Buried Treasure

I've signed on to join with Seth Apter in his "Buried Treasure" project where participants re-post hidden gems from their blogs that may have been missed, or forgotten, over the years.

The following post dates from June 13, 2009 and documents the culmination of an artful journey I made with seven other artists, who all met on a mixed media Etsy forum, and decided to create a group canvas. The traveling canvas made its way to eight states and received a signature component from each artist.

This project was more than an artful experiment for me, it was the beginning of friendships that grew ever stronger over the years. Granted, there are some members of the "sisterhood" whom I connect with infrequently, and some not at all, but many with whom I enjoy online chats regularly, among them my very close friend Pam Carriker (who was the brains behind this original idea :)

Sadly, all eight sisters never did collaborate again; but on a high note, three of the sisters met in real life at last year's Art Is...You Retreat in CT and this coming October FOUR will meet there! Also, the canvas and journal were ultimately auctioned off with the proceeds benefitting breast cancer research. A worthwhile ending to a wonderful project.

I hope you enjoy this post I've "dug up" from the past and make it a point to visit the other "buried treasure" via Seth's blog.

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This month's highly anticipated issue of Somerset Studio arrived in the mail today. It features a collaborative article entitled, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Canvas," which documents the journey of an art canvas that traveled our great land and was given artistic life by eight talented artists. It was my great joy to be among this group of artists, who began the journey as online acquaintances and completed it as close friends.



In addition to working on the canvas, each artist also created a journal page (front and back) to be bound in a journal documenting our sisterhood. The journal covers were made from scanned images of the canvas and embellished in a fanciful manner.


This project, having spanned many months, was such a joy and to see its culmination in print is so rewarding. I am bursting with pride on behalf of my "sisters" and look forward to collaborating again.



© Glenda Bailey, Pam Carriker, Kim Geiser, Denise Hayden, Nancy Lefko, Kathy Maximo, Alisa Nordholt-Dean, Jodi Ohl.