert © 2013 Bo Mackison

Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more. ~ Jon Kabat-Zin

An intimate portrait of the desert floor reveals a microcosm.

Rocks, sand, dried bits of plants, shallow roots which disappear into the earth and then reappear a few rocks over, and delicate flowers sprouting the tiniest of blossoms. Simple, yes, but in this square foot of the earth there is a sense of grounding, of balance, and the cycle of life.

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity is not only about making space in your living space for living.

It is about making space in your life for your important work. It is about letting go of thoughts which rob you of valuable brain space and time. Simplicity means re-thinking your commitments so that you have the time and energy to focus on your priorities.

It means cleaning up loose ends – old promises, unfinished business, a recycled to-do list – things that seem important but remain in a circular file in your brain, stealing time and cluttering valuable space.

. . . choosing simplicity whenever possible adds to life an element of deepest freedom which so easily eludes us, and many opportunities to discover that less may actually be more. ~ Jon Kabat-Zin

SIMPLICITY offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art activities, calls for action:

  • Journal reflection: What time robbers or brain drains make it difficult to nurture the activities which support you, feed your soul and spirit, allow you to focus on the projects which serve you and others?
  • Begin a simplicity practice. Schedule open spaces into your day, times blocked off for pauses, daydreaming, or creative thinking spurts. These moments of quiet dwelling fill the well, charge your energy, give your brain a boost. If necessary, pen them on your calendar and respect them as you would any important appointment.
  • One more commitment often leads to another commitment, and another. Counter this chain reaction with chain art. Create a paper chain as a simple reminder of simplicity practices. Cut strips of paper approximately 1″ by 5″. In bold letters, write a message on each strip to remind you of the importance of simplifying your days. “See less, see more.”  “Simplicity = Freedom.” Add several phrases of your own. Then staple or glue the strips into a chain and hang where it is easily seen. A chain art reminder!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck  of Wisdom Cards. The first set, the Desert Wisdom Cards, feature a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

 

 

 

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Relationship – A Desert Wisdom Card

June 10, 2013 by 1 Comment
Relationship - A Desert Wisdom Card

Saguaro and Nurse Tree © 2013 Bo Mackison

All things carry the yin (femininity) while embrace the yang (masculinity).
Neutralising energy brings them into harmony.”  ~ Tao Te Ching

In the Sonoran Desert, the saguaro cactus sets seed and grows under the protection of another plant.

This larger plant is often a tree, and referred to as a nurse tree. As the saguaro slowly grows into maturity,  the tree withers and dies at its mature age. The relationship between the saguaro and the nurse tree supports continuation of life in the desert.

There are yin and yang relationships in nature, between people, and within each person. These relationships represent as paired opposites – masculinity and femininity, darkness and light, discipline and chaos. The relationships are not separate, but connected; the roots are intertwined. At times, one quality strengthens as the opposite quality wanes. A delicate balancing act, back and forth, keeps the relationship in equilibrium.

“Everything is integral and interacts with everything else. This means that nothing is itself without everything else. There is a commonality, an integrity, an intimacy of the universe with itself.” ~ Thomas Berry

Life is not an absolute. Neither are characteristics of nature, relationships between people, or one’s own identity.

Situations are seldom purely black or white, good or bad. There is a seed of sadness in happiness, a seed of fear in a courageous act, a seed of opportunity in failure.

RELATIONSHIP offers questions/reflections for journal writing and art activities:

  • Do a ten minute free write on this statement. “Every person shares characteristics of both the feminine and the masculine.”
  • Create a picture using only black, white, and shades of gray.
    • Leaf through magazines or newspapers, and cut out small sections of papers that are white, black, or any shade of gray. Cut the papers into 1 inch by 1/2 inch strips.
    • Choose a simple object — a coffee cup or a chair. Using the strips, create a picture blending the blacks, whites and grays. It can be as realistic or as abstract as you like.
    • Note how the blacks, the whites and the grays interact as you create, and how the many grays contribute to the completed project.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck  of Wisdom Cards. The first set, the Desert Wisdom Cards, feature a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

 

 

Filed Under: Desert Wisdom, Photography Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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