Mauerwerk Atlas

DRAWING FROM LIFE

DRAWING FROM LIFE

Published by Princeton Architectural Press 37 East Seventh Street New York, New York 10003 For a free catalog of books, call 1.800.722.6657. Visit our web site at www.papress.com. ©2005 Princeton Architectural Press All rights reserved Printed and bound in China 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1 First edition No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews. Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copyright. Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions. Editing: Jennifer N. Thompson Design: Min Lew and Manuel Miranda Special thanks to: Nettie Aljian, Nicola Bednarek, Janet Behning, Megan Carey, Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu, Russell Fernandez, Jan Haux, Clare Jacobson, John King, Mark Lamster, Nancy Eklund Later, Linda Lee, Katharine Myers, Lauren Nelson, Molly Rouzie, Jane Sheinman, Scott Tennent, Joe Weston, and Deb Wood of Princeton Architectural Press —Kevin C. Lippert, publisher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data New, Jennifer. Drawing from life : the journal as art / Jennifer New. p. cm. ISBN 1-56898-445-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Drawing—Themes, motives. 2. Notebooks. 3. Diaries. I. Title. NC53.N49 2005 760—dc22 2004025202 Photo Permissions All images in this book were made available courtesy of their authors who retain copyright of their materials, with the exception of the historical images appearing in the introduction. Pg. 15: John Muir journal by permission of the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Libraries. Copyright 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust. Pg. 16: Leonardo da Vinci notebook (Arundel 263 f. 270v) by permission of the British Library; Lewis and Clark Journal (Codex J, p. 93: Eulachon [917.3.L58]) courtesy of the American Philosophical Society Library. Pg. 17: Frank Hurley journal by permission of Mrs. Mooy-Hurley, with the assistance of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales; Thomas Edison journal by permission of the Thomas A. Edison Papers, Rutgers University.

To Isabella s e a an and Tobias ob a —May —Ma yy you ua always ways b be beautiful, a t f l, inquisitive nq q i i ve creatures. t r s

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they do not even amount to a writer’s journal. Rather, they contain the emotional stuff of everyday life, a young woman’s search for self: some whining and self-pity, a lot of fretting, and occasional joy. Unceremoniously, I keep the books—no two are alike in size or color—in a cardboard box along with old calendars and address books, which serve their own journal-like purposes. But only rarely do I open them. Their pages makes me squirm. There goes Blindly in Love at 19, followed by Depressed and Searching at 24, and Confused about the Motherhood Decision at 31. Yet no matter how discomforting it is to revisit these earlier selves, I’m pulled into the narrative and read on in order to remember what it was like to be me at those different junctures. In her pitch-perfect essay, “On Keeping a Notebook,” Joan Didion says a journal has no use for anyone except its keeper; who else would care about an overheard conversation at a hotel hatcheck some twenty years earlier? Much of a journal’s information is lost even to its author. And yet, Didion argues, it is crucial in the way it helps us to reconnect with our former selves. “I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be,” she writes. “Whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 A.M. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.” When I visit my old journals, what attracts me most are the random images stuck into the pages. Usually these are free-floating, loosely folded, and tucked between pages rather than glued. A newspaper photo of a homeless man circa 1991 plants my feet back on the Seattle streets of my early twenties, passing the empty-eyed men and women panhandling outside my apartment building. A tissue-thin bag from a patisserie in Aix falls out of another book, and a cream-filled cake blooms in my mouth. But I did not so much as mention the pastry or even the shop in my written entry of that day in France. I came to realize the full potential of visual journals when, in 2000, I wrote a book about Dan Eldon, a photojournalist killed on assignment. Though his legacy is complex, he is most remembered for his collage-style journals, which he began early in high school. As his biographer, I depended greatly on the journals and was forced to interpret their mosaic story lines, sorting truth from half-truth from flight of fancy. Even when Eldon proved an unreliable narrator (most of us are), I returned to the journals again and again. The pull was magnetic. Not only were they beautiful, but they contained his

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breath and spirit. From them, much more than via any photograph or friend’s recollection, I could feel his presence. Because Eldon was such a visual person, the journals served as a window into his creative process. I could glimpse how he saw his world: a telephone looked like the horns of a water buffalo; an old man in East Berlin the Devil. As all young artists do, he was developing a language of symbols largely impenetrable to casual viewers. The journal held the key. This is the appeal of visual journals to outside viewers—the opportunity to see how a person operates. As one contributor to this book, Thomas Oslund, told me about his own readings of master architects’ sketchbooks, “You’re looking into somebody’s life. It’s a lot different than looking at a finished drawing. You can start to see and almost understand how the ideas evolved into the building.” This book seeks to take advantage of the opaque quality of the visual journal and to shed light on the complex creative process of their diverse authors. Rather than being organized by genre or vocation, such as artists’ books, travel journals, and scientists’ field books, the order magnifies parallels between seemingly unrelated kinds of authors. It asks: What can be derived from viewing the pages of a physicist and a songwriter side by side? A quilt maker and a cartoonist? In part, what came into focus for this author after looking at hundreds of journals was a four-pointed hierarchy of reasons for keeping such a book. At the top of the circle (and it is circular, since a journal keeper can enter the process at any point) is observation. The journal keepers in this section are engaged in close observation of the self or the natural world, looking at the color of clothing on a city sidewalk or the cloud formations over a Western mountain range. Observation quickly moves into reflection, the consideration of the significance of the thing observed: I know what it looks like, now what does it mean? Observation and reflection are the primary kernels of nearly every visual journal. They are followed by journals of exploration and creation. Journals of exploration may be literal (a record of a trip) or figurative (a playful investigation). Either way, they help an author to look outside his or her usual confines and to revive the senses. Filled with colors and collage, these are often the most vivid journals. By comparison, journals of creation tend to be a tangle of black and white lines, hastily drawn in the midst of realizing an idea. Many visual journals can be placed in more than one of these categories. Obviously, we move through the stages fluidly. The journal keepers here are

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arranged according to which reason for journal keeping most strongly propels their book. And while this is not intended as a how-to—most of these books are much too personal and pragmatic for replication—there are certainly many creative seeds to inspire readers. My own journals have evolved, both since writing about Eldon and interviewing the contributors to this book. I have become interested in what a journal can help me learn about how I view my world, and what trace it can leave for others. Having children has made me acutely aware of a journal’s transparent, blueprint qualities. I have exiled my old, ranting entries; they did me little good for too long. In their place are three journals: one is work-related, a no-nonsense black book; another is for recording my children’s everyday activities, moments I do not want to forget but know I will; and the third is digital, a project inspired by two contributors to this book, for which I take a daily photograph of our domestic life. The latter two journals have taught me to look at my kids with different eyes. When I try to capture what these early days of childhood look like, I stand apart from them, outside my role as mother, becoming sociologist, artist, therapist, and documentarian. This idea of inspecting life’s smallest details is the most vital role of the journal. Too often, we go blindly, numbly through our days, unable to recall the shape of a peach eaten at breakfast or the color of a co-worker’s sweater. The people featured in this book spend considerable time observing and recording what so many of us never notice. They hone their sensitivity, allowing them to dig deeper into their craft. Great wisdom comes from looking closely at our world, and yet those engaged in it go largely unheralded. Perhaps because they are our Cassandras.

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Visuall journals jo r als are a created r a ed in in a secret e r t language la g ag of of symbols. ymbol Intentional In en io al or not, o, they are a e private p v t maps ap only on y their h i makers ma e s can an follow. o ow No No one ne else l e can c n look o k at a a page and an understand un e s a d the t e specific e fic meaning m a i g of o a punching p nc ng bag b g or o a set s off ar arows. And And no n one on else els can a remember membe the h moment mom n off its i s making. makii g Joni J ni Mitchell Mii chell blaring g on on the h stereo. t r o Sage S g wafting w f ng in n a hidden i d n garden. g r en The T e discomforting d s om r i g echo of o last l s night’s night n gh s argument. argument a g me t That a said, aid d visual vi ual journals jou n ls may ma provide r vid stronger s r n e records e o d of of the h cultural c l u al milieu u in n which wh h they t ey were w r created c e t d than t a their h r purely p r ly written wr t n counterparts. c u t rpa t Rather er than t a describing e c i ng the h stuff t f of o the t e day, day d y they t e are r often t n made ma e from f m it. it Any A yone who who has h s used u ed primary rim r source o r e materials m t rial for f research r s a ch knows kn ws this. hi h s The Th Th dif d fference c between e we n reading e ng about bo t someone’s om on s life i e and nd opening pe i g old, o , yellowed y l we lettters iss startling. startling t r i g When W e pressed r s e flowers ow r and an handwritten ha dw t e recipes e p escape e c pe from r m a tattered e ed envelope, n elo e one n can a almost lmo t see ee hollyhocks holll h cks growing g owi g in i the h garden ga d n and smell me bread r a baking a i g in n the t e oven. o e . Worn W r newspaper ew p pe articles a t l s give g v a stronger s onge sense off the h day’s day ay s values a u s than h n any a y historian-digested hs o a i e t d primer p me can. can a Butt all of of these h s things hi h g are r found f und in i scrapbooks, c a b ok letters, l t e s and a d even e en calen ale dars. So, S , what wh iss a journal? j r a Several e e a people pe p e related e a e that h their h i journals j u n l had h d been supplanted s p a t d by b email. email em i One n man m n who w keeps k ep dream d e m journals u na on n individual n i u l sheets so off p paper, pe some o eo off tthem hem p poster-size, s e iz , argued r ued convincingly o vin ingl that h t his h hi work k constitutes i u e a journal, jou n , as a did d d another a o h r who wh keeps k p computer c pu e spreadsheets spr a sh e s off his h daily activities. activities a t v i s When Wh n asked a k d for f r definitions, definitions efi i o s people’s people pe p e s responses p n e were w varied v re and metaphoric: m t pho i A habit. habi b A map m p of of consciousness. c n io sn s Internal In e n l maps. m p A security e uiy blanket. e . Memory M mo y banks. b n s A one-stop n - op shop. hop One e man m n who wh keeps e p a variety a e y of o journals—large als—large a s— r e ones o e for o recording r c r i g things h ng of o interest t r s from f om the h newspaper, newspaper ew p pe tiny n ones that tha operate p r t as a to-do o d lists, l li , medium m di d um ones o e kept ke t by b the the telephone t lepho e for f r doo do dling—asked, —a k d, “Doesn’t D e n t everyone e y n keep e p a journal?” jo r a ? Meaning, a i g, g whether wh t e we e call c l it a journal urnal u na or o not, not n don't don do t we we all l keep k ep something om t i g that a serves s r e itss purpose? p r o e If we w work w rk with wi h the h broadest br ade possible p s ibl i l definition d fini i n of of a journal—a jou n l—a place pla e where e we w record e o d personal p r o a reflections, r fl i n , observations bs r a o s of o our ou world, wo d, playful p ay l meanderings, derings d e n s and n plans—then an — e datebooks, datebooks a e o k notebooks, notebooks n t b o s sketchbooks, sketchbooks sk ch o k , wall w l calendars, d r , letters, le s and nd address dd d r s books bo k can a all lll serve e v ass journals. jou n ls As As Alexandra Al Ae a d a Johnson s n writes wi in i L Leaving e v ng a Trace: T a e On On Keeping K epi g a Journal, Jou n , “A journal j u na iss as a much an n intention n en o to o record e o d and a d save s v ass itt iss a physical hy c l form.” form om Journal u n l iiss the h widest wid d s term, t r encompassing e c mp s i g di diary d a y, sk sketchbook ke hb hb ok,, and nd dn notebook t b ok. In his exploration xpl r t n of o written wr t n journals, j u n l , A Book o k of o One’s On ’ Own Ow , T Thomas om s Mallon Ma o writess of o the t e difference d f r n e between b tw e jjournal ournal u n la and nd d diary: diary d a y: “The The h two wo terms e ms are r in n fact hopelessly op le ly muddled. muddl d ed They The are e both b th rooted o t d in in the the idea id d of of dailiness, dailii e s but b t perhaps ps because c u e of o jjournal’s u n l s llinks n s to o the t e newspaper n wspape trade ad and an d diary’s a y s to od dear, a,

Naturalist N aturalist u Hannah a a Hinchman n h a h has kept e a journal o n forr more o than a thirty r years. y a . Her e daily d ritual t a off writing n aand d drawing w g anchors n h s her investigation n s g of both t iinternal e a aand external t n landscapes. a s a e

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the latter seems more intimate than the former.” He goes on to cite Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary, which defines diary as “an account of the transactions, accidents and observations of every day; a journal.” Author and cartoonist Lynda Barry refers to the writing and illustrations she does on loose, yellow legal pages as a journal, though she still pines for the diaries she saw as a kid at Woolworth’s. She hopes she might yet complete one of the three-sentence-a-day diaries and has two in her collection that she cannot bear to write in. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that looked as good to me as those tiny keys hanging on a string from the latch,” she says. “I still get giddy when I see diaries. There is something so hopeful about them. Diaries assume there will be a future.” Because of its largeness of purpose, a journal can include anything and the kitchen sink. Serving as a collection point for life’s contradictions, moments of intense feeling, and factoids that compel but seem without obvious use is one of the journal’s greatest virtues. In The Writer’s Journal: 40 Contemporary Writers and Their Journals by Sheila Bender, Naomi Shihab Nye remarks, “I’ve heard someone say that notebooks are the kitchen drawers into which we place all the little scraps of things—bits of string, ragged recipes, nails and screws, half-used birthday candles, coupons. Where is it? Oh, it must be in there. Where else could it be?” Or as illustrator John Clapp says of his journals, they “are a collection of things I’m curious about, like the Smithsonian: ‘the attic of mankind.’” In this way, journals serve as file folders for future works. Although Joan Didion disregarded the notion of using the journal as a savings account on which one can draw later with interest, it is clear that many artists do use their journals in this manner. Photographer Robert ParkeHarrison relies on his journal during every step of the creative process and values it above most of his professional tools because it contains so may unused ideas. “The journal is like the residue that goes into the making of a final thing,” he comments. In the earliest stages of brainstorming, he tapes in photocopies and magazine advertisements and writes in lines of poetry and descriptions of film scenes. These items that resonate for him may never go further than the journal, while others become the foundation for his photographic narratives. Scientist Erwin Boer fills a few notebooks a year (notebook, lab book, and field book are the terms of choice in the scientific community, though none of the scientists I interviewed balked at the term journal). Like ParkeHarrison, they are very dear to him as repositories of ideas. He does not return to them as often as the photographer, however, conceding that while the journals contain many publishable ideas, he rarely pursues them because after he has played with a thought it no longer holds fascination for him. Which touches on another use of the journal: they are a place to play, a safe haven away from our embedded editor. We vent and brainstorm and try on different guises in our journals. They are seldom read by others—unless we invite someone in or our trust is broken. In them, we are released from the obligation to create polished work or to play nice. Architect Anderson

Painter John Copeland started his journal as an art student at the suggestion of a professor. Though the books still further his creative exploration, they also serve as confidante and emotional punching bag.

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Kenny says that when he first began to keep a journal he found it liberating: “I was free between the pages.” Not surprisingly, several contributors talked about their journals as a meditative process. Kenny says, “I work in my journal every day. If I don’t, I feel a void. It’s like a prayer or meditation.” Renato Umali finds the process of reviewing his day via his journal meditative and grounding, a connection to self that he might otherwise lose. Several contributors are students of Buddhism who commented on the similar attention to detail necessitated both by meditation and journal keeping. As Hinchman has written, “Buddhists and practitioners of yoga have made it their goal to get past the needlings of nervous energy to a deeper layer of stillness.” A journal can play the role of teacher when one allows it to, whether in slowing us down or in re-training our eye. It assists us in seeing the unexpected, to revel in incongruities. Illustrator Maira Kalman refers to this as “the serendipity of life.” She always has a journal in hand to help her remember what she sees that might seem too fleeting to recall otherwise—the pigeon-toed girl in the purple pants clutching a pink notebook. Or, as she says, “what you’re not supposed to be looking at,” like the guard at the museum rather than the Rembrandt on the wall. Likewise, quilt maker Denyse Schmidt finds inspiration in unlikely places: the shapes on the backs of tractor trailers, the colors of ice cream. Not surprisingly, journal keepers tend to have specific material requirements about their supplies. Lined paper versus unlined. The thickness of the paper. Softbound or hardbound. All can make or break the experience. Several contributors were not choosy, but they were the exceptions. Geologist Rick Hoblitt, for instance, has relied on brown Department of the Interior DI-6 field notebooks throughout his career. For someone associated with quirkiness, singer-songwriter David Byrne displays absolutely no finicky behavior when it comes to his journals. He uses datebooks, legal pads, or random blank books picked up on the road. Others are more purposeful in their use of simple materials. Like writing guru Natalie Goldberg, who recommends plain-Jane spiral notebooks for their lack of import, Lynda Barry favors legal pads because they remind her that she’s just messing around. “Some diaries seem too good to use,” she says. “That’s something that’s always been a conflict for me. They seem so perfect until I write on the first page. Then somehow they seem ruined.” More often, avid journalers are on the brink of being book fetishists, collecting journals on trips and receiving them as gifts. They can recite names of companies that produce blank books the way some people know wines or shoe labels (care for a Daler-Rowney?) and are on more than nodding terms with a wide array of pens and art supplies; even the non-visual artists can be particular about their pens. They become excited and nostalgic when remembering stationery stores from past trips. Do you know the store on the southwest corner of the mall in D.C. that sells European notebooks? I go to a paperie in Paris off the rue de Rivoli and stock up. One serial journal keeper I

During an eight-hour layover in San Francisco, director Mike Figgis noticed these nuns and quickly sketched them. Like many contributors, he says he does some of his best thinking in airports

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spoke with panicked when the small-size notebooks he had been using were no longer available. He called the company and purchased the rest of their stock—all three hundred books—enough for the rest of his life. Hinchman and painter Mike Roberts make their own books—no need to worry about their going out of style. Director Mike Figgis was rhapsodic about the perfect Italian journal he had recently purchased. Many people mentioned having Italian journals in their collections, but most were hesitant to use them: “Too confining.” “Too beautiful.” Journal keepers are notably attached to the tactile quality of books as opposed to computers. “Show me a Palm [Pilot] you can glue stuff into,” photographer Lyle Owerko says of his choice to keep a book rather than an electronic organizer. Though digital journals, especially blogs, are the fastest growing form of journal keeping, many visual thinkers prefer to work by hand. A pen and its slower pace ground them in the process more than the machinations of a computer. Among the artist contributors here, most believe important lessons can be learned from drawing. As Andrew Swift, a medical illustrator, explains of his field, “You can easily make atmospheric perspective on a computer, such as in illustrating a cell, but you wouldn’t know to do that unless you’d solved that problem in traditional drawing first.” The journal helps us see. The act of putting something down in a book— sitting and drawing, finding the right words of description, mixing the truest colors—forces us to look so much more closely at a subject. Science illustrator Jenny Keller waits patiently at the window of an aquarium tank with a Pantone color book in hand to get just the right hue. Volancanologist Hoblitt makes cursory notes throughout the day when on assignment, then burns the midnight oil getting down the details as accurately as possible. Unlike Keller, who is working for clients, or Hoblitt, whose science is relied upon by many others, most of us have only ourselves knocking on the door looking for material. Still, we’d rather retain vibrant, lush memories than watered-down, clichéd ones. During her year-and-a-half-long bicycle trip around the world, Sophie Binder finished seven journals. The process slowed her already unhurried pace, forcing her to dig deep into a place and absorb the lines of its buildings, the color of the clothing, the scent on the wind. Even traveling through her hometown in southwestern France she saw things she’d never noticed before: “You sit in one spot and you’re paying attention to many things you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.” Thoreau is often considered the patron saint of the written journal. Walden, based on the journal he kept during his famous sojourn near a lake in the Massachusetts woods, is a celebration of close observation and a model for generations of followers, from conservationist Aldo Leopold to essayistpoet Annie Dillard. Every writer who has followed in Thoreau’s footsteps has done so with eyes wide open, intent on seeing things previously unnoticed. “How much virtue there is in simply seeing!” intones Thoreau, a line if ever there was one to tape on the inside cover of a journal. Dating back to their earliest iterations, journals have been steeped in

Though many people are guarded with their journals, others welcome readers and even contributors. Anderson Kenny invited his five-year-old neighbor, Chase, to add to his book because it would leave a stronger “imprint” than a loose drawing.

John Muir, founding father of the American conservationist movement, made precise pencil drawings in his field books, like this one of Mt. Calder rendered during his first trip to Alaska in July 1879.

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observation, giving them a visual nature even when they do not contain drawings. One of the earliest journals, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, by a member of the Japanese court in the Heian Period at the end of the tenth century, is resplendent with impressionistic threads, such as “…clad in Court cloaks that look lighter than a cicada’s wings.” Though her book was not unusual at the time (Thomas Mallon writes, “Japanese women were confiding their emotions to ‘pillow books,’ kept in a slipcase and away from a husband’s eyes, for centuries before there was anything like a tradition of diary-keeping in the West.”) Shonagon’s eye was notably sharp. Her journal was driven by a purposeful system, of which she explains: “I set about filling the notebooks with odd facts, stories from the past, and all sorts of other things, often including the most trivial material. On the whole I concentrated on things and people that I found charming and splendid; my notes are also full of poetry and observations on trees and plants, birds and insects.” Her purpose and method were not so dissimilar from that described by Leonardo da Vinci in one of his notebooks: “This will be a collection without order, made up of many sheets which I have copied here, hoping afterwards to arrange them in order in their proper places according to the subjects of which they treat; and I believe that before I am at the end of this I shall have to repeat the same thing several times; and therefore, O reader, blame me not, because the subjects are many, and the memory cannot retain them and say ‘this I will not write because I have already written it.’” Journal keepers with artistic and scientific bents acclaim da Vinci, much more so than Thoreau, for how widely he cast his sight and how magnificently he rendered what he saw, both real and imagined. Nothing was too small or too puzzling for his curiosity. He left behind thousands of sketches, many of them collected into codices by either da Vinci himself or his inheritors. Their subjects mirror his interest in anatomy, the nature of water, urban planning, flying machines, and the properties of color and light, to name a few. Da Vinci valued sight above all other means of perception. “The eye, which is said to be the window of the soul, is the main organ whereby man’s understanding can have the most complete and magnificent view of the infinite works of nature.” Ironically, da Vinci partly grounded his science and art in firsthand observation, as opposed to the day’s reliance on books by learned experts, because he could not read Latin proficiently. His practice of empirical observation, so apparent in his journals, revolutionized many areas of study. Centuries later, Thomas Jefferson was certainly under its sway when he wrote to Lewis and Clark as they organized their momentous journey: “Your observations are to be taken with great pains and accuracy to be entered distinctly, and intelligibly for others as well as yourself, to comprehend all the elements necessary, with the aid of the usual tables to fix the latitude and longitude of the places at which they were taken…. Several copies of these as well as of your other notes, should be made at leisure times and put into the care of the most trustworthy of your attendants, to guard by multiplying them against the accidental losses to which they will

Around 1517, in his role as "first painter, engineer, and architect" to the King of France, Leonardo da Vinci made these sketches for a completely new city, Romorantin, to house the royal court.

What has come to be known as Lewis and Clark's journals were contributed to by many of their party, as well as by the two explorers. Hand drawn maps, flora and fauna, and the occasional canoe all make appearances in the journals.

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be exposed. A further guard would be that one of these copies be written on the paper of the birch, as less liable to injury from damp than common paper.” Heeding Jefferson’s instructions, Lewis and Clark’s journals survive to this day, including notes from both men and five other members of their party. Lewis, who was prone to moodiness and melancholia, made particularly keen observations about flora and fauna. Clark’s notes, which suffer from poor spelling and grammar, contain more sketches. The result of variously tempered and differently skilled authors keeping a lengthy record of one trip has allowed for a more composite picture of what was encountered on the historic exploration. Exploration and its modern cousin, travel, have made for some of the greatest journals. Frank Hurley, for example, kept a journal of the harrowing 1914 Imperial Trans-Arctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton. Hired as a filmmaker-photographer, Hurley brought photographic plates and film canisters, the bulk of which had to be abandoned when the team’s ship sank in frigid waters and supplies were pared to absolute essentials. His journal, then, provided an important window into the ill-fated trip. The appeal many journals have for outside readers lies in voyeurism. A journal that lacks this eavesdropping characteristic can be disappointing. I remember finding a copy of a great-great grandfather’s diary and being terribly let down when it recorded little more than the weather and the health of the cows on his farm. Unless one is interested in the style of a specific artist, sketchbooks often lack the personal element. Two notable exceptions, both cited frequently by artist journal keepers, are Delacroix’s of his trip to Morocco and Frida Kahlo’s visual diary. The former, resplendent with color, reminds modern readers of how sensually evocative travel was prior to frequent flyer miles and CNN. The artist returned to it for years, its themes and palate reoccurring in his canvases. Kahlo’s journal, dense with psychological imagery, offers clues into the painter’s highly autobiographical work. Maintained during the final decade of her life, it served as both artistic playground and personal sounding board. While such historical examples are some of the inspirations cited by contributors to this book, others are more personal or less well known. The surrealists’ game of the exquisite corpse and its emphasis on the subconscious were mentioned by several contributors, as was the work of designer Edward Tufte, artists Joseph Beuys and Anselm Kiefer, and composer John Cage—the latter not for any journals of his own but for his philosophy that art is more about perception and the way one interacts with the world than about what one makes. Professors, colleagues, and family members were also frequently mentioned as models for journal keeping. The most important inspiration to Robert ParkeHarrison was his grandfather, a landscape painter in the Ozarks, who left behind journals that ParkeHarrison copied as a teenager. “I was so impressed by the constant observational notes he kept, the charting of his vision throughout his creative life,” ParkeHarrison recalls. “I am drawn to

Frank Hurley, expedition photographer to an exploration of Antarctica, made drawings in his diary prior to leaving dock. When the Endurance and her crew became trapped in ice for ten months, eventually sinking, the diary proved more important than ever.

On July 17, 1877, Thomas Edison sketched and described a device that would record a telephone message and play it back slowly enough to write down. The next morning, writing again in his lab book, he realized he had not just invented the world’s first answering machine but the first phonograph.

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how someone’s entire visual thinking lives on beyond them—all of those steps, those daily steps that led up to the finished work.” Once again it is the opaque nature of the journal that appeals to outside readers—the series of stepping stones laid out for us, the map with most but not all of the lines connected. Since da Vinci, creative thinkers have been producing these intimate, unpolished works for which an outside audience is either unanticipated or an afterthought. The journal’s primary purpose is to serve as a place for its author to sort ideas and observations. An internal dialog runs through its pages, of which one contributor said, “It’s the only truly frank conversation I can ever have.” In the end, journals may show more fully than any finished piece what it has meant to be us.

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More intrigued by the human element are Martin Wilner, Renato Umali, and Masayoshi Nakano, each of whom has kept daily recordings of various aspects of urban existence. Wilner draws his fellow New York subway passengers, while Nakano’s daily walks through Tokyo are a means for connecting with history. Umali has tracked his life since adolescence and, as is probably true of all these journal keepers, is heartened by the ebb and flow of the natural cycles he encounters. Life offers a myriad of patterns, but our eyes must be open to see them.

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Maira M a Kalman’s Kalman Ka m n s days d y are a e filled fi ed with w h visual visual-information v s a information i f r a i n gathering gathering. g t e ng As A she h once n e ttold l a magazine, ma a i e “I was a out u walking w k n the h dear e r dog g and a d I saw aw five ve hundred un r d t i g that things h t made m d me m want wan to t make ma e art. art.” a t She h finds nd beauty b u y in n simple m l items i em the t e r s of rest o uss are a blind l n to: t : the h long o g ice ice-cream c -cream r am spoon spoon, po n square square-toed s ua e toed o d shoes shoes, s o tea pots pots. p . Her H e journals j u n l provide p ov e a glimpse g mp e of o what wh t itt must m s be e like i e to o rove r v the h world wo d with wi h s ch visual such i u l perspicuity. sp u t When W e crowds r wd at a a museum u um gawk aw att a famous am u paintpaint an iing, ing g Kalman Ka m n sketches s e c e the h guard guard. u r Presented r s n ed with w h tea tea, t a she sh draws d aw the h tray tray’s ta s ccontents n en before e o e eating e g a morsel. mo e To o replenish p s her e visual su diet, i Kalman K l an travels r v l frequently. f e u n l Recent e n trips t p have a b n to been o India India, d a Israel Israel, s a l Japan Japan, J p Russia Russia, u s a and an France France. F an e In one on journal journal, j u n l she s e recorded r c r e ssome me of o the t e items t ms bought b u h on n recent r c n excursions: ex u n “The h odd d fez, e string, t n book, b o c a r vase, chair, v s , pairr of o shoes, s o s pair pa of another n t e shoes, h e , a bag, ag another a o h r bag, b g different df n bag, a tumbleweed b bag b ew e from om Texas Texas, T x s a ball b of o twine twine, tw n a doll doll’s o ’s outfit o fi from f m Tennessee Tennessee, e ne s e a polka-dot p l a d t ball, l a polka-dot p ka plate, l t a model od house, o s several s v r sets e s of pillowcases, p l wc s s a flute, fl t , a clock, l c a lemon lemon-yellow mo -yellow e ow silk s k chaise, a e a stack s a k of o magazines, ma a i e , shampoo, ham o c nd i n r (leave conditioner l a e in n and a d wash wa h out) out), o t a relish r l h spoon spoon, s o a Queen u en Mary M r mug mug, m g phopho ph ttoss of o Russian R n dogs…” d g And An that’s h t only n y half a f the h list. s W e h r traveling Whether r v n abroad b o d or o by by subway u ay via i her he home h me in n the t e West We t Village, V ag Ka m n makes Kalman ma e quick u pen-and-ink pen p and an -ink k sketches sketches. s e c e In n recent r c n years e r she she’s s e s become b c me an avid a v d snapper s a p of o digital dg pictures. i u e All A off the h images m g she s e creates c e t s go g into i t the h e t n e catalog extensive c t og she he keeps e s in n her h r office, f c which, wh h in i addition d i on to o the he chronochrono h on l g c l shelved logically h ve journals journals, j u n l includes n ud s “millions” millions i i n ” of o reference r f en e files fi s filled fi ed with w h magazine m a a i e tear t a sheets, s ee postcards, p s c r s photographs, p oo ph and n other t e scraps. c a s The T e files fie h ve titles have i e like k Old l Men Men with w h Canes Ca e or Fake a e Flowers, F ow r and n Kalman a ma can a never ne e a cp anticipate how h any n off these h s items em will w work w k their t e r way w y into n o one o e of o her h projproj po ects. e t A man m n she s e once o c drew r w from f om a restaurant e u a t window, w n ow for f r example, x mp e has ha since sn e a e r d in appeared n several s v r l books o s and a d illustrations. l sr t s Given i e her e roving ng curiosity curiosity, u i s y it i is i not no surprising s r r g that t a Kalman a m n does d s not o relish e s tthe e confines c n ne of o a quiet qu t office. o fi e “I “ like l k to t write r in i public u l places l c s where w e e there t e e iss a t o around action ou d me me but u I can c n also a s focus f c s on o my m work, work,” wo k she he says. a s She h often t n works wo k o the on h subway subway, u wa which w i h is is, s she s e notes notes, n t s “a a good oo place p a e to t think think. t i k It It’s I s a catalyst a y t for o ssorting r ng out o t my m thoughts. h u h s People P p are r zoning o i g out, o t and a d almost am everyone v r o e looks l o s i t r s n and interesting nd real. real.” e l In n fact, a t her h r children children’s c i r n s book b o Fireboat r b a was w s written w t e almost l o t e r y during entirely d r n one n forty forty-five-minute y five fi e minute m nu e ride i e between b t ee her he home h me in n Manhattan Ma ha an and the a t e outer o t r reaches e h s of Brooklyn, B o k y filling l n much m c off a journal. r a Att heart, h a t all a off Kalman Kalman’s a ma ’s projects, p o e t which w ch include n d New ew Yorker Y r er ccovers, overs, v r , des g s for signs o the h company o pa y started s e by y her h r late a e husband husband, h s an Tibor i o Kalman Kalman, a m n and n public u c murals, m u a s are a e about bo t looking o k n compassionately om a s o a e y att the he world w r d and nd finding fi d n beauty e uy i unexpected in n x e d places. p a e . As A she sh wrote wr t in i her e journal j u n l in n preparation p e a a i n for o a public pu i ttalk, talk l “II am m what ha I am m because e a s there h r is a never never-ending ne e ending en ng parade p r d of humanity um n t tthat a I can c n record, r c r draw, r w engage n ag in.” i Whether Whe h r it is a Turkish u k s bath ba h in n Paris, P r , an a o d Spanish old S a i h mission m s i n in n California, C l o n a or o a Piggly P g l Wiggly W g y in n Mississippi, M s p i Kalman K l n c p u e what captures w a she sh calls c l “the the t e serendipity s r n i i y off life life.” i .

MAIRA KALMAN

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MAIRA KALMAN

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MAIRA KALMAN

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Each E a h morning m r i g Christopher C s o h r Leitch L i h writes wr e down ow an n objective e t v non on analytical na t c ssummary mma y of o the t e previous p e ou night’s n g t s dreams. r am . Itt iss a practice r c i e started t r e when he Leitch e c wa seventeen was e e t e and n knew n he e wanted wa t d to o be b an n artist a i t but b t was w s not n t sure u e yet y t wh t that what ha meant meant. me n Few ew members mem e s off his h family a i y had ad been e to college college, o eg and n most m s of o what w h t he h knew kn w about a ou art a t came am from om his h grandmother r n mo h r and nd mother. m t e “My My mom m m wa a real was r a craft c a t queen, queen,” ue n ” he h remarks r ma k fondly. f nd . “If If I we we needed n e ed something, om t i g we we made m ade a e it it.” i ” The T e ongoing o g i g dream d e m journals j u n l have a e since s c served e v d as a an n important mp r a t corner o ne s o e for stone f r his i art. a t His H s daily d i descriptive e c i t e texts t x s provide p v d images m e for f r drawings, da i g ccollages, collages l e and n constructions constructions. o s r c i n He also a s makes ak s suites u t s of drawings d aw gs that h t feature ea iimages g s of o a given g en person s or o object b e from r m a dream. de m T e drawings The da g are r done o e on o a variety va e y of o media, me i including u g large l e panels, p n l f u d booklets found booklets, b k t , and nd other h paper a scraps c a s he h finds finds. n s Despite De p e their t e r unbound nb u d qualqual q iity, y he h considers o sd both b t the h written r t n dream d e m text e and nd the h drawings r w ng to t be e part p r of o a journal: ou n “They They h y formally f r a l adhere a e e to o the e traditions r d t n off bookmaking. b o ma i g They Th y are a wo k on works n paper paper. p p r There T e e is i a well well-established we established e b i h d history hs in n the h fine n arts r s off varivari v r ous and o a d diverse d v r e works w s being b i g collected c l c e into n folio, o o suite, s i e or o booklike bo k k formats om t f r viewing for i w ng and d preservation, pe ev n and n my y efforts e f t grow r w from f om an n awareness aw r n s off that h t ttradition.” radition a i o . Leitch’s L t h s renditions e d t o s of specific s e i c dreams d m are r often t n hard h r to o decipher. d c he He e pur p rp e posefully y makes m k s text t x illegible, i e i l not o out u of o a sense s n of o privacy r a y but b t more mo to o mimic mmc t e gauzy the g u y quality q i y off dreams dreams. d e m “Looking Looking o k n att text e t you y u can can’t c n t read e d iss very v r frustratfrustrat fu ta iing. g It’s I s meant me n to t be,” e ” he h says s y off the h works. w r s “We “W sense e s that h our u dreams— r am — e en our even u waking w k n life life—must e—must m s mean m a something, o e h n but b t as a we we live, i e I think h n we e figure fig r o we out we can an never ev r know n what.” what w a After A e so o many m ny years ea off writing w t n down ow hiss dreams, d e ms Leitch’s L ic aptitude a t ud forr r c l n details recalling e a s from r m them h m has h s been b en finely ne honed. on d No No element l me t iss too o small ma forr mention. m mention e t o He H notes no which wh c side s d off a room o m he h was w s standing nd n on on and nd what w a he e was wa wearing. w e r n Of O special s e i interest ne to o him h m are a the h juxtapositions x ap s i n conjured o u ed in n dreams, d e ms t e mundane the mu d ne coupled ou ed with w h the t e intensely n en e y magical. m g c “I’m I m always a wa s intrigued n r g e by y h how the h chemical h m c l soup ou of consciousness o s i u n s can a stir t this h up up,” p he h says s y off the h unun n llikely e y content c n e t of o dreams. d e ms T e discipline The d c p ne Leitch e t h has h s built b in i keeping e p n the h journals j un has a seeped e p d into n o his hs wo k with work w t textiles t x i s and a d cloth c o h objects objects. b e t Just u t as a he he never n v r interprets n e p e a dream r am but rrather t e documents o um n s itt as faithfully f t f l y ass possible, p s i e he e believes b i v s his h s fabric a r design e i n is i n personality not personality-driven. p r o a i -driven. r v n “I “I consider o s d r my m fabric b i to t be e diaries d a e in themselves, themselves,” h ms l e h explains he explains. x i s “I’m “I m printing r n n with w h natural n t r l dyes dyes, y made ad by by organisms r an ms that ha live l e on o tthe e surface s r a e off fabrics. ab c I try t y to o remember r mem e that t a I don’t d n t always lw y need e d to be b doing on s me h n . I set something. e up u the h conditions o d n and n then h n step s e aside. aside.” s ”

CHRISTOPHER LEITCH

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CHRISTOPHER LEITCH

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Wha color What c l r was w s the he ring i g around a o n the h eye? y ? Jenny e n Keller e e will w prod r d a marine m rn b o o i “How biologist. ow much mu h branching b c i g was w s there t e e in n the t e rays ay of o the t e tail t i fin?” fi ? Many M n s i n scientists s are a e not n able b e to o answer a sw r her h r questions, ue t n at a least l a t not o with w h the e kind d of o s c c t it specificity i would wo l take a e to o create c e t a realistic r a s c illustration illustration. u t t o . Keller K l r iss dismayed d ma e by b y such u h paucity p c y of o visual v s a information. i f a i n She S is i reminded, r mi d d not no for f r the h first r t time, i e o Darwin, of a w n who ho said a d of o the t e famed am d B Beagle eagle g expedition, x ed i n “From “From r m not o being b g able a l to o draw, d draw aw a great g e t pile p e off the e manuscript m nu c p from om the he voyage o g has a proved p ov d almost a m s useuse us lless.” s If I he h had a had ad Jenny e y Keller K l r along, ng there e e would w u d not n t have h v been e n a problem. p em I her In e drawings d aw n s you y u can c n smell s l the h salt a and n feel e l the h force e of o a slippery, s p y coral coralo hu d fin hued fi ass itt darts a t through h g shallow h l w waters waters. aes Keller e grew r w up up in n the e mountains m un a s of o Southern S e n California C o n with w h a scientist s e s f t e and father n an n artist a i t mother. m t e From r m a young y un age, ag she h carried a r d a travel r v art a pack a k wi h her with e everywhere everywhere, v r wh r content o t n to o curl u l up u with wi h her h book o k and a “leave “leave e v the h adults d l tto their h r conversing.” c n e sn In I college, o e e stymied ym e by y the he choice h e of o a major, ma r she s e tailored t l r d he own her ow degree e r e in n science s i n e illustration l r t o at a the h University Un v r t off California, i , Santa an a Cruz, C Cruz uz and a d now n w teaches a e in i the h certified c i e program r g am that h t was wa born bo n from r m it it. i EighEigh gh tteen e years e r later, t r she s e also a s works wo k forr clients c e t that t include n ud the t e Monterey Mo t r y Bay B y Aq a um and Aquarium a d National Na o a Geographic. e g ap c Keller e mainly m n y illustrates lu t s creatures c e t r s who w o reside r s d near ne her e coastal o s a home home. h me Rarely R a e does o s she s e draw d aw exclusively x l s v y from f o photos, ho because e a s important m t n details e a s are ae i v r a l cut invariably c t off. o . “If If I you y draw d aw it, it,” t ” she he explains, xp i s “you’ll “you ou ll see e the h whole wh thing. hn You’re Y You u re r more e thorough thorough, t o o gh you you’re y u re r thinking t i k n in a different f e e t way way.” w y ” So So, she h takes a e her he jjournals u n l with wi h her on n initial n t a site s e visits, v i s making ma ng notes. n s After A t r discussing i c s i g the e proj p je t with ect w t an n art a director, c o she h sketches k t h s the t e creature. aue Regarding eg ng the h necessity e e s t of o those h s initial i a drawings drawings, d aw n s she sh says says, s y “Even Even v n if i I do o a sketch s e c that h t iss not that h t wonderful w nd r or o detailed, d t i the h practice c c of seeing e i g itt move, m e t e contrast the c n r s between be w en colors, o o s what wh t a fin n looks o s like e when w en it it’ss extended extended—all x e d d—all a o this of h helps e p me me to t get ge the t e gist g t of o it i in a really r a y important mp r a t way way.” wa ” During D r n these h s visits, v s s Keller Ke e also a s gets e s out u her e Pantone a t n color o o swatches sw t h s and a d holds h l s them he up p to t t e tank the tank’s t n ’s window wi d w with wi h the h aquarist q i t and nd art a director r c o looking o i g on. o She S e says y it i is i he “insurance” her “insurance n u a c ” iff someone s me n disputes p t s a color o o she s e uses uses. u e When W e she h needs e d a break r a from om the he minutiae m n t e of o her he professional p o e s o a work, wo k Keller K le o t n takes often k s a journal o r a outside. o t i e Though Th u h she s e considers c n i e s her h r personal s a drawing d aw n r l x d and relaxed a d sloppy sloppy, s o p which w i h iss like i e imagining ma i g Emily Em y Dickinson D k n on on n a wordy wo d day day, da sshe also a s understands un e s a d itss value v l e to o her h r art a ass a whole: w o e “I “ adore ad r the t e facts f c off na n t r and ture n do o not n t want w n to o escape s ap them, t em but bu I also o need n e to o spill p l my my guts somesome s me t m and times a d explore e p o e my my heart heart. ea . As A I tell e l my m students students, ud n s this t i can c n make ma e you y u a better b t r absorber a b o b r when w e you o return e u n to o a project.” po c.

JENNY KELLER

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JENNY KELLER

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JENNY KELLER

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I 1980 In 9 0 Rick R c Hoblitt ob t was wa a junior n o member mem e of o the h United Un ed States t t s Geological G o o i a SurS v y (USGS) vey ( SG ) in n Washington Wa h n t n State. S He H would w u d have av been be n considered n de e too t o green ge n t be to e included n l d on on a team e m for f r a volcanic o c n c eruption r p i n except e c p that h he e happened h pp n d to t ha e done have d n hiss dissertation d s e a i n on o the h volcano v a o in i question: qu s on Mount Mo n St St. Helens Helens. H l n So o when w h n the t e long-dormant on o ma t volcano o c n began e n to o reawaken r aw k n in n March Ma c and n on n May Ma 18 1 p od c d the produced e largest a g s eruption up o on n the t e U.S. U S mainland ma nd in n recent e en history, h s o y Hoblitt H bi was w as a there there. h r More M r than t an twenty we t years e r later, l t r Hoblitt H b i has a been e n to t the t e biggest b g e t eruptions e u t ns off ou time: our t m : Pinatubo, i a ub Montserrat, M n s r a Popcatepetl. o c t p t Usually s l he he hass gone on as a a memmem m be of ber o the t e Volcano V l a o Disaster D s s e Assistance As s a e Program r g am (VDAP) (VDAP), VDA ) a USGS U GS program g am iinitiated i a e after f r more mo than h n 23,000 2 , 0 people e p e died d d at a Nevado e ad del de Ruiz, R i in n Colombia, C l mb , wh r villagers where l a e s living v ng on n the t e volcano volcano’s v a o s flanks a s were w r insufficiently s c e t y warned w r e off t e danger the d ng r off mudflows m fl ws caused au e by y an a eruption eruption. e up o Among mo g his h s colleagues, l a u whose ho e notebooks n b o s rarely e y see s e the he light gh of o day da beyond be o d t e r own their wn research r s a c needs, e d , Hoblitt Hoblitt’s H b t s journals u n l are a e renowned en wn d for o their h i thoroughthorough t o o gh ness. n ness e s They They’re T e re e rife i e with w h facts f c s and nd impressions mp e s ns but u make m k no o pretense pe s at a being en artful. a t u During u i g an a eruption, e up o he h can ca fill fi l one ne off his h USGS-issued SG - su d notebooks n t b o s in n less l s t an a month. than m n h He He tries r to t chronicle h o c e every e e y event ve t off his h day, a , making m k n skeletal k l t no notes and a d then t e filling l n in n the h gaps a when wh n time t m allows allows. l ws The T results r s l s are r what w a he h ccalls l “myopic” my p c views ew off these h s significant gn fi a t but u relatively e a v l rare r r events. v ns He was wa not o always a wa s so meticulous. me cu u St. S Helens e e s made ma e his h journals a what w a t e are they are. r Although A h ug the h beautifully be u f l symmetrical ymm c volcano o c n was w s crawling r w g with wt geologists g e og t once n e itt rumbled um l d to t life, l e no no one ne kept ep good g od notes, o e not n t even v Hoblitt, Ho l t wh calls who a s his h notebook o e oo of o the h event ev n “inadequate.” “inadequate. n de u t And An yet, e more m r than t an two wo de a e later decades later, t r Hoblitt Ho i still t gets e s requests q e t for f r his h St St. t Helens He n notes o e from om other oh r sscientists, i n s government go e nm n officials, o fi i l urban r a planners, l n e s and a journalists, j u n l t , all l of o whom wh c n gain can g i from om understanding u d t nd g the t e series s r s of o events. e ns W e Hoblitt When b t was wa deployed e l y d to the t e Philippines P i p i e eleven l v n years y a s later a e to t help ep ssett up u an n emergency e ge c monitoring on o g station t t o of Mount M u t Pinatubo, P n t b , a volcano o c n with h no historical no i t r a eruption, e up o he h did d d not n t make m e the h same am mistake i t k twice. w c When W e the h fi s major first a o eruption up o occurred occurred. c u r d Hoblitt Ho l t was w s somehow s me ow able a to t scrawl scrawl, c wl “8:50. “8:50 : 0 The Th ffucker c e blows!” w while w l driving r i g away aw y in n a car.. For F several e e a days, da s he h and n his i VDAP VDA c l e g e charted colleagues h r e the h volcano volcano’s v a o s eruptive e u t e reawakening r aw k n n around r u d the t e clock, c k o t n with often w t the h most mo t rudimentary ud m n a y of o tools tools—their t o s—their h r senses senses. s n e “At At At the h height e g t of o the t e cclimactic ma t c eruption r p i n all a but bu one on of o our u instruments i s r me t had ha been be n destroyed d s y d by b the t volcano,” v volcano, l a o ” he h recalls. ca s “I “I was wa sitting t ng there h r in n the h dark a k recording e d ng times me off earthearth a t quakes, q quakes u k s holding h l i g a flashlight fl s l h in n my m mouth u h so o I could ou write w t in i my m field fie book book.” o k” The h drama r ma at a Pinatubo P n t b was w s extreme. e me At At many m ny eruptions, r p i n Hoblitt H b t has ha “more mo e time more t m forr geologizing. geologizing.” g o o i ng In n Montserrat M n s r a in i 1995, 9 5 for f r example, xa p e he e was w s able a l t examine to x m ne deposits deposits, p s s the t e evidence e i e c off previous p v o activity a t v y that ha tells t stories o i s too o old o d for o written w t e history. h s o y Geologists G og t can ca not no easily e s y locate l c t the t e charcoal c a c a necessary ne e s r f r Carbon for Carbon-14 C r o -14 4 dating d t n on on Montserrat M n s r a because be a s the h Caribbean Ca bb a island island’s l n s vegetavegeta ve e a ttion ion o is i so o dense dense. n e Luckily L k y for o Hoblitt Hoblitt, o l t a hurricane h r c e cleaned l a ed out u a gully gully, u y allowing a wn him h m to t sketch k t h a stratigraphic t a g ap c section s c on and nd collect o l c deposits, d po t which w i h turned u ne out ou t be to e four ou to t five fiv hundred hu d e years e r old. d

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In recent years Hoblitt has given his passport a rest for a position at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Without the adrenaline of an emergency eruption, he finds it hard to keep up the necessary pace and attention for daily note-taking. In order to produce his VDAP notebooks, something always had to give. “Sleep. Food. Free time,” he ticks off his sacrifices with a laugh. “It’s quite a burden to keep a detailed journal.”

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RICK HOBLITT

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The T h life l e of o a freelance f e a c illustrator l s r o , workshop w r s op teacher e c e , and nd self e f professed p s ed amama tteur u naturalist a u a s does do s not n come om with i h fringe r n e benefits, b n fi s at a least s not n t the he monetary m n t r k n Hannah kind. H nn h Hinchman H n hm n iss characteristically c a a t r t c l candid a d d about o t the h drawbacks r wb c s of o s h an such n existence: e i t n e “I’ve “I ve e never n v r thought h ug t much m ch about bo t money m n y in i the t e bank bank. b nk As A llong n ass I had a enough n ug forr cat c t food o d and a d coffee, c f that h t was w s plenty. p But u now ow here e eI am at am a fifty fi t with wi h no n appreciable ap r c b e assets. assets.” a s t And nd yet e she h h has a a accumulated c mu a e assets s e that h tm many n people e pew would ude envy. envy v . Since i c sshe ew was a seventeen, s ve t e Hinchman H ch an has a been e nk keeping ep g journals. un She’s h sn now wa approach p r a hi gv ing volume l me seventy. e n y The T e books b o provide p o i e wry w y critiques c t q e and n sun sun-dappled u -dappled a p ed i u t a on of illustrations o a life l e led e largely a g y in i rural r r l and nd wild w d places places. p a e Some om are r worn wo n with wt ssilver ve electric ee c tape a holding h l i g their t e spines p n s (“I (“ don’t o take t k very e y good o care a off them,” h , s admits). she a mi Several Se e a have h v blowsy l ws covers c ve that h t look o k like i e they e were we e purchased p r h s a a stationery at s a i n r store o e in n the t e mid mid-eighties. m d eighties e g t e Newer ew r ones o e are r handmade h dm d by y HinchHinch Hn h man m a off thick, h c creamy r am paper a e and n silken l e bindings. i d n s All A l off the he journals o r a s have h v care a f l made fully m d title t pages ag s with w h Hinchman Hinchman’s H n ma s name n me and a d usually u u l y a dedication, e i a on a date, d t an a return and r t r address address. d r s The h earliest a l s books o k are r attributed a t bu e to t Hannah an a Woodthrush, W o t r s the he name m she h t o ass a teenager took e na e while wh e trying ty to t hammer amm out u an n identity d y for o herself e s f apart a a t f om her from e family a i y and nd peers peers. e “It It wass a bulwark bulwark, u wa k keeping k e i g out o t the he messy m s y common c mm world,” w o d ” she s e says s y of her e nascent a c n journal. u na “I “ fought ug t within w n myself my e so o as a not n t to t ge sucked get s c ed into n o adolescent o n stuff, s u f ambition, a b t o grades, r d having a i g life i mapped m p ed out. out.” u I s i e by Inspired y Thoreau T o e u and a d Emerson Emerson, Em r o as a well we ass by b a book b o off illustrated l s r t d woods w d llore r by by Ernest E n s Thompson Th mp o Seton, e o Hinchman H ch an dedicated d a ed herself e s l to t immersion mm r o in n t e natural the n t r l world w r d and nd “soul-filled soul o -filled l experience.” experience. e pe e e The h journals o r a s were w r more o e than t a j s a place just p a e to o record r c r back back-to-nature a k to nature na u experiments experiments. x im n s They T y imbued mb e experiences x ei n e ssuch h ass camping c mp n trips i s and a d bird b d watching wa c ng with w meaning, me n n helping h p ng her to o under u d rs a d what stand wh t she e was w s seeing. s en . Though h g Hinchman i c ma has a since nc filled fi l d plenty p n y of o pages pa e with i h soul soul-searching u searching s ac i g prose, p o e she h is proudest r u e t of o the t e pages p g s resembling r s mb n a scientist’s c n i t field e d book. o “The Th mo t excitement most e c em n I get g t from r m the t e journal u n l iss from r m on on-the-spot on the h -spot p t recording e d ng off things h ng t a are that r happening happening,” ha p n n she h says a s passionately passionately. s o e y “I “I think t i k of o myself my e f ass an a amateur ma u sscientist i n and n take a e pleasure p s r in i the h artistic, a t c scientific, s i n fi and a d intellectual n e ec con o vergence.” v vergence. r n e Indeed, n e Hinchman i c ma has a the h rare r ability b i y to o capture c p u e the he power w and a d g a e of grace o nature nature’s na u e s details e a s in n her h r art art. a . She he dives d e into n o the h sublime u l m without w h u coming om out o u the t e other o h r side i e covered c v r d in n sap. s p Read e as a single, g e continuing c n nu n oeuvre, oe v e Hinchman Hinchman’s H n hm n s trove r v off journals o r a s provides p o de a beautiful b au f visual i u example x mp e of o a woman w an growing r wi g older older. o . Over O e time time, me she she’s s es become b e o less l s self-absorbed s ab o b d and a d more mo e self-reliant. ef e a She Sh is i increasingly c e s n l more oe i t r s e in what interested w a the t e journals u n l can c n help h l her e learn l a n about a o t the he world w r d than h n about a u herself. h herself e e f Today Today, T d y her e observations o e v i n are r surgically su g a y precise precise, p e i e the t e work w off one ne who w o has h a honed h e the h skill s i forr decades. d c d Her e pen-and-ink e - n - n sketches k h s and d watercolors, w t r oo s c mb n d with combined w t graceful r c f l calligraphy, a i r p y remind mi d one o e of o illuminated i um n d manuscripts. m nu c p s Ra h r than Rather h n being b i g saturated s t r t d with w t the t spirit s i t and a d hues h e off religious e g o s scripture scripture, s r t r , tthough, ou h her h pages p g glorify g o f a spring s n meadow m a ow or o the t e multi-hued mu ue stones on s collected o c f om a cold, from o d western we n river. rv

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Aware of the evolution, Hinchman revisits her old volumes sparingly. “When I actually look over the juvenile pages, I cringe to appear so bloated with clichés, so obviously running on pure idiot idealism,” she confesses. Perhaps this is why so many people start journals but do not continue them: ghosts of younger selves are not always pleasant company. Hinchman knows, though, that the attention to detail she so values in the field has undoubtedly been sharpened through her unyielding, ongoing personal examination. The two are now tangled symbiotically.

The he dream d am was wa short sh t but bu its i effects f e s have h v been e long l n Martin M i Wilner Wi n r a psyychiatrist hia ri t iin h nN New Y York o k Ci City, C y awoke w ke with wi h a jjolt. olt H He h had ad d dreamt am that h h he e was wa llate t submitting ub i g an a article r c e to o an a academic c d mi publication, pu i a on, the t e JJournal u n l off Evidence E e c Weekly W Weekly. e l Coming om n to o consciousness consciousness, on c u e s he h realized e i e with w h relief i f that h t no n such su h journal o r a exists, xis s yet y t he h could c uld d not n t let le go o of of the the title. i le After Af turning t r ing it it over ve in i his hi h s mind, mind he h saw aw the he embedded mb d d acronym: a r nym JEW EW. A the As h child ch d of o Holocaust H c u survivors survivors, s r i o Wilner W l e believes be e e the h dream dream’s d ea s essence e e c wass a reminder. w eminde “Growing “G G owin up p for fo me m had had much mu h to t do do with with making makii g construc c n tu tive i e use e off my my time me and a d appreciating app p e i t ng the t e value v l e of o one’s o e s life i and n that h t of o every e ey life,” life f he explained explained. xp i e The T e dream d e m was wa an n echo e h of George G o g Santayana Santayana’s Sa t y n ’s axiom axiom, ax m “Those “ “Th T o e who wh h cannot c n t learn le r from f om history hi h t r are r doomed d do med to t repeat e e t it.” it ” Wilner W l e also s found o n a connection o n c i n between b e the t e dream d e m and n hiss dual d a interests t r ss in n psychiatry p y h a y and a d art art. a t Having Ha ng drawn wn since s n e childhood childhood, h l h od Wilner W l e initially i i a y felt f t pressed r s ed d to o give giv up up art r during du ing medical m di d c l school. chool In I doing doin so, o his hi h s grades r de plum plummeted m t d so s severely e e y that h t he h nearly n ly failed i e anatomy. n t my y Once O c he e began b ga g drawing d aw n g again, again ga he h excelled ex e e academically academically. c d mi a y By B the h time me of the e dream dream, d m in 1998 1998, 9 8 he he was w s busy b us with wii h hi his i psychiatric s chii t ic practice p a i e and a d the h he question q e ti n arose a o e again: a ain How How could o ld l he e make ma e art a despite e p t hiss harried h r ed schedule? c d l ? The e answer a sw came am in the h form rm of o a series e i s off small s a l notebooks notebooks, o eb o s all a off which w i h Wilner W l e titles t l s the he Journal o n off Evidence E d nc Weekly W ekll . Wilner W l e draws r w in n the h books o k during u i g his h s daily a ly subway s way trips t p ps from r m his h s home h me in n SoHo oH to his i office o fi e on o the h Upper p East a t Side Side. S d He e will w l not n t take t k the t e subway s bw y unless un s he h eh hass a jjournal o l in i hand. hand Upon Upo entering n e in a car, a he he begins b gin to t draw dr w and and works wo k constantly o an y throughout h ough u the h ride, d , his h fine-point n -po n pen p pe never ne e minding mi d ng the h bumps bumps and nd jostles jostles. o t s No o matter ma e how ow complete om l t a visage visage, v s g , he h finishes fin he drawing d aw n once n e he h comes om s to his his stop, h p noting o ing the h date da e and a d the the subway s b bw y stations s a io s in in a miniscule minis ule hand. an Every ve y fifth f h journal jo r a in the h series e e is an n accordion-style a c r i n yl book, o k, “to o allow a ow for o variations va a on on on themes h me that h t develop ev o in n the h interim n e m volumes volumes.” vo me . In these h s the h serpentine e p n i e pen p n line li l e never n v ends, e d continuing n inui g from f o entry n r to entry n r throughout h gho the h book’s o k s pages, p g s, with wi h only n y the he tiny i y notations n t t n providing pr v d ng a sense s n of o individual dvd a sessions. sessions e so s One O n of of Wil Wilner’s W n r’ ffavorite a o it aspects s e t of of the h subway subwa series s rie is i the h overlap o l p of of con c nscious c o s and a d unconscious u c n o s decisions. d c s s Who Wh will be e on o the h train t a n iss not n up p to t him, h m, but u whom w om he h will wi draw d aw is is. s How long o g a ride r e will w l last l s is i not n t up u to o him him, im but b t what wh t aspect s c of of a person p r o to o emphasize ph h si e is. i “The “Th T e journal j u n l plays l y upon p n the the tension t n ion be b tween we n predestination p e e t n t n and a d free f e will, wi , order r e and n chaos,” h o , he he notes. o e And A d although a o g gh they h y represent r p e e t the he diversity e s y of o New New York York, Y r Wilner W n r believes b i v s the t e portraits p r a t are ae ultimately l ima ely about b bo t hi him. h m “I “It “ t iiss my m eye y that h chooses h o subjects ubj c s preconsciously, p e o s i u ly my y mind m n that h processes pr c s e the h visual s a data, a a, and a d my y hand h n that h t renders e e the h image. m ge That ha is i why why, wh , to o a certain e t i degree degree, e r e all a artists r s s produce p o u e works wo k that t a in one n way w y or o another no h r are r self-revelations.” elfel tio s ” Wilner’s W l e people p op may m y seem e homely om ly at first r t glance. gl n e But u the t simplicity s mp p c y of o the t e books, books oo s with w t their h r clean c an surfaces u f c s (they t ey show h little t e to t no n sign i n of o wear we r despite d s t their h i d daily ily workout) w rko t) and and neatly e tl d drawn r wn covers c v r bow b bo to o life’s lif i ’ sanctity. s c it They Th h also l o acknowledge a k ow g itss absurdity. a s r i y A fan an off the he cartoonist a t o i t Robert R b r Crumb, C umb, Wilner Wl e

MARTIN WILNER

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sometimes exaggerates a feature—an oversized schnoz, a too-high Afro—and notes amusing and coincidental intersections, such as a lost-looking man sitting under an advertisement, “Could you have a head injury?” Wilner maintains several other daily projects, including Making History, for which he draws onto a monthly calendar something that strikes him from his daily reading of The New York Times. Compelled to start the project by the events of September 11th, he says, “[It] underscored for me the need to create some kind of ongoing historical visual account of the troubled world around me.” Like the JEW, as he sometimes refers to the subway series, the calendars are a way to mark time while also making something of it. Even at their grimmest, the drawings are underpinned with a deep appreciation for the value of life. And for time well spent.

MARTIN WILNER

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MARTIN WILNER

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MARTIN WILNER

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I started It s a t d with w t showers h we At A fourteen u t en Renato R n t Umali ma so o disliked d l k d bathing b t ng that h he began he eg n tracking r c i g how h w much uc time t me he e spent s en at a it. i Ass a competitive c mp t ve cyclist y l t in n h g school, high c o l he h kept e t charts c a t to t document o um n his i progress. p o r s . In n college, c l g concerned c n en d by his by i growing w n Burger u ge King K n consumption consumption, o s mp i n he h logged o g d his h s visits v i and n what w a he e ate, a e along a o g with w t his i sleeping s e p n patterns, a t r s car-related c r e a e statistics, t i t s and an a rating r t n of o his i da on day on a one one-to-five n -to o five fi e scale. a . When Wh n a girlfriend i f en complained c mp a n d that t a they t e were w r not no s n i g enough spending e o gh quality ua t time t me together together, o e h Umali Uma tracked t a k d how h w they h y spent pe t their h i ttime m and nd rated a e that, h t too. o Umali, ma now n w thirty thirty-two, t i y two, tw continues o t n e to track r c many man elements e em n s of his h life. f He H can c n t l you tell y u how h w many an eggs eg s he h ate a e last a t year y a and n how ow they h y were we e prepared p a e (forty (fortyo t ssix x eggs e g eaten a e scrambled mb e versus e s s forty-four o t r in n fried r rice), r c ) which wh h restaurants r s a r n s he h f e u n ed most frequented m s often t n ($215.45 ( 2 5 4 spent sp n at a Beans e n and nd Barley), l y whom w om he h talked t l e t (his to h neighbor e g b r and a d friend f e d Sarah S r h led ed the h list s for f r the he second e on straight s r i h year) year), ye and a n where wh he e slept. s The T e practice p a t e culminates c l a e in n the h Umalis, ma s a tongue-in-cheek t n ue n c e k aw r s ceremony. awards c r mo y Although l h u h Umali Umali’s Um l s tracking r c i g can c n seem s em like i e eccentric c en i navel navel-gazing, na e gazing ga n the he filmfilm fim maker/musician m a e /m s n is i earnestly e r e t y intrigued nr e by y the he projects r j c s and nd insists n i they t e do o not n t i t r interfere with w h his h s life. f “In In I fact, fact,” a , he e says, ay “it itt enriches e r he it. it.” i ” The T e quantitative q n t tv pa is easy part easy, a y just j s some s me quick q i k entering e t r g on o an n Excel E c l spreadsheet spreadsheet. r a s e t But Bu the t e qualiquali q ai ttative t v entries en i s are more m r meditative me i a v and n enjoyable: n o a : “They Th y force o c me m to t think hn ab u the about t e day d y and a d really r a y remember r me be what wh t happened. happened.” h p en d Every v r year e r he h tries t i s to o add a d one o e new n w element em n to o his i tracking t a k n journal journal. u a This hs year y a it was w s shoes. ho s At A the h end en of o 1999 9 9 itt was wa a project p o e called a e “II Learn L a n Some m t i g New thing N w Every v r Single g e Day, Day,” D y for o which wh c he he takes a e a daily a y digital d g a self self-portrait s l portrait po r i an combines and c b n s itt with w t one n sentence e t n e about a o the t e most m s important m o t n thing h g he h llearned a n d that t a day. da Whether W e h r looking o k n disheveled i h v l d in n his h s apartment a a en or o blinking bi kn i t the into h sun s n outside o i e a coffee o f e shop, s o , Umali Um i stares t r s unemotionally u em t a y into n o the t e lens. e I addition In d i o to o showing ow g his h s physical p y i a growth growth, g ow h he h also s hopes op s to o pinpoint p n o n momo mo ments m e t off emotional mo on growth. r wt “I’ve I e sometimes s me me wondered, w n ee W When h n did d d I get g the t e v l e I have? values h v ? That T a is, when wh n did d I know kn w that t a racism r c sm was w s bad; b d when wh n did ddI be o become anti–capital anti a –capital a i a punishment? p n s me t I hoped hoped, h p and n still t do do, o to t try y to t capture a t r such s h major m a o changes c an e orr discoveries i c v r e within wi h myself.” m s f” A music m s major m o in n college, o eg Umali ma cites t s seemingly s em n y unrelated un t d influences, nfl e c i c u i g John including J h Cage Cage, a Scrabble Scrabble, c a b e and a d baseball baseball. b s a “II loved o ed baseball a eb l cards c ds ass a kid kid. k You Y u can c n look l o at a fourteen-year u en y a career c r e and n tell so s much m c about b u how ow a life f was wa l d just lived u t by b the t e numbers, numbers,” n be he e notes. n t s Like L k baseball, ba e a , Scrabble ab e is i also a s about b u e e an e played elegance l y d on o a grid r off order order. r . Umali Um i competes om e in n Scrabble ab e tournaments t u n me t and a n says s ys his i journal j u n keeping k e i g has h s influenced nfl e c d his h s wordsmithing: w r sm h ng “It “ has a refined e n d my mind my m n to o think h n about b u letters e e s and a d words wo d and an helps he s my my brain b a store t r stuff s u f in n a particular p r cu r way way.” wa ” And A it it’s i s beautiful beautiful, b a t u , he adds adds, a ds intoning n on g vowel v we dumps dum s like i e poetry: p o “Eulogia, u o i aioli, i i oidia, o d zoeae.” e e The h beauty e behind b nd the h information n m t o he he collects o l c is part a t of o what wh t compels om s Umali. U Umali ma He e finds fi s itt reassuring e s u i g to so s clearly ea y be b able b to o watch w t h life life’s l e s ebb b and nd flow flow. ow And A n though h u h he’s h ’ pretty p e t certain e a n he h will i not o find fin it, he e still s l enjoys e j y trying y n to o p n n happiness. pinpoint a p n s “If If I track c consumption, o su p i n such su h as going g i g out o t to o eat, e t social s ca events, e events n and a d then t e correlate o e a e that ha with w t my m mood mood, mo d ostensibly s e s b it should h u d indicate nd a e what w h t makes ma e me me happy.” h pp ” But B t he h laughs ug s as a he h says a s this, t s and an the h sound s un of it ad i s both admits h the t e futility f t and n the h charm ch off his i undertaking. n e t kn .

RENATO UMALI

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Ma a s Nakano Masayoshi Nakano, k n , an n engineer e ne for o Hitachi H t c i in n Tokyo Tokyo, T k o began e a taking a i g daily d l wa k after walks a t r retiring e i n att age ge seventy. ev n y Mornings Mo n n s were w r devoted e o e to o the h diverse i es t u s through tours u h the t e Musashino, Mu a h n a wide, i e historically h s o c y rich i h region e n that t a is i dotted o ed wi towns with ow s stretching t e c ng from r m western we t r Tokyo To y to t the h mountains mountains. mo n a n . Afternoons A e n on were we e sspent n creating c e t n intricate i t c t maps m p depicting e i i g the t e walk. wa . In n the t e bound b u d pages p ge of o the h journals u na in n which w i h he h drew, d ew he he also l o noted n t d shrines, r e temples, em l s rivers, r v r and n other t e s g i c n sites significant sites. t s Like L k Bonsai o a gardens gardens, g r e s the t books b k were we e miniature m n a u e re re-creations e creations ce t n of real landscapes. o nd c p s The h practice r c i e was w s a way w y for f Nakano k n to o more m r deeply e p y understand u d r t n his i roots, r os s y his says i daughter daughter-in-law, da g t r in n law l w Emiko m k Nakano Nakano. k n . “He He He thought ho g t he h was a bred r d by b the h nature n a u off the h Musashino M s s o area, a e and nd so o he h wanted w n e to know n about b u it,” , she sh says, s y ad ng that adding h t “this “this h iss a very e y Japanese p n s way w y of o thinking, thinking,” t nk referring r f r n to o the h belief e e t a a place that p a e can c n have h v a direct r c impact m a t on o a person person. p on Nakano k n based a e his i walking wa k n routes r u e on n a two-hundred-year-old wo h nd e ye r l map, ap prefer peer n to visit ring i t streets s e t and n sites t s laden ad n with w t the h past. p . He H spent p n time me att the e library i r y an in and i the h offices o fi e off shrines shrines, h i e , furthering u t e i g his h understanding nd an ng off the he landmarks a dm r s he visited. h i t d H He eo only l rreturned t r e to o the h same am p place a ew when h nh he had a questions u si n a about b u iit. Nakano k n continued o t n e his practice pa t for f r almost lm s a quarter q a t r century, en u y finally fi a y abanaban a an do ng itt att age doning a e ninety ninety-three, n n t three t r e when whe his h s eyesight e e i h began be a to o fail fail. a . He H filled l d about a o t fforty r y books o s with w t his h s meticulous m c l u notations o a o and a d the t e small sm l black-and-white c - nd w i e pho hot g a s he glued tographs g u d in. i Although h ug they t ey were w r not o intimate i t m t by y many m ny standards, t nd s t e provided they r v d d distances d s a c s and a d facts a t not o very ve different i e e t from r m what ha we we might m g t find fi d iin a guidebook. gu b o . But B t to o the he elderly l e l engineer en ne r they h y were we e personal, a because e a s they h y we e based were b s d on o his subjective s b e t v perceptions. p ep o s And An that h t was w s their t e undoing. nd ng Finding i d n little t e value v ue in n them he beyond e n their h r making making, m k ng he h burned u n d all a off them h m except e c t for o one on completed c mp e e book. o k It I is i hard a d to o imagine ma i e the t e destruction d s uc o off the h i t c t maps, intricate m p the h years e r of o work, o k the h complex c mp e memories em r e and an knowledge n w ed e he h s r l built surely u t up u during u ng that h t time time. im But u Emiko mi o says ay her h father father-in-law f he in i law w never e e made ma any a n pretense p e e e off being b ng an artist. a t “His H s curiosity u i s y was wa strong,” sr n she h says, a s “but “ u he e d d not did n t fixate fi a e on things. things.” t i g .

MASAYOSHI NAKANO

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MASAYOSHI NAKANO

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In n his h journals journals, r a John J h Copeland o e a d broods b o ds about bo t his i paycheck paycheck-to-paycheck a c e k to t -paycheck a c e k existence, x s e c laments am n s about bo t late-night aen indulgences, n u g n e and a d negotiates n g t a e with wi h the h creative r a ve force o c that t a seems e ms to o both b t buoy u y and a d tear t a at a him. i Though T o gh you y u would w u d not n t know n it from om the he darkness kn s of o these h s pages pages, a e , Copeland C p l n is quite u t successful su c s u for his hs age. g He H has a been e n a regular eg l contributor o t bu o of o editorial ed o i illustrations us a i n to such u h publica p b i ations on as a The h New N w York Y r Times Time imes and n The he Nation N ti n since s n e the h age g off twenty, we t and nd now n w also l o teaches e ch s part part-time t time t m att Pratt r t Institute Institute. I siu He’s He H ’s quick qu k to t dismiss d sm the t e illustrations illustrations, lu r to s however, ow v (“It ( I pays p y the h bills”), i s ) and a d makes ma e clear c e r that ha painting p i t n and an drawing d aw n are r his i real r a loves, v s both o h of which wh h derive d r v from om the h journals. o r as T i k with Thick w t gesso gesso, ge s ink ink, n watercolor watercolor, w t r o r glue glue—you g u —y you u name na e it it, i he he’s s used s d it it—the t—the h smallish ma i h books b o s are a a sort o off diary-cum-laboratory. d r - um a o a o y Although A t o h one o e senses n e the h tenacity e a i y with w h which wh c Copeland o e a d attacks a t c s their he pages, a e , the h same am energy n r y that ha he h takes a e out u on the h Everlast v a t punching n h n bag a appearing p ea n throughout h o gh u his h s journals journals, o r as there h r is also s a distinct i i c discipline d s i l e to t them. t em He carefully c r u l starts s a t with wi h a neat, e t w i white, narrow n r o border, o d r a safety s f zone z ne between e we n mayhem ma h m and n the h centuries centuries-old e t r s old od practice r c i e that h t iss the e artist artist’s i s sketchbook sketchbook. k h o k The Th pages a e are r numbered num e e in pencil e l and nd usually s l titled. t d C pe nd started Copeland t r e keeping e p n the h books bo k ass a student t d n att the h California a i r i College o eg off the h Arts A s in n the t e mid mid-1990s. m d 1990s 1 9 Though h ug their t r ostensible o en b e purpose p r o e is to t explore x e mediums m d um and an styles, s y e they’ve h y v also s become e om a therapeutic h ap u c outlet, o t e a quality qu i y Copeland p l n readily d y acknowledges. a k ow e g s He He sometimes m me looks l o s through r u h old o d books o s and a d thinks, thinks h n s “Jesus, “Jesus e u what wh the h hell e was w s wrong w o g with w t me? me?” m ? Coding Coding, Co i g layering layering, l y r n and nd omitting mi i g names n me all a l make m k the h images m g s more mo e ambiguous mb g ou than t an they h y initially n t a y seem, ee allowing l wi g h him m to o feel f e ccomfortable m o t b e sharing ha n them h m with wi h anyone ny n interested, i t r s e including n ud g would-be w would u d be b clients clients. i n s “People “People e p e respond r s o d to t their h r honesty honesty,” h n s y he e observes observes. o s e “I’ve I ve v gotten ot n more m r jobs j b through h o g them h m than t an via i my y regular r g l r portfolio; p r o o people pe p e sense en e commit omm m n and ment n vigor go in i the t e journals. journals.” un l ” C pe nd hass learned Copeland e r e discipline i c l n from f om the h books o k and nd works w r s in n them t em every ve y day. ay “They h y are a e somewhere m whe I can c n concentrate c n n a e my efforts o t and a d see s e things t i g evolve v ve and nd develop, develop,” ev op he e says s y of their h i effect e e t on o the h rest r s of his i art. a t “They “They e build bu d a very v y palpable a p b e momentum momentum. mo en u When Wh n you y u get g t a series e i s going o n well w l itt encourages e c u a e keeping e p ng each a h page p ge up to t a certain c a n level e e and n can a become e om addicting.” d i i g”

JOHN COPELAND

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More M o e than ha midway i wa through h g a project p o e t to o photograph p o og a h everything e e y h n he he eats a s for o a year, y a , Tucker T c e Shaw Sh w says s y he e can c n now n w “see ee a story t r in i a bagel.” ba e ” What Wh t began g n as a pu documentation pure o um i n has h s taken k n on o a deeper d p r meaning m an g for f r Shaw, ha , who w o carries c r e a dg digital camera am r with wi h him im att all a times t me so s he e can c n snap s a a snack sn c or o a four four-course u -course o r e meal m e l before o e indulging. nd l ng “The T process The p o e s has h s become b c me more mo important mp r than h n the t e product, product,” p o u t he e says s y off t e photographs the p oo ph he he began g n taking k n in i January a u r 2004 2004. 0 4 “II never e e expected x e t d to find fin sso much m c to consider o s d r in n my my food, o d such u h as a the t e meaning me n n off the h same am bowl bo l of o o tm a every oatmeal ev y morning. morning.” mo n n Though h g he e had h d never n v r kept k p any an sort s off journal journal, o r a Shaw h w was wa drawn r wn to o the t e project p o e t because c u e of o his h s love o e for o food. o d “A “A good o eater,” a e ” he h says s s he e loves l v s e e y h n about everything b u food food—cooking, o d—cooking, o k n shopping, o p n , restaurants restaurants—and e t u an —and an all a l variety a i t of o f r from fare f om haute u e cuisine u s n to junk u k food food. o Shaw h w noticed o c d that t a when he he e went w n on n vacation v c o he e often o en photographed ho r p e things h n s he h ate a e and a d those t o e images mag s turned u n d out o t t be to e his h favorites. a o t s “They “They T e were e e the t e most m evocative,” evocative, v c tv he h notes. o e . “A A picture c u e of o a meal me helped e p d me me to o remember r me be who wh I was wa with with, wi h where wh r I was was, wa and n what w a sort s r of mood o o I was w s in.” i Although l h u Shaw Sh w believes b l e e part pa off the h beauty e u y of o his h s project po is that h t food o d is i universal—“Everybody u universal n e s l— Everybody E e yb d eats eats”—and a s —and a d thus t u crosses o e cultural c l u a lines lines. l e His H s food o d diary da y is no o doubt d u affected a e t d by b the h fact c that h t he e is i single s n l and an living v n in i New ew York, Y r p o i i g him providing h m with w t a greater g ea selection s l c o off food o d than t a he e could c u d have h v almost a mo t a yw e in anywhere n the t e world wo d and a d no n p personal e on strings rn sa attached a h tto meal e l time im or o menu menu. en The h project r j c has h heightened h i h en d his h awareness wa e e s of o what wh t and nd when w en he h eats. e t . Aw ke in Awake n the he middle md o of tthe en night, g t h he’ll he ll sometimes o e im s pause u eb before o ep photographing oo ph n a bowl b wl off cereal e e (the t e most mo t frequently r q en y occurring o c r n item); em “Do Do Do I want wan people p o to o know k w that t a I’m I m eating e tn n now? ow ” he’ll h l wonder. wo d r Besides B d s this t i self-consciousness, s l c n c o sn s he’ss a h he also s become e om more mo e curious c r u about b u food, o d n never v r turning u n ng down ow the h opportunity p ot n y t eat to a at a someone someone’s o o e s house ou e orr try t a new ew dish dish. d h On n a recent e en trip t p to t Montana Montana, Mon a he h became b a e bent b n on n catching c t h n a fish fi h so s he e could c u d photograph p o o r p it before e o e preparing p a ng a and cooking c ok g it. i Friends r d with i h whom w om he h regularly e u a y eats e t have ha e become b c me accustomed c us ed to o Shaw Shaw’s S aw s rritual. ua When Whe the t e food f o arrives r v s at a a restaurant r s a r n and an they t ey want w n to dig i in, he h ma e them makes h m wait wa while w i he e moves mo e glasses g a s s out o t of o the t e way wa and an adjusts ad s s a shot. ho Th pause The pause, pa s he e believes believes, b l e e forces o s them h m to think h n about b u the h food f o in n a way w y most m s of uss rarely o a e y do these t e e days. d y “I feel f e like i e my my grandmother r ndm he making ma i g people p o l say a grace,” g grace, a e ” Shaw S aw half h f laughs. a gh “It’s It I s as a though t ou h I’m I’m saying a i g there’s there t e e s something om t g here. h r Let’ss all L Let l just j s notice n c it for f r a moment moment.” m me t

TUCKER SHAW

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Marcy M ac K entz n z says ay her h r sophomore s p om r and n junior u o years e r of high i h school s h o were we e rocky o ky She got S g kicked k e out u of o school o l and nd ended nd d up u in an n alternative a e na v program. r g am Real R ai ng that izing h t her h r education u a on had h d come om to o a halt, a t she s e managed ma a ed to o re re-enter e enter e t r the he fi s school first school, o l despite d s i e her e discomfort i c m o t there there. h Through T r u it i all all, a , she e retreated e r a e to o her e jjournal: u n l “I “ drew d ew and a d wrote w o e horrible h r b e things, ng like k a broken b ok n open o e skull k l with w t the h wo d I‘ have words, ha e planted p n ed a karmic a m c virus v u in n my m soul o l and nd it it’s t s destined e t n d to o go g off. off.’” f Now attending Now t e d n an n art a t college o eg in i C alifornia lifornia, i o n , she e laughs a gh at a her e theatricality theatricality. t ea i a t “My “ M journal r a was wa a complete c mp e e savior av r for o me, e because e a s otherwise t e w s I’d d have h v been e b e k n down breaking ow and n crying. r i g But Bu instead, i s e d I just u t opened e e it up. up.” p” The h daughter au h e of o two w artists artists, r ss K entz t has a kept e t journals o r a s since i c she h was w s eleven eleven, l v n first fi s traditional a i on diaries i r s and a d then t e sketchbooks. k t h o k An A art r teacher’s t a he s collage-style ol g e j u n l gave journals ga e her h r “permission” permission p m s on to t marry a r the h two tw forms. rm “The The Th new new style t l h m has made a em my y journals o r a more m r personal personal,” p on , she sh observes. observes o e “Now, Now ow everything e e y h n means e ns ssomething me h n to o me.” m C om mbining i i g collage c l g with w h her h r meditative m d t t v writing wr i g and a d per p r s na musing sonal mu ng hass also l o turned u ne her he into i t a hoarder, h a d storing s o i g bus b s tickets, i k t movie m ve sstubs, stubs u s snapshots n p h t off friends friends, r nd and n receipts e e p in n the h back a k pocket p c e off her e Moleskin M e n jjournal. u n l She S e works wo k the t e detritus d t t s into n o pages p ge during du n marathon m r t o journal u na sessions s s i n t a sometimes that o im s do d not no end e d until un twilight. wl h Themes h e reappear e p ea in i K entz ntz’s n s work work—the wo k—the h compulsions om u s ns off a young ou g woman wo an ttrying y n to t make m k sense e s of her e world. o l She S e collects c l c s images ma e of clocks l c s and nd any a y kind k d o paper of a e with i h a digital i i read-out read ea out u on on it ass a way w y to t account a c n for f r her h r life. f “All All A l of itt i evidence is e i e e off w what a II’ve v ve done o e that a d day,” day y ” she e comments, comments omm n s e echoing h i g tthe e sensibility en b y of Martin o a t n iW lner’s l e s JJournal u n l off Evidence E i e c Weekly W ek y. N Numbers um e s in n general g ne a attract a r c entz because K e a e “they they t ey are r so o odd. dd e Wm made de them h m up p and a d yet y t we we’ve w ’ve e given g v n them h a this all h meaning meaning.” m a i g ” She S e also a o uses u e a lot l t of arrows arrows, a ow , because b c u e her h r life i feels e s directionless d r c o s right gh now. n w entz K n z loves o e the h way ay the h journals r a clearly l a y delineate d l ea moments m me t in i her e life, l e a and she s takes t k s almost a m s ass much m ch pleasure l a u e in n reviewing r v ew g the t e finished fi i h d pages p ge as a sshe e does d e in n making m k n new ew ones. o e Omnipresent Om p e en now, n w she h says a s of o them: t em “They “T e l e life live l e with w t me. me.” me ”

MARCY KENTZ

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My belief My b l iss that t a it i s better b t e to t work wo k than t a not o work wo k ” Idelle d l e Weber W b said s i while wh e sta di standing d ng in in her h r studio, t di d o a large, la ge modern mode n b box x of of a room o th that h t resembles e embll s a museum m u eu gallery. ga e y Pinned P nn d to o the t e walls w s behind eh her he were we e hundreds n r d off drawings r wi g o human of um n heads heads. h a s There h r was a a woman m in i sunglasses u g a s s on o a pink p n postage o t g stampt mp ssize iz P Post-It o t Itt note; te ttwo w young o ng men m n stuck stu k their th hei tongues t g e out ut toward t wa d each e ch other th t e on o n the h back a k of o an a envelope; n op ; a pastel pa toddler, o d e , Weber’s Web r grandchild, gr n c i d, slept s pt on na p e e of piece o Kraft K a t paper paper. p p r All A l off them h were w r the t e work wo k she she’d h d done o e when wh n it i was wa best be tto k keep e p working, wo ki k g when he it might i ht h h have a eb been e easier a i r not ot to to. She’s h hardly ha d y been e n idle. i l Weber’s W b r career a e r spans pa s a half-century a f en u y and nd includes n l d s an impressive an mp e s e array a r y of styles s y s and a d professional p o e s a successes successes. s c e s s But u every ev r creative c e tv ccareer r e has ha periods e iod when wh n the th t e work wo k does do not n t flow fl w or o other th t e obligations obli b g ti t o s take take precedence, p e ed n e, and an this t i is when he the heads h d have ha e helped. h pe Once O c she h got go sick s c from f om p i tm k n solvents printmaking s e and n remembers em mb r drawing d aw n on n “a a lot l t off envelopes envelopes” e v l p s durdur uiing gh herr recovery. e ov r When W Whe her he children child h d e were e e young y un there th t e e were we e many m n times time when w h n she s e could c u d not n t paint p n ass much m ch ass she s e wanted. wa t d And An most recently r c n y she s e has h s s n hours spent h u in i the t e hospital h sp a while wh e her h r husband h s an was wa recovering e o e ng from r m an an illness illness. l e s Always, A Al wa s she’s sh ’s continued c ntinu d to to do d whatever whate e work o k she she could, c uld d using u i g any a y scrap s r p off paper p ape available. a l be In n the h past a t five fi e years years, y a s Weber We e has a come o e to t rely l on n Post-It P s I notes no for f r her e iincessant c s ant drawing. d awin “It I started sta t d when when I got ot a P PalmPilot,” l Pil P l t ” she h recalls. e alls “I “ needed ne d d tto see e the t whole wh l picture, p c u e, so s I’d d print p out u the h monthly mo t y calendar a d r and d carry ry it wi h me with me.” m She Sh covered c v the t e eight-and-a-half-by-eleven-inch e g t a d a h f b - ev n n h sheets s ee with w h drawings d r wing and a d notes not tto th the h point p i t th that hat she she sometimes s metime needed e d d tto print rint out o t another a n e copy c py off the he month m n h before b f r it i ended. en e . She he began g n using u i g the he Post-Its, o I , d aw n on drawing n them he and nd sticking t k ng favorites a o t s onto o t the h page page, pa e because b a s they t y were w r a way w a to to sketch k t h while whil h e still still l being b i g able abll to t look l ok att the th he writing w iti t n underneath. nde ne th She h usually s a ly uses u s the h same am color c r sticky t c y note n t and an the same s me medium me um (e.g., ( g, ccharcoal, charcoal c , ballpoint) l o n throughout h o g ou a page page. p g Throwing T r w ng the h small ma pads pa s into n o her h r purse p u before b f r she h goes o s out, o t she she sometimes s metime draws dr w people e ple from f m life, liff like lik k when he sshe rides r d s the h subway. u way. More M r often, f , she h works w k from r m memory mem ry or o imagination. m gn to De p e their Despite t e diminutive im u i e size s e and a d prosaic p o a c subject ub matter, matter m t r she s e carefully c r f l thinks h s through tth r ugh each ea h one. e Visual i u l by y nature, n t r , the h calendars a e d r feel like k journals j u na to o her, e , serving e v ng a similar ml r pu p s to purpose t that h t of a written w i e account account. c o n “Whether “Whether W e he it it’s i s a release e s or o a feeling f e ng of o days d a s passing ing orr whatever wh t v r I did d d iin th that t at period e iod off ti time,” im ” she she notes, n t s ttrying yin tto pinpoint p np n their h r function. un t n “I can a look k back c at a them h m and an remember r mem e what ha I’m Im doing.” d o oing g”

IDELLE WEBER

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I can c n often o e be e seen s e lurking u k g about a ou the t e house h u e in i week-old we k o d pj p s drinking d k n juice j i e and using and usi g Rachael’s Ra h el’s good g od white whitt napkins a ki k n to to clean l a my m hands ha d and nd brushes. br she . There T h r is i no no ritual. i u . There T e e iss no n special p c a place. p a e I do o not n t have h v to be e facing f c ng east. ea . I do not do o have a e to t be be kneeling ne i g beside b s d my y bed bed. b When W e I open o n those h e books books, oo s the t e margins m a gin off my m world wo ld l and and the th t e cone c n off my m vision i io is i limited limit i d to t the th h edge ed e of of the th t e page p age no n matter ma t r where w e e my my body dy may ay be.” e” Anderson nd r o Kenny Kenny’s Ke n s description e c p i n of o his h s journal o r a practice p a c was a surprising upi n because b e a s his his jjournals u n l suggest u g st a very ve y tid tidy dy author. uth ho With Wi h th their hei clearly le rly d defined fi ed borders b od and a d small, sm l , tight t g t drawings, d wi g , they h y do d not o have a e the t e same m frenetic r n t energy n rgy y a some as om journals journals, j un nor o a sense e s of spontaneity spontaneity. p n a t In n fact fact, a t when wh n Kenny K n and n I began b ga our o u correspondence c r e p nd n e and a d I indicated indic t d that th t at I was wa looking l okii g for fo the th h raw w messiness s in of working o o k ng books, o k , he h immediately imm d a y defended e e d d his h s pristine p s ne volumes o um s as a hard ha dworking, w working o k n well-traveled well-traveled, w l t ve d and n very e y much m h the h stuff t f of o creative c e t v processing processing. po e n Kenny K en y tturned u ned tto a career a in in architecture r hit h t ctu e after ft f e having ha ing trained tr i ed both both h in in art a t and a n science. s i n e Some o of o hiss entries e t e belie e e his h s professional p s i n l interests, n e e t , including n ud g a d o rendering droll e d r n off a “Dog Dog D Haus Haus” Ha s on n stilts s l with w h a Gehry-esque G h y e q sloped s o e roofline roofline, o fln and a nd another an th t e of of a lodge l d e imagined i agi d as a place pla e where whe e his hi h s brother’s br th t e ’ passion pa i n for f r hunting h u t g and an Kenny’s Ke ny’ love l v off design e gn might m gh peacefully p c u ly coexist. c x t More Mo e important, mp r a t, a this as h last a entry n r suggests suggests, u g s s the t e journals u n l are a e a therapeutic h r pe t reckoning e k n n of his i privileged p i il g d upbringing upbri ing in in Southern S uth h r society. o iety Describing e i i g his h sheltered h l e e childhood, ch d o d, Kenny e ny iss unflinching: u fl n h ng “II was w s an a adult d l be r I discovered before d s o e e some om basic ba c things things, t ng like k how ow flawed fl we it is i to reduce e u e a whole wh e group g ou of of people e ple into into one o e stereotype. ste e typ Not N t everyone v r on viewed view d the the rebel eb l battle battl t flag fl ag as a a symbol ym o of o heritage. he t g . Not N t everyone ve y n had a a ‘nigra’ ‘ igr named am d Sam S m who who mow d the mowed t e grass g a s orr a ‘colored colored c l ed lady lady’ a y named nam d Lilian L an who w o cleaned c n d the t e house house.” h u e” Kenny K e n has ha an n ear e r for fo Southern S uthe n speech pe ch and nd sprinkles p inkl k s itt freely fr ely and a d impishly impishll in i cconversation, nv r a o , with w t more mo e than a a hint h n of self-deprecation. e - ep c t o . In n his h twenties twenties, w n i s Kenny Ke n woke k up up to o his h s family family’s am y s homogeneity homogeneity, om g e y and an the t e jjournals u n l were we e his hi h private riv t place pla e tto channel ch n el hi his h s rebellious eb lli l o s energy: e g “II was w s free f e between b e w en the h pages.” page He e believes b l ve they’ve t ey e helped h lpe him i to o grow g more m r in i ten n y a s than years t a in n the h previous r v o s twenty twenty. we t A painter ainte who wh regularly gul rly shows ho s his his work, h w rk Kenny Ken y uses u e a variety v ri t off materials m t i l iin the h journals, j u n l , including n ud ng overlays ov l y with w h tissue, i s e, gesso, ge s , and nd pencil pen l sketches. k he Th results The r s s are coded o ed images ma e whose ho e meaning m an g is i not n apparent a pa n to o anyone a y n but u ttheir th eir author. uth h H He e works w rks on o journal j u n l pages p g s over o e llong n periods e iod o off tti time, m giving gi i g tth them em a date d t and n time me when wh n they hey finally fin ly feel e completed. o p e e The T e extended e t n ed process p c i part is pa off the h journals journals’ o r a curative c r i e nature n t r and n probably r b b y also a o accounts a c un for o their t e orderliness. o d line s “I’m “I’ “ m not ot big bi b g enough e o gh or smart sm t enough e o h to to understand u de t nd all all that th t at I ‘see’ ‘s ’ when w h n I start t r a page. p ge I have a to t work o k it i out o t over o e time,” t m , he e says. y

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Describing an entry about Sam, the ancient man with skin so black it was almost blue who mowed his family’s lawn, Kenny writes, “It is indicative of how I feel about Sam, or at least my confusion about Sam. On the one hand, I was curious about him. Why he was so dark. Why he only ate in the kitchen. Why he spoke to my grandmother and grandfather differently than to Lilian. So what you see in the journal entry is a lot of conflicted feeling represented with faint words and shadowy marks, but there is no obvious correlation back to Sam.” Kenny recently moved to Connecticut, leaving Tennessee behind. He is busy being a voyeur in a new place and is unsure where his journals will take him now that he’s not dealing so directly with childhood ghosts.

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Sophie o e Binder B n e describes e c be the t e combination c mb n t n of o drawing r w n and n biking i i g as a the t e perfect p re marriage: m r a e “I’m m traveling r v l n ten t n to t twenty tw n y miles m l s per hour o and a d I see e things h n s that ha I wouldn wouldn’t wo l n t see e in n a car. a I see. s e I stop. s o I draw. d aw You Y u don don’t d t have h v to o find nd a parking a kn spot. spot p t You Yo just j s stop stop.” op The h thirty thirty-seven-year-old h t -seven e en year ea old o d Frenchwoman F c wom n should o l know know. kn w From r m April p i 2001 2 0 to o June un 2002 2 2 she he rode o e her h r bike b k around a o nd the h world, w r d filling fi i g seven v n journals o r a s with w h sketches s e c e and n watercolors w t r o r off her e solo o adventure. dv n u e She S e dubbed d bb d the he trip: r The T e World World, Wo d Two w Wheels Wheels, W e l and n a Sketchbook Sketchbook. k t h o k Binder B n e says a s that h t both b t biking k n and nd drawing r wi g hone h n her e skills k s of o observation. o ev i n This h s iss true t u even ev n in n the e most m s visually s l spare sp r environments. en r nm n s “In In n the t e desert d s r you’re you o re e crossing s i g a basin b s n for o twenty twenty-five tw n y five fi e miles m l s and a d nothing n t ng seems ee s to t change change. ch n e So you o start t r to t focus cu your y u horizon o i o on on things h n s closer c o e to t you, yo and nd suddenly ud e l there t e e is all l kinds k n s of o life i e along l n the h road. road.” o d S u d ng a similar Sounding mi r chord chord, c o d she s e describes d s r b s her h r experience xp r n of o drawing r w n while w i traveling: r v l g “There’s T e e s a story t r in i every v r sketch k ch I do. o I remember em mb r so o clearly c e r every v r place l c where he e I was wa when w e I made ma e it, t unlike un k photography, h t g a hy where wh you y u snap s ap a shot h t and nd move m v on on. n There There’s Th r s not n t one o e photo p o o [from f om the h trip] i ] that h t holds h l s the h meaning m a i g of o the h drawings.” r w ng ” Binder’s B Binder n e s goal g a to “draw draw d aw her h r way w y around a o n the h world world” o l ” established e t b s ed her itineritiner i e ary. ary r Rather a he than t a touch o c quickly u c y on o tourist o r t sites sites, s e , she he visited i t d a few ew places p a e for f r longer o g r periods. p r ds “I “ was wa in Hanoi an for o eight e g t days,” d y she s e says s y by y example, e am l “but b t only n y visited v i e two w places. l c s I was w s determined d t r i e to o use u e my m time me to o draw. draw.” d aw Weather W ah r conditions o d t o s sometimes om t me affected a f c e her he drawing d aw n habits habits, a i as a well well. we . Too T o much m c wind wn orr rain a n might m gh mean me n that ha she’d s e d end e d up u drawing r w ng by memory mem r at a a guesthouse u s h u e at a night i h rather than h n during d r n the h day, da producing r d c n more m abstract a r c images. m g s Her He style s ye w s often was o e dictated i ed by location location. l c t n In n Asia A a she s e was wa determined de m n d not n t to o use u e black ba k and nd white w i e because e u e the he colors o o s were w r so o overwhelming. ve w e m ng And An in Italy, a y bewitched b wi e by y the t e architecture, a t c u e her h drawings d aw n s were w r more o e detailed d t i d and an focused f c s d on on buildings u l ng rather a h r than h people people. pe p e In n the t e immense mme s Jordanian o d n a desert e e t of o Wadi Wa i Rum, R m Binder i d r was w s struck s uc by by the h acute c t solitude o t d off the h place: l c “A A towering t we ng jebel e e is i providing p ov i g me with w much mu h needed e e shade h d and n facing a ng me m is a wall a l off even e taller l e sheer s e r vertical v r c l rock rock, o k an n ever ve changing h ng n palette pa t e on o which h c the h sun u is painting a n n while w i following o ow g its i path a h toward t wa d the h west.… s … I am am absolutely b u e y alone. a ne I do o not n t know k ow where w e e I am. am.” m H r most Her mo memorable m mo a e interactions i t r c o s were we e with w h children c id who wh were w r intrigued i t gu d by b the h rare a sight i h of o a lone l n Western W s e n woman w ma with w h beautiful b au f books o k and nd art r supplies. su p e . In n the he Syrian y i n desert, d s r on n the he border b e of o Iraq, I a , Binder B e spent s en September S p em e 12, 2 2001, 2 0 painting a n i g watercolors w t r o o s att an a ancient n en stone s o e ruin ruin. r n The h finished n s e images images, ma e iridesirides i e cent e t with w t streaks r a of o amber am light, gh are a e reminiscent r m n s e t of o Stonehenge. S o eh n e Strong S r ng gusts u m d the made h painting a n n difficult. i fi u . A boy b y with w a stone s o e approached a p o ch d her. h r “There. There. h r . That T a w l help will help,” e p ” she he recalls e a s him h m saying saying, s y n , as a he h weighted w gh e down ow a page p ge that h t had h d been b en blowing l w ng closed. l s d And An though h u she sh does d s not o have a e a drawing d aw g of o him, h m the h boy o is clearly l a y perched p r h d there t e e in n the t e watercolor wa r o o in i her e vision. vso

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As a child A h d in Boston Bo n Carol C l Beckwith B c w t kept e t an a intricate t a journal o r a inspired i s i e by by her French F en h llessons. e s n . Sh She S e made m de collages oll g s of of an a iimagined m gin d lif life l e iin nP Paris ri and nd created r ated tthree-dimensional r e d me s a houses h u s that h t opened ope ed up p like l e a pop-up p p up book o k into i t multiple mu t p l rrooms. rooms om Her H r adult du journals u na are r no no less e s enchanting enchanting, c a t n though h ug the h magic ma i springs sp n s ffrom om real e l adventures. dv ntu e Arriving r v ng in n Kenya K nya as a a twenty-three-year-old tw n y h ee yea o d art a student, ud n , Beckwith c w t was a im ed t l captivated immediately captivated. a t a e “Africa “Africa f c took o k my my heart heart,” ea , she sh says s y simply simply. i p y “It’s “Itt s my m sspirit i itt home.” h me ” In In the th he pastt thirty thi t ty years, y a s she’s she’s traveled tr v l d to to thirty-six thi t i ty six African Af A i a ccountries, un i s, visiting v s i g more mo than h n 150 1 0 cultures c lu and a d covering c v ng over v r 270,000 0, 0 miles. m e . Art r is i central e t to o her h r visceral v c l connection n e t o to t the h continent continent. o t en Ass a young y u g painter, p ai t r she she was wa delighted delightt d to t discover di d s o e an n African Af A ri an aesthetic e th t etii tradition t aditi i on that th h t ffocused c s d on o survival u v v rather a h r than h gallery ga e y walls. w l . Tools T o for o cooking c o i g or o farming f rm g we e beautiful were beautiful, b a t u ass were we masks m s s and a d amulets am s related r a ed to o fertility e t i y orr weather w a he patterns, p atte n , but b t they th h y all all served e v d practical, p a ti al indeed inde d vital, vital purposes. u po e In In order rde to to best b st document d o um n such s h objects bje t and n to o tell e the h stoies s o e of the h people pe p e who w o use u e and a d make ma e tthem, them em Beckwith Beckwith’s Be kw h s own wn art a t became e m more m r practical; p a t c she e switched wi c e from om painting p i g tto photography, h t g a hy its itt linear lin a nature atu e better b ttt r suited s itt d tto narrative. a tii e In n the h 1980s, 9 0 , Beckwith B c wi began eg n working w r i g with w t Angela ng a Fisher, F s e , an n Australian Au r l a wi h a background with a k r un in sociology o i og and an jewelry j we y making making. ma g For F r their e unparalleled n aa e ttome, me A African fric n C Ceremonies r m nie , a two-volume tw - olum book b ok spanning p nnin e eight ightt h hundred ndr d p pages, ge tthe e two t women wom n spent spe t ten en years yea in n the h field, e d, traveling, t a e ng, g photographing, p o ogr ph g, and n e r i g the earning t e trust r off the h people e p e they he documented documented. o um n e . Realizing R a z n how ow little little, t if any any, n rresearch s a ch exists xist about b t the th h people e ple and a d places pla e they th t ey were w r photographing, ph t g a hi h n they th he ccommitted mm t e themselves h m v s to t spending spen ng evenings ve ng d during u ng their h i journeys jou n y tto writing r g do n what down wh t they he saw s w and n learned e e during u ng the h day day. a . Months M n hs later later, a e when he their t r photographs p h t g a h were w developed d vel ped in i London, Lo do th the h jjournal u nal notes n t sh helped l ed th them h m decipher d e ph the h images. m g The h notes o e were e e even e e more m r valuable va ab when w e it came am time tm t write to write, t which w ch was w s sometimes s me me years ye after a t a research e e r h trip trip. rp Describing D e c ibi i ng the th h process r c s off one n off their th h i ttrips ip (the (th h pair air have ha ssince in e w writ itt tten n seven s v nb books o s together), t g t e ), ) Beckwith B c wi h says ay they t ey do o as a much mu h preparation p ep a i n as a po s l from possible om their he base a e in n London London. L nd n “Say “Say ay you you’re o re e going g ng to o the t e mountainous m un a n u ssouthwest uth hw t corner o n r off Ethiopia Ethi E h o i near n the th h border bo d r off Sudan,” S d n ” she she provides p o ide as a an a n example. x p e “You Y u research e ea h the t e area, a e , try ry to t get ge permits, pe m t , arrange r g what ha you y u ccan. can n Then h n you y u get g t to t Africa Af c and n organize a i e a mule m train t a n to o take ak you y over o the h 10,000-foot 1 10 ,000 0 -fo t mountains. m u t i s Once On e you y u arrive, a i e you y u find find the th t e village villl g chief hi h ef and a d begin b gin at square a q a e one o e because b c u e he h has a no o idea de you’ve y v been e planning p a n ng to o come c me here e e for f r mo t s he months; e doesn doesn’t d e n t know n w who w o you y u are are. a So S you y start s a t the h process r c s off gaining a n n his i ttrust, u t which whi h h might mi ht h ttake k d days a or o weeks, we ks during d rin which whi h ch time time you y u never n v r take tak out o t your y u camera.” am r “The “ The he journals o r a s start t r with wi h the h first r t step t p off o f the h plane plane,” l n she s e comments comments. c mme t “They “Th Th y reflect r fl ct a life lif l e lived lii ed in i Africa Aff ica on nad daily il i b basis.” a i ”E Except c pt ffor o th the t e tto-do do li lists sts sshe makes ma e in n books oo s prior p o to t a trip, t p p, Beckwith e kw rarely r r ly keeps k p a journal j u n l in n London. L n on Sh believes She be e e this h stems m from om the t e relatively e a ve safe safe, a e predictable p e i b existence x s e c she h lleads ads in in the th t e west we t ass opposed o p s d to t Africa, Aff ic where wh e her h r assumptions a s mption and and habits habit i of mind o i d are a e challenged a e ge daily. da y These T journals, j u n l , she h says, ays, are a e about a o t “intuition, “ n u on, sstorytelling, storytelling o y e i g and a joy joy.” j y

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Although she considers the journals to be very personal—Beckwith and Fisher are the only ones allowed to dip into them—she’s also aware of their role as source material. Once, she glued together a group of pages about a romance with a desert nomad chief, unsure of how she’d feel about them when it came time to use the journal to write a book. As she approaches her tenth book on Africa, Beckwith is interested in returning the journals to their painterly roots and has started taking more art materials with her on recent trips. Pondering an upcoming trip to Mozambique, she says, “They’re living things, they need to grow.”

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Spending S n i g a semester em s e in Venice en e art a t professor po o Gary y Brown B ow loved ve to t explore x l r the t ccity’ss hidden h d e corners. o n r “Everyone E yo e goes g e to t the h Piazza a a and nd the h Bridge r d e of o Sighs,” Sg s” B ow says, Brown a s “but but b t if you o really e l look, ok you y u find fi d these t e e wonderful, wo d r u small m l places p a e offf t e beaten the b a e track track.” r c One On day da he he happened h p e ed into n o a small ma courtyard o r y r with wi h a well well, w l tthe e kind k n of intimate n ma e place c that h t was w s the e focal o a point po n of o European Eu o e n neighborhood n i h o ho d l e in life n an a earlier a i r era. He H took o k out his i journal j u n l and a d began b g n to t sketch. k h A few e people people, e e alll locals locals, o a s stopped s o p d to t watch wa c Brown r wn work work. w “Being Being e n an n observer o s r e makes m a e people e p e gravitate g a i t toward ow d you,” y u ” he h says, a s noting n t n that h t the h Italians a i n in i p i u a have particular h v a love v off drawing. d a i g “Even Even E e their h i graffiti g a fi is better! better!” e t r he e laughs. l u h As he whiled As wh ed away wa a morning o n n in n that h t glorious g o o s courtyard courtyard—as c u t a d—ass he h refers f r to it now—he n —he was w s aware a e of o others o he entering, n e i g snapping s ap ng a picture, i t r and n then h n darting d r ng o f “How off. “How ow many ma y shutters s u t r I heard h a d click, click,” l k ” he h recalls, a s “and “and nd yet e no o one o e stayed ye for f r mo e than more ha a few f w seconds seconds.” s c nd He e began b ga fine-tuning n - u i g his h artistic r s c sensibilities s n i i t s when wh n he h won on a grant r n to s u y in study i Europe Eu o e for o two w years e r ass a graduate r du student. s u en “II stalked t ke da da Vinci V c and n Mi h l n e o and Michelangelo d Dürer Dürer,” D r r Brown r wn says says. s y Though ho g he e had h d kept k p sketchbooks k t h o k ass an art a r student, s ud n they h y became b c me more m r elaborate; b r t he e even e e made m d hiss own ow leatherah b un book bound o kw with t rag gp paper. a e Trying r ng to op pinpoint n o n tthe ee evolution o u o from om ssketchbook ec b o t journal to journal, u na Brown B own thinks h n s that ha the t e sketchbooks sketchbooks, s e c b o s which h c he e still s l keeps keeps, k e s are ae more m o e utilitarian. u l a an They T ey are r stacked c e in his i studio, s u , ass opposed o po e to the h journals, u na , wh c travel which a e with i h him h m from r m home hom to t work o k and a d accompany a c mp ny him h m on trips. t ps In n the t e jjournals, journals u n l he e makes ma e notes no e for f r self self-improvement e f improvement mp o em n ((“Join Join J i a gym gym” gy was wa a perennial p nn a entry e y for o years), e r ) copies c p e in i calendars, a nd r jots down ow restaurant e au a t addresses, dd e s s ponders p nd r f e ds p a friendship and dd death a ha and d sspirituality, i t a t and n draws. r ws A Always, wa s a always w y the h drawings. r wn s Brown r wn now n w has ha more mo e than ha four f u hundred u d ed sketchbooks k hb o s and a d fifty fi y journals journals. un l They T h y have h v become e om the h focus f c s of o his h s art, a , including n l d n several e e a exhibitions e h b i n off his i wo k Defining work. De n n their h r role, o e Brown B own writes, w t s “[The “[The Th journal j u n l is] s my my secret c friend, f e d enemy, e enemy my counselor counselor, u s l r definitely d fi i e my m map ap and nd att times m s a thief thief. h e It takes e memory mem r fforr us, the h continuous c n i u s accounting. c ou t n Morally M r l straight, r i h it doesn’t o sn lie. e It I sharpens s ap n y u your you, o r dreams, d e m and a d your y u eyes y s stay t y wide w de ass a child child’s.” l s.”

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I 1999 In 9 9 Lyle L l Owerko Owe went we t on o a yearlong y a l n journey o r e to re-train e r i hiss eyes e e . As A a c mme ci l photographer commercial photo r ph who who had h d grown g ow up up studying t dyin with with i h a classical l s ic l artist tii t iin Ontario, n a i , he e was wa eager e ge for f r a chance h n e to t unlearn n e r the t e rules r l s on n which wh c he’d he d been e rreared. reared a e He H knew n w hiss journal journal, ou n already a e dy an n important i po an part p r of o his i professional p o e s o a life life, l e would w o ld l be be central c nt al to to his hii expedition. x editi i o Initially n i ly the h journals j u n l maintained ma n a n d the he relatively e a v ly rigid, g d, gridlike g i i e style s y off his i wo k work-related a e notebooks notebooks. o e oo s Gradually Gradually, G a ua y though though, t o gh itt dawned d wn d on o him i that h t instead n t a off being o bein a busy bu y guy uy with with an an overflowing v fl win calendar, ale d r he h had had no o more mo e pressing s i g goal g o than h n to visit v s a tea t a shop s op orr to o explore e p o e a particular pa t c a neighborhood. e g b h o One O e day, d day a while h l sitting t ng in n a park a k in n Tokyo Tokyo, T y he e recalls recalls, r c l “II was w s writing w i ng with w h a set s t off newly n e l discovered dis ov d acrylic ylii markers, ma k r when whe one n off the th h pens e s unleashed u l a h d a flood fl od of ink. o k Looking o k ng att the h mess m s on on the h page, page, I dipped d pp p e a finger nge in the h large rge drop d op off flu and fluid nd swished w h d itt around around.” a un . As As though ho g shedding h dd g his h s skin skin, k n he he began b g n to t break be k lloose o e ffrom r m th the h rules r l s th that hat h had db bound und him him.. Africa, f c , his h next e t destination, d s na o , opened pe e him i up p more. mo e Not No only o ly was wa there h r the t s e beauty sheer b au y and nd extremity x r m t off the h conditions conditions, o d t s but b t a dearth a h of o materials ma e i s also a o cchallenged h lll n ed him hiim iin n new n w ways. wa s He He was w forced, f r ed for fo example, e am l , to to rely ly on o mini-labs i i labs tto process pr c s hiss film. fi m The h prints, pr t , developed d v p d in n the t e back b c off a gas ga station a i n in n some s me v l g in village n Tanzania T n a i or o Kenya Kenya, en a were we e off poor p o quality qu i y but b t were w r perfect e e t for fo teartear e riing g up, u ,d drawing i g on, o , and nd working w rkii g iinto nto jjournal u n l pages. ag s M Madison adii o A Avenue v nu glossy glo s perfection p e e t o became be am a distant d s a t memory. m mo y He also a s lett go g of o his intention i t n on to o write w i e prodigiously prodigiously. r d g o s y Rather R t e than h n force o c grangran r ndiose d di o e reflections, r fl ction he he began b g n to t enjoy njo th the t e silence sile c and nd respect e p ct it it. H He wrote wr t with with ih a paintbrush, p i t r s , sometimes om t me repeating r p a i g a single g e thought, o g , the t e undulating u u a ng words w r s mo e akin more a n to t meditative ed a i e practice c i e than ha a diary d a y entry entry. nr . Owerko O we k b believes eliev s the th h commitment ommitme t he h made made tto work wo k iin n th the t e jjournal ou n l every v r day d ay was wa vital t l to o the t e stylistic tyl t c growth g wt that h t iss visible i i e in i the t e journals j u n l from f o that h t year. y year a . “Day Day Da after ft r day d y the he loosening o s n n up p occurred o c r e ass I freed e d myself my e from om the t e notion n otio off outcome utc me and a d accepted a c pted chance h nc and and circumstance cir um t n e into into each e ch page,” a e” he h e comments. omm n s His H s eyes eye refocused f c e and an became be am sensitive s s i e to o his h s location. o a on Rather a h than t a gluing u ng images ma e from om pop p p culture c t r into n his i everyday ev yd y journal journal, o ,a habit h abitt th that at makes make hi him i ffeel e l lik like k “ “a ab bone n collector,” olle t r ” O Owerko we k iis ttrying r ing tto oh hang n onto o n the h freedom e do off the h person pe s n he h was w s when w en in n Africa. A r a He He wants w his h s work w r jjournals, journals u n l which w h tend e d to t filll up u with wi h phone p o e numbers numbers, n mb r , notes notes, e and a d images images, ma e to o be b more m o e like lik i e his hi h travel t av l journals, j r al and a d for fo the th h “different “diff d f r nt streams” str am ” off himself hi h m elff to to run un ttogether. g t . The T e nomad n ma and n the h urban u ba dweller we e have h ve become c me one. ne

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L d Barry Lynda a r began be a using s n an n Asian-style A n t l brush r s painting a n n in n her h journals o r a s about bo t five fi v years y a s ago. a o “I discovered dii c v r d I could o ld l write write fiction fi ti t o in i a more mo e satisfying s ti t f i g way w y by b writing w r i g with w t a paintbrush pa t r sh very e y slowly,” s wly, Barry B r y says. s y “II started t r e keeping e p ng my my j u n l that journal h t way way, wa too too, o and n I was wa surprised u p s d by b how ow many ma y specific pe fic memories m mo e were w e e embedded e bedd d d in i these th t pages.” pa e ” Barry, a ry, author u h r of o the t e weekly we k y cartoon a t o Ernie r i Pook’s Po k Comeek om e , n now w does d e the h b u wo on brushwork n a daily d i basis basis, a i working k n on n pages p ge torn t r from om a legal e a pad pad. pa Though ho g the tth e thi thick, t k wet wet li lines e off th the h ancient n i nt b brush ush might i ht h seem e mb better tt t e suited uited tto o rice i e paper, p ape , Barry a ry says s ys she h likes k s the t e combination c mb n i n of o the t e gray g ay against g i s the t e yellow. y l w Th paper The paper’s pa e s ordinariness o dn r also a s helps he her h r to t think t i k of o the t e practice p a t e as a “messing messing m i g around.” a o d” The h slow l w style s y e iss the h opposite p pp s e of o how h w she’s h long l ng thought h ugh it best e t to o go g ab u writing about wr i g and a d drawing drawing. d aw Getting e t n it out u quickly qu k y iss supposed s p o ed to o circumnavicircumnavi c c mn v gate g at a person’s e s n’s internal inte n l editor. dit d t r But B t Barry B r y has ha found fo nd that th h t going g ing slowly l wly “invites “i “ n it i more m o e back-of-the-mind b c - f h -m n images.” im g s She he continues, on n e , “Often “ f e something om h ng completely ompl t y un u p c e appears unsuspected p a and nd surprises u p i e me me. me That That’s Th t s what w a I love o e most most.” mo t Barry’s B a r ’ published p blii h d work wo k iiss ffairly ai l personal. e s n l IIn addition additi d i o tto oM Marlys, rly h her e scrappy s r pp hero h e who w o bears b a s a resemblance e em l n e to Barry, Ba y, y she s has h called c l d her h r graphic g aph c novels n v l “autobifictionalography.” au o fic o a o r ph ” Given autobifictionalography G v n its i intimate n ma e nature nature, n u e one n might i h presume r s me that ha Barry’s B a y’s journals jo r als have h v been be n central c ntr l to to her h work. w rk B But ut until ntil i she she ttook ook up up th the h brush, b u , the h journals j un she’d h been be n keeping k epi g since s c age g thirteen h t en proved pr v largely l rge y unhelpful. u unhelpful n e p u “All All A I ever e e did d was wa complain o a n or o worry wo r while wh e writing wr i g very v r fast fast,” f s she s e explains. e plain . “When “Wh Whe I try tr to to reread e e d them, th t em my my eyes e e just j st bounce bo n e away aw y from fr m the th t pages p age and n pages page off pissed-off pi s d o handwriting.” a w i ng The h newer ew r pages pages, p g s however however, how v r serve s r e ass a wellspring wellspring. w s r g Ideas d a percolate pe a e for o weeks w e k and nd months. m nth h . When Wh W n she he goes oe back ba k through th h o gh her h journal jo r al and a d finds finds the th he ssame me story s o y reappearing e pp pp a ng months m n h apart, p r , often f e with wi h no n active a t v memory mem ry of having a i g do e so done so, it gives ve her h faith f t that h t a story t y is i worthwhile worthwhile. wo t wh e “The The T e journal o n pages a e are r what w h t attracts attr cts the th he stories—kind t ri —ki k d of of like lik k humming hum i g bird bi b rd feeders,” f ed s ” Barry B r y muses. m s s She h begins eg s each e c morning m ng by y working wo k ng at her e journal j u na and a d returns r s to o itt when wh ne ever she h feelss stuck stuck. s u k The Th pages pa e help e p Barry r return e u n to o her h r “groove” groove o e if she sh falls f l out o ut of of it i and a d keep k p the th h dreaded dr ad d censor en o at at bay. ba Whenever Wh W en v r an n errant e r nt thought th t ou ht h gets g e stuck t c in her e head, e d, disrupting d s upt ng her e work wo k flow, fl w, she h writes t s itt in n the he journal. jo r a Sh finds She fin s that ha the t e slow slow, s w deliberate e e a e process r c s off painting n i g the e words w r s lets e s them t em ssoak ak into into her h creative r ative unconscious. nc n cio s Barry’s a ry love l v of journals j a comes om s not n t from r m a teacher a h r or famous f m s artist r i but u from om Woolworth’s. W Woolworth o lw r h s “II always a w y loved ve to t look o k att paper p p r and a d pens p n and nd office f c supplies u pi s there tth e e and a d saw s w th these t e di diaries d a ie with with h llocks cks on n th them—five-year t em—fiv e di diaries d a ie where he e you ou write w r e three t r e sentences en c s a day. ay I always ways wanted wa t d to t fill fi l one n off those h e up. p I still s l ha e fantasies have a t s e that t I might m h yet y t do d it it.”

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Erica E i a Bohanon B h no can a fill fi l a sketchpad k t h ad in n a month m n h She h favors f v orange r n e Rhodia R d pads ad ffrom om F France r n with with t th their h i gridded g idd i d d pages, p ge th though h u h recently r c ntll she’s sh ’s b been e d dallying allyin with w i h unlined n i e journals j u na because e au e off the he sense en e off freedom r e m they t ey provide pr v d her. he She h u s pencil uses pencil, en l ballpoint ballpoint, b l p n , sometimes om t me a roller-ball—nothing r l r l— o h n too o fancy fancy. f n y The Th most o t iimportant m o t nt thing thi t i g is is to t keep ke p the th he h hand and moving. mo i g IIn jjust u tfi five ve seconds, e onds she she can c n sscribble r b l the t e bare b r form m of o a chair, c a , her hand a quickly qu k y repeating ep a ng the h familiar a a lines. n s Tops, T Tops ps she she’ll s e lll spend pe d ten n minutes m n t s on o a sketch sketch. s ec Looking L o ki k n att the th he pages ag s off chairs, chai s tables, t bl b e , stowaway t waw y beds, b d , and d lamps lam s dashed d shed onto o n the h pads pa s in n these t e e daily d i y exercises, x r i e , obsessive b e s v compulsive c mp l i e comes om s to mind. m d A t r all After all, a on n many ma y pages p g s Bohanon B h o is drawing r w ng essentially s en a y the t e same m chair h i again ag n and a nd again ag in and a d again. ag in Off the th h quick-handed uick-ha ded sketches, k t h s the th t e young y u g furniture f r it i de dessigner g e enthuses, n h s s, “I find n it’s so s important mp r n to o keep k ep jotting j t ng down d wn ideas, d a , even ve if i tthey’re they e re e the he worst w r t ideas d a in the h world world. l . Each E c one n leads a to t something o e h n bigger i g r and a d better. b ette Everything Ev r thi t i gd derives riv s ffrom r m th that t at littl little t e scribble s ibbl i b e jjotted ottt d d down wn on o a napkin n pki k n orr iin a sketchbook.” s e ch o k Ass a little i l girl g r Bohanon B a o played l y d with w t the h big b g sheets s e t off drafting r f ng paper ap r one ne off her o he relatives, r l ti t e an a architect, a chit i e t gave g v her. he She Sh h spent p nt hours ho drawing dr wing her h dream dr am house; h o s ; her e favorite vo t part pa was w s designing d s g ng and nd placing p c ng the h furniture. r i u e The Th journals j un l d d not did n t start t r until n l she he began g n studying s u y n design e i n in n college college. c l g During D r n one n class class, a s blandly bl b a dl d y titled titl t d “Presentation “P s ntatio Techniques,” Te hniq e ” she she noticed n ti t c d th that hat she she d drew ew a llot ot more m o e than ha her e classmates c a sm s and nd decided c ed to o compile c mp e her h r sketches k he for f r an n assign a sg ment. m ment e t The Th result su was a several e e a large l r e screen s ee prints p i t covered o e e in sketches sketches. k t h s HandHa d ccolored, l r d the th t e furniture f r itt r sings, ing bops, bo and nd chirps hi h p around r u d the th t e page. p ge The Th T e sheer she r volume v l me provides p o e a sense s n e of o movement mo em n and n delightful e gh u mayhem y em not n imparted mp d on the on h daily a y journal u n pages pages. ag s Bohanon B oh n n liked lik i ed the th h screen c n prints p ints so much mu h she’s she’s incorporated in o p r t d them th t em into into her h r jjournal-keeping u n l k epi g process, p o e s, making ma g a new ew one o e about a o t every e e y six s months. m n h “They’re Th y e pa off the part h generative e e a i e process process,” p e s she h explains explains. x l ns They T ey help e p me me see e where w e e II’m ’m ccoming mi g from, fr m and nd then th h n they th t e lead le d to to more mo e sketches.” k t he ”

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Erwin E wi Boer Bo r solves o v s mathematical ma h ma c l puzzles uz e on n airplanes a p a e When Wh n others o h r are ae iimmersed m e s d iin ttrashy a hy novels, ov ls h he e iiss fi figuring u ing out ut th theoretical h o etical problems—in p obll m —i pen. e . The h cognitive ogn t v scientist s i n i and n engineer ng e studies s u i s the h interaction n e a i n of o humans h an and an ma h n s for machines f Nissan s n with w t a consortium o s r um of o universities universities. u i e s i s His H s journals ou n s are a ea ccrucial u i l tool to l in in his hi h demanding, dem ndii g frequent-flyer f e ue t fl e lifestyle. lif l e t l “I always l y start sta t one ne iintending t n i g it i to t be be neat,” ea ,” he h says, ays, emitting em t ng a self-deprecatory s l d p ec o y laugh, l ugh, “but b t i never it n e happens happens.” h pp n . Although Al h u h his h s journals o r a s do d not n mirror m r o the t e tidiness t i e s of o his hs professors’ p ofe s r ’ lab lab books, bo k , which whii h he h so o admired, dmir d they th t e are r not not without with t out order. od r Boer’s o r s obvious bv us pleasure pl a u e with w t life f and a elegant e egan style s y belie e i any any scientist s i n s geekiness. g geekiness e k n s Still Still, t he h has ha some s me eccentric e c n r traits traits, t such u h as a the h elaborate e a o a e computcomput c mp terized e i ed filing filii g system s stem he h created c e t d to t tame t me a plethora l th t o a of of professionally p ofe sio ally related lated iinformation. f r a i n His H s journals j u n l are a e numbered n mb r d at a the t e top t p of o each e c page, pag , providing pr v d ng a d s r t numerical discrete num i a record r c r by y which wh h a search s a c program p g a can a locate locate, o a e along a g with wt the tth e contents c nte t off CDs, CDs DVD DVDs, DV s and nd papers a e s ffrom r m academic c d mic conferences. c nfe e c s O On n th the e ttitle l page page of o each e ch journal, jo r a , he e tries e to t create r a e an index. i d x Entering n e i g Boer Boer’s B e s journals u n l provides p o i e an n inkling nk n off life f inside s d the h scientist scientist’s s i ni s mind. m i d The Th Th books bo k are e dense d ns and and tangled, t ngl d filled fill l d with with t handwritten ha dw itt i en numbers, umb r notes, n o , and n drawings r w ng of o enigmatic n g a i figures. fig r s He He keeps eeps two wo different-size d f r n s z jour j una : smaller nals: ma e ones n s that a serve s r e as a running n n to-do - o lists l t and an larger r e ones n s in n which wh tto process r c s ideas, iide brainstorm, br in t rm and a d dream. d e m. He H used us d to to write write short sho t poems o s in tthem em but b t has h s not n had ad time e lately. e y Additionally, Ad i o a ly, he e uses u e a computer c mp t r stylus, s y s, e pe a y for especially f r meetings meetings. m e i g “My My My thoughts t o gh jump u p too t o fast fast. f Writing Wr t g things t i g down ow helps h el s me me tto o remember r me be th them.” t em ” The h Dutch-born hb Boer, Bo r, who wh works wo k in the h U.S.,, Europe, E r p , and nd Japan, ap n, often ot n go s to goes o a café a éwith i h a notebook eb o in hand a for f r several ev hours o r of thinking h n ng and d ccreative e ttiv work. wo k He He can n fill fi a notebook n t b k in in about abo t a month m nth h with with t ideas id d a that th t at could o ld l ultimately u t m t ly result r s in i papers. pape s By By the h time me a thought h g t reaches ea h s that ha state, s a e, though, o gh, he’s h he e s bored o e by y it it. t “Once “Once O c you you’ve o ve e had h d that h spark spark, s a k that t a ‘Oh, Oh O so o that that’s a s it! it!’ t moment moment, m me t iit’ss no it’ n llonger ng r interesting,” inte e tii g ” he h shrugs. hu s There h are r probably pr b b y few ew scientists e t s who w o take k such su h material m t r a delight d l gh in n their h i jjournals. journals u n l Boer o iss undoubtedly u do b e l an n aesthete aesthete. sh He e likes e fountain o n a n pens n and an the ssoft, fft handmade ha dmade paper p p r of of Italian-bound Itt li l a bo nd journals. jo r als Sometimes, S metime he he confesses, c nfe s s he h ttakes k s out o t his h journals jo r a not o to o locate o a e a figure—as gu e— s would w u d be b the h case c s for o most mo t s i n scientists—but s— u to o simply im l enjoy en y their t e look o k and d feel feel. e l “It’s “Itt s walking a k n in n memory m mo y lland,” nd ” h he e smiles. il i

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Mo t of Most o David D v d Byrne B r e s notebooks n t b o s have h v a random a d m feel—ideas f e — de s coming om n in n and nd out of out of focus. f c s They Th Th y are a e nott continuous o ti t n o s in i the th t e way wa a journal j u n l dedicated d di d ated to to the th he development d e e pme t off a lengthy e g hy project pr j c can c n be. b . Rather, R t e , they h y are a the h bulletin u e i board bo r wh r intriguing where n i u n language language, ng a e ideas ideas, ea and n snapshots n p ho get e pinned n d for f inspiration n p a i n or o possible p o sibll future f t use. s . Given Gi G v n that th hat Byrne B r e has h s substantial s b t ntii l credits r dit d to t his his name n me as a a songwriter, s ngwr e , film m score c composer, ompo e , director, ie , and d visual v u artist, a i t, itt iss a complex omp x bu e n board bulletin board, b a d indeed indeed. de d While Whil W i visiting i iti t n JJapan a a in i the th h early a ly 1980 1980s, 1 8 s B Byrne y n chose h s a small sm ll l notebook n t b ok in in which w h c to collect o e t impressions. mp e s o s He He attended t e de traditional t a i on theater h a e performances pe o ma c s —Kabuki, — —Kabuki K b , Noh Noh, N h and an Bunraku—as Bu r k —a well w as a Japanese J pa e e fashion a on shows shows, h ws which wh c he e ffound u d “mind-blowing” “mind-bll win ” in i their th t ir th theatricality. he t ic lit l y O Over v di dinner i n r one o e night nightt a friend f i nd noted n o how ho everything v ryt i g needs n e s to t be be bigger gg ge on o stage, t g , referring e e i g to t the t e gestures, g sue , movements, m movements o em n s and an facial c a expressions e p e s o s of o the t e kinds k n s of o performances p r o m nc s Byrne B r e had h d been b e n seeing. ei “Hearing “H He i g him hi h m say s y th that,” t at ” B Byrne y n recalls, r c ll l , “I doodled d odll d down d wn in rresponse spon e a graphic gr ph version e s n of o a western we t r business u i e s suit u t that ha was wa simply, s mp y, y well, w , bigger. b bigger g . Not N t only y bigger b g e but u flatter flatter, fla e much m c like k the h Noh o theatre theatre.” h ar It was, w s of of course, c u s th the he Bi Big S Suit uitt th that h t would w ld db become c e th the t eb band’s nd’ visual vis al ttrademark a em r and n also s provide pr v d the h kernel ke n for o S Stop op Making M k ng Sense, S ns , the h landmark l n ma k c nc concert film fi m and a d tour t u of the h same a e name name. n me The Th simple mp e line i e drawing d a i g iss less l s elaborate e labo ate than th ha many an phone ph n scribbles c ibbl bb s or o cocktail c cktt il i napkin n pki k maps. m p . Itt is is hard, h d then, th h n tto believe e e e that t a what wha was wa born bo n from r m such s ch brevity r v ty would wo provide pr v d fuel e forr so s ma y people many people’s p op s creative c e t v consciousness consciousness. o s ou n s . “ obviously “I ob iou ly was wa thi thinking t i ki k n off th the h whole whol show h w ass b being ing more m r presentational,” r s ntation l,” explains e p a n Byrne y n off the h suit u and n the h concert. o c r “Unlike Un k naturalistic a u a s c Western We t n the t eater, a ater e this h s show h w would w u d be more mo e Brechtian Brechtian, B e h an more mo Eastern Eastern, a r more m r revealing e e l g of o itss working w ok kin and nd stage tag devices. de ic To To me, m all all this thi t i is i implied im li l d in i this thi t i little littl t e sketch.” ket h ” Though h g most s pages p ge of o hiss journal jou n are r related l t d to music, mu i , Byrne y n is clearly l a ya v s a thinker visual thinker, t i k r as a the h suit u sketch k t h indicates indicates. n i a e There he e are r ideas a for f r how h w to t notate oae Theremin T Th h r min music, mu ic th the h world’s wo ld’ dsfi first st electronic ele t nic iinstrument, n t um nt, via i diff different f e e t llengths e gth h of squiggly o q igg g y lines, ne , and n various a u LP LP cover ov designs. e ign In n the t e case c s of o the h album ab ccover over ve for f Speaking p ak g in i Tongues, Tongues o g e , when w en a design e i n by b artist r s Robert Ro e t Rauschenberg R u c e be g proved p o d too to expensive x en iv to to produce, p odu e Byrne By n scrambled s r mb bled to to devise devi e one: o e “We “W W had had tto come om up up with w h a cheap c e p alternative a na v super upe quick. qu c I ended e e up p designing d sg g itt by by painting, p painting a t n , collaging collaging, o g n and n letter-pressing e e - r s ng text e t directly d e t y onto t blank b a k album a b m covers co e tthat th at I h had d llying ing around r und the th t house.” h us ” Th The Th iimagery m g r sprang p a g from fr m his his reading r adii g of of JJoseph s ph Campbell C mp e att the h time. me Not o surprisingly surprisingly, u p n l Byrne Byrne’s y ne s notebooks o e o k also l o contain on a phrases h a e for o lyrics l s or o titles titles. t l s Perhaps P e h p the th t most mo t iinteresting nte e ti t of of th them h m iin tterms rm of of th the h subject subje t of of jjournaling u n li l ccomes me from om the e Talking T k ng Heads’ a s song, s ng, g “Life “ i During u i g Wartime”: Wa t m ” “Burn “B r all a l my my notebooks. n notebooks o o k What W a good o d are a e notebooks? n t b o s They T y won won’t w n t help h p me me survive survive.” u v v . The h ssongwriter ngw itt r frequently fr q e tl t y jots jots down d wn phrases phr s s he h has ha overheard o e he d in i conversation o v r ation or from o om the he media, m d a, clumps c umps of o words wo d that t a sound o n absurd b u d or o enigmatic ng i when whe t k n out taken o t of o context context. c n e t Covering Co e g a page page, ag they h y include n de arrows r ow and an other o he private p va e ssymbols mb l that th h t were w r meaningful me ningf l at at the th t e time tiim but but are a e now n w lost l st even v n to to Byrne. B Looking L o k ng at a such u h a page p g today, o ay, he e says, s y , “II added a d d to t them t m at a various va o s times, t m s, so s

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there are different pens being used, and sometimes I’d underline it in red.… The jottings are more than just a list of phrases—their placement and visual relationships could be ‘read’ on another level, implying more meaning that just the text could impart.” Byrne has not changed to an electronic organizer partly because the spatial relationship of words and drawings on a page is so vital to his understanding of an idea: “These things are like concrete poetry: the way the words look is as important as what they say.”

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I is It i too t o bad b d the t e journals ou n s that t a are a e part p r of o the h 1 000 0 0 Journals J u n l Project P o e t do d not o have h a e tiny, tii y hidden hidd h d en video id i e cameras am r s attached tt t a h d to t them. th h m The Th h images im g that th t at would ould ccome me back b c from om the e journeys jo r ey would wo l be be as fascinating f s na ng ass the e books’ b o s contents. c ne t . Re Reminiscent i c n of the h Grateful r t fu Dead e anthem an h m “what “what w a a long long, l n strange a ge trip r p it it’s s been,” b e n ” one ne journal jo r al was wa stowed t w d in i a cave c ve ((and a d may ma still till i b be e th there), h ) another an th he was w a stolen o e att gunpoint, g npo n , and nd one ne traveled r v l d throughout h ough u Brazil r z and n Ireland ea d be r returning before eun to t the h United Un ed States States, t t s where wh r it made d itss way w y up u the h Eastern a t r sseaboard. ab a d That h latter a t r one o e was w s Journal J u n l #526, # 2 , the h only n y book o thus t us far a to t be e returned e u ne to t B i n Singer Brian Singer, S n e the h San a Francisco–based F n s o ba e graphic r p i designer de gn r who w o began b g launching l u ch g blank b bl a k bl black b a k jjournals o ls in in August Au u t 2000. 2000 2 0 By B JJanuary nu r 2003 2 3 Si Singer i g h had d set s t all all one on tthousand ou a d journals jou n s adrift. a r t The Th stamp s amp inside d each a h cover c v r offers o e s the he following o ow ng i s r c on “Take instructions; Take T k this h journal o r a and a d add a something s me h n to o it it. t Stories Stories, S o e , photographs photographs, oo r p s drawings, d awin s opinions. opi i n . A Anything ythi h n goes.” o s ” Th The T e rest st iis up u tto o th the he fi finder. nd r The h project pr j c was wa inspired sp e by y bathroom-wall b t r om w l graffiti, g a fi , an a interest i t r s that t a dates ae ba k to back o Singer Singer’s S n e s college c l g days days. a He e was wa intrigued i t gu d by b the t e commercial c mme c l nature n u of o tthe th e messages, me s g s a coming c mi g together tog the of of virtual virtu l strangers. t a g r . After Aft A e trying t yin to to work w rk out o u the t e logistics ogi t s of o putting pu i g blank b a k books b o s in n bathroom b t r om stalls, s a s, he h landed nd d on o the h i e off traveling idea r v l g journals journals. j u n l Within W h n weeks we k he he was w s designing d s g i g and a d producing p o u i g the t e first fi st b batch. atch But u why w y a thousand? h u n ? “A few days ays after a the h idea ea hit i me,” me,” Singer i ge says, s y , “II kn w it knew i had h d to t be e a thousand thousand. h u an It had ad to o be b that big i in order r e to t get e any n back back.” a k The T Th h jjournals’ u n l ’ whereabouts whe e b t are a e tracked tr cked on n th the t e website website Si Singer S n e maintains, aintain 1000journals.com, 1 0 j un o , where wh people p p who w o have h v come om into i t contact o t c with wi h a journal j u na c n post can p a scan n on the t e site s e and a d report r p r about ab u a book book’s b ok s location location. c t o . Singer i g iss often o n ssurprised r ris d when wh n a previously vio sly unheard-from u h a d f o journal jo r al pops p ps up, p while whill another n the t tthat a has a been e n steadily s e d y accounted a c u t d for f r disappears. app pe r Journal o r a #526 # 6 had h d only o y been b en sighted i h e five v times me when e it was wa returned e u n d to Singer S Si n e nearly e rly full full off images ima e and nd writing riti g in i August Au ust 2002. 2002 2 0 “I had h d no n clue lue itt was w s almost a mo t done,” on , he h says. ays “So when wh n it i showed s ow d up up in n a velvet e v t bag g that h someone s me n ha made had ma for f r it it, t I had a the h biggest g s grin g i on n my m face! face!” a e” IIn n addition dditi d i n tto th the t eb book’s ok’ physical ph sic l jjourneys, u ne s Si Singer S n e iis iinterested t r sted iin n th the h ccreative e t v journeying j u n y ng they h y inspire nsp r in n those h s who w o come c me into n o contact on a with w h them. t em He says He y he he “created created c e t d the t e project p o c for the t e Average A e a e Joe J e to rediscover r d s o e hiss love ov of o painting p ai ti t n and nd art.” rt ” On On the th h website, w b itt , he h quotes qu t s from fr m a book b ok about b ut creativity, r ativitt Orbiting O rb t ng the Giant G a Hairball H i b l by Gordon o d MacKenzie, Ma Ke z e, that a points p t out u how ho a class a s o kindergarteners of nd r a n r will wi all a l raise a their t e r hands an s when wh n asked a k d iff they h y are a e an a artist ts but b ut only o l about b ut a third thi t i d off sixth si th t graders r d r will ill d do o so. s “Wh “What Wh t h happens p en tto uss grow go iing g up?” up? Singer i g r wonders. w nd r “We We begin b g n to o fear f a criticism c t c m and n tend e d to o keep k ep our u ccreativity reativity e t v y to ourselves ourselves.” o ev s” Although Alth l h u h the th t e covers c v r are e professionally p ofe sio ally designed, d sig ed the th he contents o t nts inside i sid are a ea hodgepodge h o g p g of writing, w t ng, collage, o ag , politicizing, po t i i g, g and a simple s mp drawings. r w g Based a d on c mme t he comments he’s e s received e e v d via v e-mail e-mail, - a l Singer Singer’s S n e s goal g a of o reigniting n t n people people’s pe p e s crecre r ative a tii e spark a k has h s been bee successful. su c s ful. He H is i told t ld frequently f eq e tl t y that th h t someone s me n has ha gone o e out o u and a d bought b ug g t a journal jo r a and a started s a t d drawing d aw g again aga n after a e a thirty-year h ty ye r hiatus. i t s

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As a graphic designer, Singer (who goes by the moniker “someguy” on the website) sometimes feels like everything he does is driven by profit margins—which can really sap a guy’s creativity. The 1,000 Journals Project is an antidote to that, something totally devoid of funding and advertising. And without rules. Intrigued by the possibilities, Singer jokes, “I think it would be great if one journal came back all blue.”

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One O n of Andrew d ew Swift wi s favorite f v r e memories mem i s from r m a trip t p to t Honduras o u a with wi h a medical m edii al mission mi i n was wa of of a team t am performing p rfo min a cesarean c a n section. ectio . “There “Th Th r was a an a n older l e physician phys c n and a d a team t am off scrub ub nurses e with wi whom w om he’d h d worked wo k d for f years,” y years a s ” recalls e a l Swift Swift, Sw t who wh once n e thought t o gh he he’d h ’d go o to o medical me i a school s h o but bu turned t r ed tto a career c e in in medical m d dic l illustration illl st tii n instead. inst d “Not “N “N t once n e did d d they th he talk t lk l about b ut the th ssurgery; rg y; y they h y talked a k d about a o t their t e kids’ s soccer s c e games, ga s, their e families. i e Itt was w s like i e ballet. b a e Flawless.” allet Flawless l we s What Wh W at appealed p e l d to t him hi h m most mo t about abo t th that hat scene, s e e ffrom om which whii h h he made ad a ffavorite v r e sketch s e c off one ne off the he doctor’s o r s hands an s making m k ng an n incision, i c i n, was wa the h craft cat iinvolved. involved v l e . The T e team ea had a done on so s many m n surgeries ug r together t g t e that h t they h y were we e ututtterly rly iin n sync yn with with i h th the h process, r c s , the th h instruments, in t ent the th he patient, atii nt and nd each a h other. oth h r It I all flowed. a ow d Att its t best, be , says s y Swift, Sw f , drawing d aw ng can a be e a similar im a experience. e pe e c But B t itt t k s many takes ma y sheets s e t of paper a e to o get there there. h r Swift S wift f came c e tto thi this t i realization alii atio th through h o gh an n unlikely u lik l k ly route. r ute Aft After A t r th three h e years e r iin the h Peace Pe c Corps Co p working o k ng ass an a illustrator, i u t a o , he e applied app p ed to o a medical m d c l illustra l sr t o program tion program. p g a “II thought t o gh I drew w perfectly. perfectly e fe t y I figured gu e they they’d t y d snap n p me me right i h up up,” p” he h e recalls. e alls IInstead, ste d th they h y ttold old d hi him h m tto go g b back a k tto school ho l and nd llearn e r tto d draw. r w Taking a i g their t e advice, d i e, he h enrolled n o ed in n every e e y art r class a s possible p s i e at a a nearby n by c mmu i y college community college. o l g Then Then, e he e spent s en ten t n months m s in n New N w York York, o k crashing c a h n on na ffriend’s iend’s couch c u h and a d studying studyin d day a and nd night i ht h att th the h A Arts rts St Student S ude t L League. a u H He drew d ew constantly. c n t n y Midway, i way, he e went we t home h me for o a visit v s and n took o k along a ng every v y s r p of scrap o paper pa e on on which w i h he he’d h d drawn drawn. d aw . “It It I was wa such u h a huge h g amount mo n off paper ap it was w a burdensome,” bu d n om ” he he remembers. em mb r . Clearly l a yh he could o l not o k keep p itt all. l So oh he g got o in tthe eh habit b t of cculling ng his sd drawing aw n g c l e i n every collection e e y few ew weeks weeks, we k going o n through h o g the h stacks a s off scrap ap paper paper, ap r napkins napkins, n p i s and a nd paper pa e bags ba s on o which whi h ch he he draws. da The Th h keepers ke p get et taped t ped together t geth h r into into a homemade h o em de folder, o d r, smallest s l s image i g to t largest. a g s The h others t e s are tossed. o s d The h kind i d of o automatic a t ma i drawing d aw n Swift w f admires a mi is i essential e s n i l for o certain c r a n kinds k d off medical o edi d al illustration. ill i u t ation Teaching T a hi h n oneself n lf tto b be e able abll tto remember emb something om thi t g and a n draw d aw itt back b c faithfully h u y iss a learned e r ed skill k l that ha he h relies e e on, n, for f r example, x mp e, wh n accurately when a c r t l portraying po r y n how ow kidneys k e s sit in i the h body—at bo y— t an a angle angle, an l not o up up and a nd down—or do —o how h w tissue tis u looks lo k when whe being bei tugged t gg d by b a suture. s t r . Swift, w f , a professor pr e o of o medical me i a illustration, i u t a o , recently e en y had h d a rare a e opportunity opp p un y to o a c pa y a medical accompany m d c mission m s o to o a hospital o p t l in n Honduras H n s where w e e he h spent p n ten n days d a s iin n th the he llabor abo and nd d delivery eliv r ward. w d Because Be au e some om off his hii training t ainin overlaps v rl p tthat a off medical m d c students, t d n s, he he was w s allowed a ow d to scrub s r b in for f r several ev procedures. pr c d r s Th pace The pa e was w s grueling grueling. g u l n He e spent s en one o e entire e t e night n g t with w t the h resident r s d n in charge h r e off deliveries, o deliv rie a twenty-two-year-old tw nty t y - ld l named nam d Carla, C rl who wh operated o ated all ll l night nightt without w i h u a break. b e k When Whe it i was wa time me for o the h morning mo n ng meeting m e ng and nd she he did i not o ha e her have h paperwork ap wo k finished finished, fi i h d the t physician ph s i n in n reprimanded r p an e her her. e Through Th h o h itt all, ll S Swift wift f d drew ew as a much mu h as a he he could. c uld d He H relied elied on n several s v r l blank bll nk ssheets e off paper p p r folded o d d in n quarters, qu r , kept ep in i his h s breast b e s pocket. po k t Sometimes, S me me , ass wi h the with h team e m doing d i g the t e cesarean cesarean, c s r a , he could c u d make ma e a quick u c gesture e t r sketch k t h on the tth e spot. s ot Oth Other O h r ti times, e h he d drew ew llater ate ffrom om memory. m o y His Hi H s favorites f v rite are r those th t o e tthat a look ok fresh r s and n not o overworked. o wo k d All l of o the t e drawings d aw gs put p him im back a in i the t moment. m moment om n Though ho g spontaneous spontaneous, p n a e us they e a are ep proof o f that h tp practice a i e does d es m make ake a e perfect perfect. p r .

ANDREW SWIFT

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My journals My u n l are a e a collection o l c o off things h n s I m curious u i u about b u , John Jo n Clapp C a p says s y A a children’s-book As h d e - o k illustrator l u r t r and a d art a professor r f s o at a San a Jose o e State S t University, nv r i y t o e things those t i g tend d to o be b related e t d to t the t visual v s a vocabulary. v a u a y A recent c n reading r a i g of o a book b o by y an a Oxford x o d neuroscientist neuroscientist, n u o ce t for f r instance instance, n t n e led d him h m to t jott some s me notes oe about a b u classroom c a s o m use u of o emotional m o a intelligence i t l g n e versus v r u rational a o a intelligence. t l g n e A pa e or page o two t later l t there there’s h r s a drawing d aw g inspired i s i e by by a magazine m g z n article r c e he e read r a about a b u Toni bout To Morrison Morrison. M r s n Hoping p n to t become e om a comic-book c i o k artist, a i t Clapp C a p started s a ed keeping ee ng a sketchbook k t h o a early as a y as a seventh e e t grade. r d He H now ow has h s twenty we t books o k from om his h adult d years, ye r wh c he which e keeps k e s on o a shelf s e f in n his h office office. f c In n addition a d i n to t a running r n i g daily d i y journal journal, o r a he h e maintains m i t n a small ma one on for f r every ve y children’s h n book o k he h illustrates. l s a e . They T e help ep h m to him t remember e mb a project r e t in n chronological c r no g c l order: r e : “a a nice n c little t e artifact a i a att the h en of end o the h process process.” po ” He tries t e to o be b proactive p o i e about a o t the he journal, o r a making m k n a daily d y drawing wi g of o some s me k n Recently kind. R c n l he he set e himself ms l the t e task s of o drawing r w n portraits o t a s of o writers. wr e s Halfway Ha wa i t a clunky into c u k likeness k ne s off Aristotle Aristotle, A s o l he e grew g ew bored o ed and nd began g n playing p a ng in n the he margins m a g n with i h a loose o s sketch k h based s d on o something s e h n he’d e d just u t read r a about b u Shel h l S ve t i . Abandoning Silverstein. A a do g the he initial n i exercise x r i e altogether, o e h r he h followed o ow d Silverstein, S v r t n t y n to trying t figure gu out u how ow the h illustrator illustrator-cartoonist l s o -cartoonist a t o i worked worked. w r e Clapp pp calls a this t i deconstruction d e o s uc o off another no h r artist’s r s ’ style s y e a “forensic f r n i approach” a p oa h and n likens k n it to o “trying t y n on trying n someone m n else else’s s ’s hat ha to t see e how ho you o look. look.” o k Clapp l p considers o s d r hiss books b o s to t be be journals journals, o r a s sketchbooks sketchbooks, s e c b k and n diaries i r s all a in one. o n Still, t he h is i the t first fi s to t admit dm they h y are a e slim l m on o intimate t ma details. e a s He e has h s be n greatly been ge influenced u n ed by y one o e of o his h s colleagues, c l a ue Barron a r n Storey, S o e whose o e books b o s C a calls Clapp c l “aggressively aggressively a r s v l personal personal.” e s n l By y comparison comparison, c mp r n Clapp Clapp’s C a p s journals o r s tend n ttoward wa d the he observational. bs va o a “I’d I d like ke them h m to be e more mo e personal. s a I try sometimes om t m s t be to e more m reflective, e e t v but u if you yo keep ke p a journal o r a for f r a long o g time, m it it’ss just j s like k handwriting. h handwriting a dw t n It returns e u n to t who w o you y u are are.” ae Clapp l p frequently eq e t y reminds em n s students e t to t let go g off their h i egos. e o Loosely L o e y quoting q o ng t e painter the p i t r Frank nk Auerbach, A e b c he h says a s that h t style s y is not o about b u having a i g a program; g am i is it i about ab u how ho one n responds e p nd in i a crisis crisis. c i s In I other e words words, wo d your ou immediate immediate, i me i t intuintu nu iitive v reactions e c on are a e your y u style, y e and an learning l a n n to act c on n intuition n u t n allows a ow an n artist a i t t circumvent to r um e t his h s orr her h r ego. go “A “A journal, journal,” o r a ” Clapp C a p comments, c mme t “is is the t e friendliest re d e p a e an place a artist r s can c n practice p a t c being be g honest ho e t with w h himself himself, h ms f which wh c is i a scary s a y thing t ng tto learn a n how h w to o do.” o”

JOHN CLAPP

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At dawn A dawn, d wn with wi h a cup u off green en tea e in n hand hand, an Steven t v n Holl Ho sets s out u hiss watercolors wa e o o s and nd a spiral-bound p a - o nd journal. o r a He has h followed f l we this h routine o t n for f r more m r than h n twenty we t years, e r , having h v n learned l a n d to t value va e the t e creative ce e spark s a k that ha comes c me prior r r to o the t e day day’s d ys unfolding n o d n energy energy. n r y What W h t he h paints pa t varies a e on n his h s mood m o and n the h tenor e o of o the h day; da perhaps eh p a formal o m study s u y or o a light i h study ud may ma appear. p a Often, f e these h s early a y morning mo n n creative c e tv stretches te e “mark mark m r the h beginning e i n n concepts o c p s for o a building building,” bu d n , the t e architect a c i e says says. a s Holl H l has h s drawn d aw and n painted a n e ass long o g as a he e can an remember; em mb r his h s mother m t e still has a several e e a paintings pa t n s done d n during u i g early e r elementary l me t r school. s h . In n addition a d t n to t the h w t r o r journal watercolor journal, ou n , he h also a s maintains a n a n a journal j u n l in n which wh h he h notes o e hiss “impres “impresmp sions i n of spaces p c s and a d places, p a e ideas, d a concepts, on e t criticisms, r c sm reflections.” e e t s He carries c r e these h s with w h him h m at a all a l times, me , relying e y n on n them h for o inspiration i s i t o especially s e i l during u ng his i frequent fe u travels. travels r v l Begun e un in n Rome R me in n 1970 1 7 when w e he e studied s u ed there there, h r , Holl H l says says, s y “the t e journals ou n s have h v allowed l we a continuous o t n o s process, p o e s a dialog d a g with w t ideas, d a quotes uo and nd spontaneous p n o s captured c p u e intuitive n u i e thoughts. thoughts.” h ug t B way By y off the he journals journals’ o r a s continuity continuity, c n i u y he e cites i e his h s book b o Questions ue i n off Perception: ec pi n A Phenomenology he om n l g off Architecture r h t c u e. Written W i t n in n 1993, 1 9 , Holl H l explored e p o e how ow “sense s n perceptions e c p i n are r a crucial c u i measure m a u e of architecture. architecture.” a c t c u e ” The T e topic op has a not o loosloos l o ened n its i s hold o d on o him him, i , however however, h we e ass a June u e 2004 2 0 journal o r a entry en y demonstrates: d mo s r t s “I “I marked m r e a Zen Ze Buddhist u dh t ordering o d r g of o perception e c p on in n six categories: a e o e eye e e conscious n c sness, e s ear a consciousness, c n c o sn s olfactory f c o y consciousness, n c s e s tongue t n e consciousness, on c us e s body b dy consciousness, consciousness o s i u ne s and a d mind m nd consciousness consciousness.” on u ne s Although A t o gh Holl’s H l thirty-five–person h t - v –p o design de gn office f c relies e e on n the he “fastest f s e t and nd highest i h s resolution e o o computer om u e drawings d aw n s to develop d e p [a] [ project, project,” r j c he h maintains m n an that h t the he initial n i l drawings drawings—the r wi g —tthe e fusion u n of o brain brain, b a n mind mind, mi d and an hand hand—are ha d—are r essential s e t a to o the h process. r c s Regarding eg r ng the h significance i n fi a c off drawing, r wi g he h refers e e to o Louis L u s Sulli ulvan’s van a s concept o c p of the h “seed-germ,” seed s e -germ, e m ” and a d says, s y , “Like Like L k the h soul o l orr initial n t l spirit p r off a project, project r j c itss presence p e e c att the h beginning e i n n is crucial crucial.” r ca ”

STEVEN HOLL

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The T h earliest ea i s journal u n l off any y kind k d painter p i t r Mike M k Roberts o e t can a recall c l keeping k ep is i the t e rreceipt c i t stubs t b held held d together t g th t e by by metal m t l rings i g that th h t he he had h d for f r his hii childhood childh h d o d paper pa e rroute. u e He He stilll has h s one e of these, e e, but b most mo off his h other t e early ea y journals—small, j o r a s— ma , l a h r b u d lab leather-bound l b books b o s given g n to o him h m by b his i engineer e gn father a h r and nd early l paintpaint an iing g sketchbooks—are sketchb b ok —a gone, on thrown th h ow away. aw y “They “Th T e felt felt like lik k a nuisance n i a c att some m point,” p t, Roberts R b r s sighs igh with w h regret. g e “What Wh t I wouldn’t ou t give g for f r them h m now.” ow Roberts o t has a made ad up up for o their h r loss o s by b keeping e p n a series e e of notebooks o e oo s and nd jjournals, u n l which which h he e now n w bi binds i d hi himself. ms lf l Th There h r are r th the t e “W “Walking “W lki l ng B Books” oks” fforr doodles d d and a d ideas, i e s, which wh c he e keeps k eps in n the t e chest c e t pocket p c e of o hiss signature s g a u e bib b overalls. o overalls e a l Along l n with w h his h wife w e and a d daughters daughters, d ug t r alll artists artists, a i he e keeps k e s journals o s during d u in ffamily a iil vacations. a atii n The Th h m miniature ini t r books bo k are e filled fill fi ed w with ith h rreceipts, c ipts mileage mil i ag rrecords, c r s, and an at a least s one o e dead d ad fly. y And An then h n there t e e iss the he large, a g , ledger-like e g r i e t me that tome ha sits s s on o the h desk de k of his h studio studio. t d o He He started t r e the h “Studio Studio S u o Log Log” L g in n 1979 7 tto note ote th the h d day’s ay’ events. v nts “It “ t has ha pretty r tt t yb basic si iinformation,” nf rm ti t n”h he says. a s “M Made d a frame fr me. S Started a t d to o gesso g s o. IIt keeps k p you yo moving. mo i g I can c n look o k at a it and an see, e , ‘Well, W l, Mike, M Mike i e you y u didn didn’t d d ’t work wo k for o two w days days, a s you you’d y d better b t e do do something! something!’” om t i g For F o more o e th than t a a year, ye r however, h we e the th h Studio S Stud di Log Log has ha been be n largely l r ely ignored, ig o ed overshadowed o e s d we by y slender nd r books o s corresponding o r spon ng to o a single i g e painting. p i g Roberts o e t a p e the new adopted n journals r a after f e the t e death d a h of o his h s older l e brother r e George George, Ge r e a printprint p nmaker m ake who ho taught ta ght h Roberts Robe t how h w to to paint. int. After Aft A e George’s Ge r ’s death d ath h from fr m cancer a c r in 2001, 2 0 , the e task a k of o cleaning c e n ng out u hiss studio s u i fell f l to Roberts. Ro e t “I [found] [ ou d] preparatory p ep r y d aw n s that drawings ha he he’d h d done o e for f r a final n l print—five p n —fi e to t seven s e of them h m per pe print print,” pi he e rremembers membe s with with awe. aw . “And “And sketchbooks k t hb h oks I’d never ne e seen s en before. b fo e I had h d no n idea idea he put h pu such u h effort e o t into n o a piece.” p c Affected fe t db by h his sb brother’s brother o h r s meticulous e i uo sh habits, habits b s R Roberts o e t d decided c d d tto ccommence me c hiss own hi h o n painting p i ti t n jjournals. u nal . T Typically pi alll h he eh had ad d done n a ffew w th thumbnails t umb ails and a d ssketches e c e and nd then h n put p itt all a down ow on on the h canvas a va to t make ak adjustments adjj s me t ass he e went. w went e t Inspired I s i e by y George George, G o g , he h now no charts h r s a painting a n i g from r m beginning be i n n to end end. nd Many M n off his hii paintings paintin s are a e both b th allegorical alll g ri al and nd personal, es n l d documenting c mentin ffamily m ly and n friends. i n s They’re Th y e also a s mischievous. mi c i v u The e first fi t one o e to evolve e o v from om a journal ou n was w s no n different different. df n “Pizza, Pizza z a Death e t and n Painting Painting” a n ng is an n exploration e p o a o off Roberts’s R obe t ’s attempt attem t tto go g on n the th t e Atki Atkins A k n di diet. d et Th The e painting p intii g iincludes ncl de ttwo w iimages m g s of Roberts, o o e t , one n in n the h guise gu s off a skeletal k a pizza-delivery p z a d l v ry man. ma Trailing T a ng behind hn h m is him i Frida F i a Kahlo Kahlo, K h o of o whom hom he e pondered p nd r d in n the t e journal journal, o r a “Frida Frida F i a suffered s f r d too too. t o Why W Wh hy not ot put ut F Frida rida iin th the t e painting?” p i ti t n ?” ? Roberts o t admits dm s that t a the t e journals jou n do d not o greatly gr a y affect a e t his h painting pa n g meth m t o —a most ods—at mo t he e is i more mo e organized o g n d now now. n w The h greatest r a e t reward ew r comes o e simply i py ffrom o making m ki k n something o thi h ng different. diff i e ent “Iff you’re y u’ e not n t thi thinking h nkii g of of new ne thi things, hn s you’re y u r stagnant,” ag a t, Roberts R b r s muses. m s s “When Wh n you’re y u a kid, k d, you’re y u r excited, e t d, pu ng new pulling w things t i g offf the he shelf shelf, h trying y n something om t i g different different. d f r n You o still t want w n tthat th at ffeeling elii g when wh n you’re y u’ e fifty-six. fift fi t six A And nd th the h work wo k iiss what wh t gives i e it tto o you.” ou ” George eo g would wo l no o doubt d u t agree. ag r e

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Ass a painter A a n e Julie u e Baugnet B ug e is i inclined i c ne to t pay a careful a e u attention a n on to o the he details e al off h o her e garden. g d n R Reading adi d n Aldo Ald A do Leopold’s L o old’ d conservationist o s r atii ni t classic cla i A S Sand a dC County o nty Almanac A ma acc inspired n p ed her h to o look o k beyond b y nd the h artist’s r s ’ domain d a n of o color c l r and nd textures e t r s t the to h physical ph s a phenomena h n en in i her e backyard ba k a d oasis oasis. o s . Compelled C mp l d by b Leopold Leopold’s e po d s practice p a ti t c of of phenology—the h n l gy— —th h study study of of the th t e chronological chr n l gic l occurrence c u r n e of of natural natu al events, e en , such s c ass bird d migrations m g a on and an flower flow blooming, l om ng, and n the h comparison ompa s n of o d dates s of o occurrence o cu en e from r m year y a to o year—she ea — he has a noted o ed and nd tracked r c e her e natural aua sspace a in i a more mo e formal fo mal manner. ma n Baugnet a gn t has h s kept ep a variety v r ty off journals jo r a s since i c attending t d ng artt school s h o in i the h 1970s, 1 1970s 70 including n u g one o e in i which wh c she h drew r w only o l coffee o e cups cups. u s Currently Cu r n y she s e mainmain ma nttains i s ttwo wo ki kinds k nds off jjournal: o n l: one ne iin n which whi h h she she plans pla s paintings p intii g and nd th the h other th t e a garden g n journal. jo r a She h started t r e it i in i 1997, 9 7, the t e year y a she h and n her e husband, hu b n , land a s a designer scape d g Carter a t r Clapsadle Clapsadle, C a s d e bought b ug t their h i home ho in i St St.. Paul Paul, P u Minnesota Minnesota. M ne o a The Th T h couple c ple saw aw potential p t ntial in i the th h homely hom ly b bungalow g l w and a d quickly qui kl k y tturned u ned b both oth h tthe e interior n e i r and nd yard y d into i t their t e r living i ng laboratory. a oaoy Baugnet’s Baugnet a n t s journal r a moves mo e slowly slowly, ow y at a a garden garden’s g r en s pace pace. a e She S averages a e ag s about bo t tten n entries e t ie a season, e s n documenting do um nting the th h life liff of of the th h garden, ga d n including i cludii g LeopoldL o old d llike e observations o s a i n off the h first r crocuses r c s s and a d birds b r s off the he season, ea o , dinner i n r parties, p r e , a and garden ga d n visitors visitors. v io Although Alth l h u h Baugnet Ba g et sometimes om ti t m s adds add d one n off Cl Clapsadle’s p adl d ’ spontaneous p nta e u ssketches—usually e c e — s a y plans p a s and a d whims wh m forr the he future—most u u e—m s of o the h documenta do um n at o is tion i hers hers. e s She S e keeps k e s pockets p c e s in n the t e journal ou n for o photographs p o og a h and n watercolwatercol a e c lors, o s which whi h ch can a be be added dd dd d at at a later late time. time She Sh S e has h s enjoyed, e j y d for f r instance, in t nc creat r atiing g a photo-based p o o b s d sequence s q en e showing ho i g the t e garden’s g r e ’ evolution ev u i n from r m a ho-hum ho um s bu b n plot suburban p o into i a celebration c l b a o off prairie i e grasses grasses. ga s s While Whil W i B Baugnet’s a n t’ t record e o d is is about abo t close cl s examination x mi ation off a ffamiliar amilia space, p c , it its t essential e s n i l purpose pu po e iss as a a creative c e t e tool t o in i the t e never-ending n ve e d ng adaptation dapt i n of o that t a sspace. space a Being e n able b e to o see s e when wh n the h tulips u p came am up p and a d the he color o o of o the h crocro c occuses s in i a certain c rtain section e ti t o off the th h garden a d n is is indispensable i di d pe s bl b e information info matio when whe ttrying y ng to t plan pl n the he spring p i g planting p a t g during du ng the h dark a k winter w n e months. mo t s Gardening Ga d n ng i Minnesota in Minnesota, i n o after a e all all, l takes t k s faith faith. a t And A d a journal journal. o r a

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Ro e t a Robert PrkeHarrison r eH r s n s photographs p o o r p are a e eerie e r narratives a r t e off life f in a world l slightl slightly h y lik like i e ours o r b but ut also als entirely ntir l diff different. df nt A single si gle character—P cha a t r—P arkeHar rkeHa rrison s n himself, h m e , dressed d e s d always a w y in n a simple mp e dark d r suit s and an white h t shirt—perches h t—pe c e on a ladder on d r with w giant g a t feathery ea h y wings w g attached t c d to o his h s arms rm or o sews ew a gaping g pn piece p ie e of of earth e rth h with with t a giant gia t needle. n edll . iW th tth their eir seemingly e i gly mocha-splattered m ch spl tt t e ed glaze g a e and a d dim d m lighting, l gh i g g, the t photographs ph g aph can a be e mistaken m s a e for sepias s p a of o an n e r e era;but earlier era; r but bu their t e r environmental nv o me t l storylines t r l are r utterly t e y current current. c r For F o P arkeHarrison, keHa ri on who wh creates eat th the t eb behemoth h moth h photographs photo ph (th hey ey are r ass llarge rge as a four f u by y five fi e feet) e t)with w t hiss wife w f Shana, h n , his h journals j u a are r one n of the h most o t im o t n tools important t o s in n their e making making. k The h books o k are r circular r u a in i nature nature, a u e representrepresent r p e e tiing g all all stages tag s off a photograph’s photo r ph’ making, makii g ffrom om iinitial niti t l spark pa k tto o printing p intii g tto th the t e cceremonial r mo i l cleaning l a i g of o the t e studio. su The h couple o p e completes c mp e about a ou ten t n photographs p o o r ph over ov the h course o r e of a year year, y a each e ch image ima e adding addi d n to to their th h i fifteen-year-long fift fi t e - e r lo visual vis al narrative. na atii e At A the th h begin be i ning n ng off each c series, s e ,P arrkeHarrison eH r s n says, s y , “there’s t e e s always lw y a very v ry uncomfortable n om o t b e f e ng off not feeling n t knowing no g where wh r you you’re o re going going.” on He e pulls p l out u past a t journals o r a s so o tthat th at h he e and a d Sh Shana S a a can c n review r vie what what they th t ey have hav done do e in in the th t e past. p st “It’s “It’ t s reassur e s uiing g to t see s e how h w we w were we e able a e to t start a t at a point p i t A and a d progress p ogr s to t a final n l series ei s off work o work.” o k” The Th h source o r e iimages ma s P arrkeHarrison keH r is n collects c ll l cts and a d pastes p ste iinto t th the h jjournals— un l — everything e y h ng from om old o d photographs p o ogr p s collected c l c e on n library i r ry visits v s (he often f e roams r am t e stacks the stacks, s a k pulling u l g down d wn random r n om books b o s like e a game g me off exquisite e q i t corpse)to corpse) o p e to o advertisements—provide a d e tii em nts— r vid d inspiration i pi ation iin n th the he early a l stages. tag s Th The T iimages, ag s photo photoccopied p e and nd pasted pa t d into i t the t e journal, j u n l, share s a e space pa e with w t his h s writing. w i ng Though T ough he h s y he says e has h s a difficult d fi u t time i e with w t language language, a g ag the h writing wr i g helps h l s him h m to find fin the t e ccenter nte off a piece. i c In In pages p g s of of penciled p n il i ed scrawl, wl he h asks sks questions q e ti t s and nd offers ffe s possible p o s l answers. n we s An n image i ag begins be s to o take k shape sh p in his i mind mind, mi d almost a mo entirely n i e ass a result e u t off tthe th e seeking s ekii g process p o e s in in his hi h s journal, jo r al allowing ll l wi g him hi h m to t go g into into the th h field field d to to take t k olaroid P a o d test e t shots o s off possible p s b e locations. o i n .P ro ops, p , such u h as a a giant g a t typewriter y yp w i e ball, b ball a are r assembled a e b e next next. e Once On e a final fi a version v r i n of o the t e image ma e comes c me into t focus focus, u iit iinforms f r s th the t e progress p o r s of of other the images im g s in in the th t e working w rkii g series. s ri s arrkeHarrison P eH s n iss unabashedly u ab s e ly “obsessive” o s s i e about b u hiss journal jou n keeping. e p ng He H ha nearly has n l forty r y books b o s and a d even e e admits dm s to t writing wr i g in n journals—smaller j u n l —sm l r ones ne he h e calls alls th the t e“ “satellite atellitt jjournals”—while u al ”—whil ied driving. ivin A As compared c mp r d with with t his hii wife’s wif i ’ ccreative e t v style, s y e, which wh c he he considers on d to o be focused f c s d and a d precise p e i e (she e keeps eps no journal) no o r a,P arkeHarrison r e r s n describes d s r s himself im e ass scattered. scattered c t e e . “II need n e to o work w r through tth r ugh something s methi h n with with h my my hands, h nds whether wh th t e on n th the he page g or in in the th h studio. t di do I rrun n around a o nd going, g ng, g ‘I don’t o know kn w what’s wh t going go ng on! n’ That’s Th t when w e writing w t g helps he p s me to snap me s ap into n o place place,” p c he e explains explains, e p a n laughing ug i g at a his h s mental m n a disarray disarray. ds r a The Th h payoff ay fff is is a rich i h compilation om ilatio off id ideas, d a , th the h majority m j it i y off which whi h h never n ve get g t pursued p u e to finality. na y Like ke many m ny artists, r s s, he h fears e r losing l s ng his h s creative ce e drive. d ve The T e j u n l are journals a e an a ounce u c off prevention p ve t n against a n t that: a “They’re They T ey re e priceless p c l s to me m because b e a s they th h y contain ontai so o many m y ideas id d a that th h t were w r never e e pursued. u s ed It’s It’ t very e y thera th he apeutic p e t to og go o back b c and nd read e d how h w my y thoughts t o gh s developed ev op d over o e time.” tm Devel e eoped, o oped p d not n t unlike u l e a photograph photograph. p o o r ph

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I s a one-stop It o e s o shop sh p landscape a d c pe architect r h t c Thomas Th ma Oslund Os u d says s y of o the h blackba k bound b o nd blank bll nk books bo k he he has h s been b e carrying a yin with with h him hi h m since sin e he h was wa an n under u d graduate. g ad a e At A first r t the h books o k were w r more mo e about a o t replicating ep c t g others’ o h ’ ideas. d a Now N w t e reflect they e e t the he cycle y l of his i varied v e projects projects, r e t , which w i h include n de corporate o p r t gardens gardens, ad n memorials, m em ri l golf olff courses, ou e and a d vineyards. vin y rds Drawings D awin s for fo a specific p cifi fi site sit give giv way w y tto meeting e ng notes o e and n questions qu i n jotted j t e during u i g phone p o e calls. c l . There T e e are a sketches k t h s f om his from i travels t a e s and a d occasional o c s a drawings d aw n s by b his h s children children. c l r n He He jokes o e that h t they he rreflect fl t his hii ADD ADD tendencies: te de ci “I’m “I’m a huge hug multitasker.” multit t a k r” Although l h ugh it i has h s become b c me something s me h ng of o a lost l s art a t in n architecture, ac i u e, superceded upe c d d by computers by om u e s and a d the t e rise i e of o architectural a c i c u a software software, s wa e Oslund O l nd iss dedicated d a ed to o drawing. d awin . O One e of of his hi h s first fi t bosses b s e was an n architect a chit i e t who who believed b lii v d that th t at working o ki kn drawings d aw ngs should s o l be e able a e to t hold o d their h i own ow against g i s any any other o he art. a t When Wh n you y u wo k solely work e y on o the t computer computer, c mp t r Oslund Os d says says, y you o are r missing mi s a crucial cu physical h sc cconnection nn ction to to the th he creative r atii e process: p e s “The “Th “ h computer om ute screen c n removes em v s you y u from f tthe e process. p o e s You’re Yo r not o physically phys c ly touching t uc ng something, om t i g, g your yo r hand n isn’t n t mov m vi g across ing a r s the t e paper paper. p pe There There’s h r s a tactileness t c l n s that that’s h s absolutely b o u e essential s e t a to t the t e making m akii g of of something.” s methi h n .” Oslund’s s u d s inspirations n p r t s are r formidable. o m d b e In I college o ege he h loved v going go g to t Har avard’s v vard r s rare-book r - o k library l r r to o look o k at a the t e sketchbooks s e c b o of o the t e masters masters, ma t r such u h as a Le Le Corbusier C o b sie or o F Frederick ed ri k Law L w Olmsted. Oll sted L Later, t r when wh n h he won won th the h R Rome om P Prize ri e and a d sspent p n ay year a in i Italy, ay y, he h had a the h opportunity p ppo t n ty to t see e several e e a of o da da Vinci’s V c s codi c dcces. ces s Each a h of o these t e e works wo k provided p o i e windows w n ow into i t the t creative c e t v process: po e “Look LookL o iing g at at jjournals u n l is i a lot l t different diff i e ent th than t a llooking oki k g at at a fi finished ni hed d drawing. awin . Y You u start t rt tto see e and n almost mo t understand u d r t n how ow the he ideas d a evolved v l e into t a final n l product.” p du t Oslund s u d keeps k ep his h s process p o e s transparent r n pa for o clients c en and n others t e s involved nv v d on on a project p oje t to to see. s e He He has h s a keen ke n awareness aw r n s off the th h allure ll l r off creativity r ativitt and nd says a s tthat, a , probably p ba y because b a s of our u reliance l a c on n technology e hn ogy g and an most o t people’s p opl dis d st n e from tance f o their h i own ow artistic s c talents talents, en , drawing d i g iss a bit b magical magical. g a “II sit down do and an draw d aw iin n ffront o t off my m clients,” lii nts ” h he says, s y “ “and nd th they’re h y’ e often oftt n very v y curious c rio s about abo t it. itt IIt’s s something s me h ng of o a mystical my t c talent.” a n. He feeds f e s his h s creativity r a v t by y traveling r v l n and n returning t g to t the original o i na purpose p r o e of o hiss jjournals: hi h o ls tto record e o d iinspiration. n pir tii n IIn Gl Glacier l cie N National atio l P Park, ak h he did i a watercol wate c lor off a mountain o u t landscape. l n s ap His i daughter a gh Ingrid, g d, now ow twelve, we v , felt e it was wa not o c mp e e and complete a d added a d d a small s l skier k e to t one n off the h slopes slopes. op s On On a trip to o Norway N r y he drew d ew a carved a v d mortise-and-tendon mo tti e a d t nd n church hu ch whose ho e style t l predates p ed t s the th h Vikings. Viki i i g Fondly F o d y recalling e a i g the t e superb p r craftsmanship, t ma s ip,, he says, s y , “I just ju needed n ed d to o remem r me be that ber t a one one.” on

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De c n i g from Descending f a long ng tradition r d i n of o quilt qu making m k n Denyse D n s Schmidt c m d s creations c e to s have h a e a quirky, uirky decidedly d cid d dl d y contemporary c ntem o a y spin pin without with t out even e e a hint hint off hobbyh bby b sstore o e saccharine. c h r n Her e journal j u a pages p ge are a e dotted d t e with wi h tiny i y renderings en e ng of o the h quilts, q quilts u t roughhewn o g he n sketches s e c e in n colored o o e pencil pencil. e c Filled F d with w saturated s t r t d hues hues, h e one o n book bo k has h s the th h deep de p colors c l r of of a New New England E gla d fall: falll asters, a t cranberries, anbe ri s and and pine. p n Another A o h iss summery s mme y and nd light igh with wi h the h colors o o off sherbet, he b , lemonade, em n e, and a d babies’ b babies a e gingham g n h m blankets blankets. an e s Other O h r pages p g s comprise c mp s black-and-white l c - n -w i sketches k t h s iin which hi h ch S Schmidt chmidt i t works w rks out o t th the h shapes h p of of h her e quilts q ilts or o d drafts aftt th the h prose p o e she she ssometimes me i e stitches t c e into n o the h pieces, pi c s, such s c ass “Tomorrow “ om r o is Another A o h r Day.” D y The h quilts u l first r t came am to o Schmidt ch i t as a telephone t l p on doodles d d while wh e she s e was wa working w o ki k n ass a graphic r phii d designer: e ign r ccircles i cl a and d ssquares ua rrepeated p ated in in a bold, bold d g graphic a h hic sstyle. y e Gradually, G ad a y y, they t ey made m d their h r way way from f om scrap c ap paper pape into n her e journals. j u na . A the As h idea d a for o a business bu n devoted e ed to o quilt q i making ak g emerged emerged, em r e the he journals o r as blossomed. bl b o s med Between e we n graphic g aph c brainstorms, ba o ms, Schmidt S hm d sticks s i k in i the h stuff s u f off life: i : musings m ng o over relationships, relationships e t o s i s last-minute l s mi u e accounting accounting, a c u t n and nd taped-in a ed n quotes q o e from om tea ea bags bags. ag “Must “M Mu t stop sto with ith i h th the h nail aill biting,” biti i ng ” she h admonishes dm nishe h herself e s lff on o one n occasion. c a ion Itt iis this t i vulnerable, u n r b , quirky q i ky side s d of Schmidt c mi t that h t comes c me through t r ug in i the h quilts. qu t Th y marry They m r y creature c u e comfort c mf r and a d high-art h g - r craftsmanship c a m ns p at a a time t m when w e most m s ttextiles xtil i s have h v a synthetic, y tthetic Made-in-Sri-Lanka Mad i -Sri L nk feel. f el Schmidt’s c mi t quilt-related qu t e a e journals j r a were w r at a their h r fullest u l s when wh n she s e was wa in i the h e r y stages early t ge of o starting a t n her e business business. bu ne s They T ey brimmed r mm d with w t new ew ideas d s and nd the h headaches h e d che and nd challenges h ll l e g s of of an a entrepreneurial ntr p e eu ial undertaking. unde t ki k n In In recent e ent years y as sshe has h increasingly i c e s ng y used u ed a computer ompu e for f r design, d s g , and n her e journal j u na keeping k epi g has h s declined. d declined e i e . The T e hand-drawn h n - r wn element e men is still s l important i po an enough enough, e ou h though though, t o h that t a sshe’ll h ’ll l scan s a ad drawing awin iinto nt th the h computer. om ute Sh She h also ls pins i s thi things h ng on o th the h wall lll of her o e studio, s u i , so o that t a she sh can c n gaze g e on n them t em while w e designing, s gn ng, g and a d the t e board b ad op operates e ass an a extension x e s o of o her e journals journals. j u n l “II wish w s I had h d the t e discipline d c p n to o take a everything e ythi h n off ff f it i at at the th t e end e d of of a season s a on and nd add dd d them th he to to a journal,” jo r al ” she she says, s y a desire d s r echoed e ho d by by many any contributors c n r b t r who wh rue u lost s ideas. a Schmidt c mi t finds nd her he creative ce t muse mu e in n many ma y places places, p a e including n ud n the t e worlds wo d off ffashion shii n and a d home h me décor, dé d c r nature, n t r and nd paintings. intii g . Sh She he lik likes ke th the t e random r ndom compo c mp ssition t n of o signs s g s and a d shapes s ap s that h t happen h p pp n unintentionally, u n en o a ly, such u h as a on on the h backs a k o tractor of a t r trailers trailers. r i r . Though T o gh she h fills l them h m more mo e slowly slowly, s wl she h still i carries a i s a journal o r a with w i h her ith he most m st of of the th t e time—especially ti t m —e pe ially on o her he travels, t a ls which whi h ch provide r vid d creative c e ti tv rrenewal—and n wa —a d has h s several s v r l in n various v r u stages t g s of o completion c mp e on around r un the t e house. h us Re u n g tto the Returning h personal p on notes o e and n wanderings an e ng tthat a coexist o x tw with t the h ffanciful n iu sshapes h p s and a d colors c lo s of of her h r textile t xtill work, wo k Schmidt S hmidt d says, s ys “Th “There’s “ h ’ an an emotional motii n l llife e attached a a e to my my journals. j un They’re ey not o just j s about b u work.” k”

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Two T w things h n s are clear a about a ou director d r c o Mike M ke Figgis i g s First F r he h is i a passionate p n t but u highly hi h ghll ffocused u ed person e s n who wh can c n freeze-frame f e z -f am multiple ulti t pl projects r j ct in in order d to to con onccentrate n r t on n the he one ne att hand. h n And, A d, second, e o d, he e values u those t o e things t ng that t a make m k h s life his i better e t r and d his h art r richer richer. r he His i journals j u n l clearly c e r y serve e v such u h a purpose purpose. p r o e “II h have v a leather l ath h r bag b g I take take with with t me e wherever wh r v r I go,” o ” says ay Fi Figgis. F g i “I “Into I t it i goes go s my m y travel ve docs, d c , my my camera, am a, my y small sm l notebook, n t b o , my my phone…” ph e… He e trails t i off, f, me t l y checking mentally h ck g his h s packing p c ng list list. i . “Of Off those those, h s the he little t l notebook n bo k iss by b farr the he most m o t important.” imp r t a t ” His “everyday e e y ay journal” jo r a iss where w e e Figgis F gg g i daydreams d yd e ms and nd reacts e c s to o the t e world. wo d He calls He l it i a “memory “memory m mo y bank bank,” an and a d says says, s y “II have h v a lott of o ideas ideas, i e s and a d when wh n I write w rite them th t em down down psychologically s ch logi ally my my brain b ai lets let go o of of them. th t em But But then th t e I forget f r et tthem, em, so s when w e I revisit r v s them, t m, it is i quite qu e a revelation.” ev a i n He H also s keeps e p note o ebo k specific books sp c to t every v r current c e t work-in-progress work-in-progress, wo n p o r s which w i h range a ge from r m films fi ms to o photography. p h t g a h . He H frequently f e ue tl t refers efe to to th these h e ffor o phone ph n numbers, umbe s tto-do -do li lists, i t and a n other o he unembellished u em l he information. i f r i n In I addition, d i on, he’s h kept k p sketchbooks k t h o s and nd dream d ream e m journals journals. u a . What W Wh at allows lll ws someone om on with with i h such u h a ferocious fe o i u creative r ativ energy n r y to t produce r d c as much a m c varied a ed work w r ass Figgis igg g s does d e is hiss organizational o g n z t a skill. s i He e proudly p o dy c l himself calls im e “a a very e y good g od librarian librarian,” b a i n when w en describing e i i g the he shelf he in i his London L nd n home h o e that th t at holds hold d all all off hi his i jjournals u nal iin sequence e ue c with ith i h notations n t ti n on n their th t ei spines. pin s He H e says y that t a he e spends spe d quite qu t a bit b t off time im cataloguing c t l g i g because b c us “I work o k on o t e basis the b s s that h t iff I have a e an a idea idea, d a I need ee to t resource e o r e itt really e l y quickly quickly.” uc l Not N ot surprisingly, u p i in l Fi Figgis i gis iiss particular p rtic l r about bo t hi his materials. ate i ls H He e iiss one o e of of th the t e ffew w contributors c b t r who who actually c u l y use s the h beautiful e u i u Italian t l journals j u n l that t a oth t e s either ers e h r covet c v t or o keep k e unblemished nb mi h d on o a shelf shelf. sh f He He admits dm t to t having a i g a soft ot sspott for fo stationery station y stores sto e and nd recently e tl t spent p nt a “preposterous” “p e o t r u ” amount a u t on a lleather-bound a h r b u d journal j u n l that h t will w l withstand w t s a d travel. t a e Pens Pe s are a important, mp r , too. oo He H ha about has a u 20 2 fountain o n a n pens p n and n carefully a e l y selects e e t three t r e of o different df n colors o o and nd widths w i t s for idth fo travel. t a el Figgis igg g s started t r e keeping e p ng a journal j u n l in n music mu c school s h o in the h early a y 1970s, 1 7 s, filling fil g i with it wi h playlists l y s s and a d names n me of o clubs ub for f r gigs gigs. g s When W e he e joined o n d a performance p r rm n e artt group, a g o p he h was w s the th he scribe, c ib i e writing writing down d wn sequences. eq e c s Gradually, Gr d alll drawings dr win and a n collage c age elements e me t found o n their h way way into i t the h journals. j u n l The he switch wi h to t film m ma e the made t e journal ou n less off a tool o l for o lists l t and n planning l n i g and a d more mo e “personal personal pe on and nd sself-searching.” l s a chii g ” lf For o someone o o e who wh lives l so o intensely n en e y in n his h head, e d, generating, ge e a ng, g editing, e i ng, g toss s i g out ing o t and a d going g i g on o to t new ew ideas d a in n the h time me that t a most mo t people p o l are a e reading r a i g the tth e ffrontt page ag of of the th h morning mo nin paper, a e Figgis Fii gis needs n eds his hi h journals jo r als to to stay st y cen c nttered. r d “Iff I couldn’t o n have a e that t a internal i t r a dialogue, d a ogu , I couldn’t o l n function.” u c on he e com c mme t off the ments h journal journal’s u na s therapeutic h r pe t role role. o . Because B e au e he h is i “ “always alw y moving vi forward,” f rw d ” he h tends te d to to pick i k up u an n old old journal jo r al only o n y when w e he’s e looking o k ng forr something s me h g particular. p i u a For Fo example, e ampl , a current u r n film fim e ho s themes echoes h me he e explored e p o e years e r ago ag in i a performance pe o ma c art r piece p e e causing u ng him hi h m tto search e r h ffor o th threads h e d iin th the h old ld d jjournal u n l ffrom m th those t o ed days. y .S Sometimes om ti t me h he’s ’ humbled h u b ed by y his h s own wn former f r e creative r a v self: e : “I’ll I l think h n I’ve v had a an n original o g n l idea,” d a,” he laughs he laughs, a g “but but b t realize e l z I already a e d had ad it fifteen f e n years y a s ago! ago!” o

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Trust is what w a this t i book bo k hinges h e on—the on on—the h trust t u t of o the t e thirty-one thirty h r y one o e people p o l in i itss pages s to o sshare a e their h i w work o k not n t only n y with w t me me but b t with w the t e world. wo d The Th majority ma o t of them em mailed e m l d their t e journals o r a to o me m (we w all l said s private p i a e prayers p a e s to o the he FedEx x gods), gods) g d ) allowing a ow n me m to t read d their h books bo k at leisure. leisure e u e Every v r time t me a journal o r a arrived—sometimes e —s me me floating o t n free f e in a cardboard a d o r box o orr cosseted o s t d in i layers y r off tissue e and nd b bubble b l w wrap—it wrap r p—it felt e like k a an n extreme x r me privilege v e e tto become be o e acquainted a q ne with its i maker. maker m k r Though T ou h I only n y had h d relatively a i e brief r e telephone t ep o e and a d email em i exchanges a g s with w t most m s of o the t e contributors, c n r b t r I count c u t them t em all l as a friends i n s and a d cre c eative models. od s Many Man other o h people p o shared h r d their e journals u na with w h me me ass well, we and n I thank k them h m forr their t e interest n s in this h project r j c and an their t e r willingness w l n n s to o open pe their t er private t lives v s to o me. me In order o d to t find fin such u h an a array a r y of o journal j u n l keepers, ee e s I relied e e on friends ends e d and nd their h i e extended t n ed address dd books, o k p people o l llocated c t do online, i e a and n o others h interested ested e t d in n the t e topic op that h t were w r willing i i g to o spread s r a the h word. word o d The h process r c s made me m a believer b e e in i six x degrees d g e s of o separation. s pa a o . The ep people op who oh helped p d tthis i w work o k spring p i g ffrom m a sseries re o of passionate a s na entries nr in my own wn journal ou n to o an n actual a t a book o k notably n t b y include n l d Sally a y Wofford-Girand, Wofford Wo o d Girand G r n , my m agent, t and a d Princeton P c t n Architectural Ac i u a Press s editors e o s Mark M r Lamster am t and nd Jennifer e f r Thompson. mpson. m s n Dan Da Eldon o and n the h many ma y admirers a i e off his h art r inspired i s i d this t i project, p oe t and I remain ma n grateful g a e u to Kathy Ka h Eldon E d and an Alan A n Rapp R p for o allowing a ow n me e to t enter ne Dan’s world; w r they he both bo h continue on n e to t buoy u y me, me providing p o i ng advice dv e and a d perspec p r p tive. My My husband, h s a Andrew nd e Epstein, p i , took o k most mo t off the he photographs o o r p s in n this t i book, sacrificing a r fi ng countless o s hours o r of his i time. time t m I know n w we e will w l look l o back a k and a d be b amazed ed that h t we w did i this h with h two wo children c i r n under u e the t e age a e of o three. t r e I am a lucky u k to have ve some v om very ve talented a e t d friends r e d whose ho e feedback e db c has a been be n invaluable: n u be chocolate olate o t cake a e all a around ou d for o Megan M g n Knight, Knight K i h , April A r Lidinsky, Lidinsky d n ky Claudia C a d a McGehee, McGehee M Ge e , and members m mb r off my m writing wr i g group g o p (a.k.a., ( k a The h Kate a e Vest V s Mystery M s e gals). a s My M extended nded e family mi has a helped e p d to t make ma e this t i project p o e t possible o b e in n countless c u t e s ways, w y as have ve Jessica v e s c Stokes, Stokes S o s who wh cared c d so s lovingly v ng for o my my children; h l r n Flynn F y n Larsen, Larsen L r e who provided p o i e travel av and n research e e r h aid; a John J h McKeone M K o e for f r his i packing pa k n acumen; c me and Kevin K v n Gunzenhauser G n en a s r who wh shared s ed his photographic h t g a h c talents. e t . I am m also as indebted bted to t the h Iowa I wa Arts A t Council Co n i for f r a grant r n that t a assisted s i ed in n the he making m k n off this book. b o My M final n l thanks h nk go go to o Andrew A d ew and a d our o r children, c l r n Bella Be a and a d Tobey. T b y You inspire nspire n p r me me every e e y day d y and a d remind em n me m to t laugh. ug Thiss book b o may m y not n t rival va Madeline l n in line i your o r present p e t esteem, esteem s e m but u know n w that h t it iss all l for f you! o

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Lynda y a Barry B r y iss a writer w t r and a d cartoonist c r on t whose wh s work wo k has h s appeared p ea d all all over v r tarnation. na io She S She was w s born b r in in 1956 9 and a d lives v s on o a farm f rm somewhere om wh r in the h profound r f u d Midwest. M dw s . Julie B Julie Baugnet ug e iis an n associate a s cia professor r f s o of of design de i n at a St. S Cloud l u State t t University Un v t in Minnesota, M e o a where wh r she h teaches t a he graphic r p i design de gn and nd foundations foundations. o nd t ns She S e earned e r e her e BFA FA and nd MFA M A degrees d g e at a the h Minneapolis Mi n a lii College Colle e of of Art Ar and a d Design e i n and a d also a s studied s ud d at a the t Croydon C oy o Polytechnic oy e h i School c o l of o Art A t in n London London. L nd n She S e has h s exhibited e h b d her h r paintings an i g extensively x e siv ly throughout thr u ho t the h U.S. U S. and nd is is represented e t d by b Circa i Gallery Ga e y in n Minneapolis. M nn a o s United U nit d Press P e s International In e n tio al h has cited ci ed C Carol r lB Beckwith e k kwith ass “foremost “foremost o e o among am n photographers h t g ap e s who w o have h v recorded e o d d the t e cultures u u e off Africa Africa.” A i a She he and nd Angela A g l Fisher h r received e e v d mulmul mu tiple iple awards a d ffor o their their b book ok Af African ic n C Ceremonies r mo i s, iinclud n l dd ing n the t e United Un e Nations i n Award wa d of o Excellence Ex e e c for their t e “vi viv sion on and nd understanding u d r t n i g of o the t e role r e of o cultural c l u a traditions t a to s iin n the h pursuit u s i of of peace e c iin the h world.” o ld l ” Th Their Th i most mo recent e e t book o k is Faces F c s of o Africa Afr c (National (N n Geographic, G og h 2004). 2 0 ) Sophie S o hi h e Bi Binder B nd iiss a self-employed elf- mplo ed designer de i n r living living in in St. t Louis. L u s Previously, P e i u l she h worked o k as a a designer e i n r in n the t e theme-park theme h me park p r industry industry, i d r first r t in n her h r native n t e France F a c and n then h n iin n the h U U.S. .S In In 2001, 2001 2 0 she h set e off offf on a 14,000-mile 14 1 ,000 0 -mile bicycle bi y l trip i through h o g sixteen x e countries. c un i s She S continues c n i u s to t bike bk and n recently e e t y took o k up u rock o k climbing climbing. lm g Erwin rw n R. R Boer B e has a researched e e r h d human human-machine h ma -machine m c i e interacinterac nea tion o in n a number um off domains m i s ranging r n i g from r m aviation v t o and n driving d ri i g to t scientific i n ifi i cd data t visualization. vis aliz tio . H He received r c i ed his hii M and MS an Ph.D Ph D degrees d g e s in n Electrical E e t c l Engineering g n e ng from r m Twente we t University Un v r t off Technology e hn og in i the h Netherlands Ne h r a d and nd the h University Univ r it off Illinois Illi l n is in i Chicago, Chi Ch g respectively. e p c i el . In In 2001, 0 1 Nissan N s an offered f e e him m the h opportunity op o t n y to t direct r c rere r search e r h in n the t e area a of o intelligent t l g n driver r support u po systems y t ms through h o gh close lo collaboration c ll l abo a io with wi h a number n mb r of of universi u i e sities e in n the h U.S., . Canada, C n a the t e Netherlands, N t e l n s and an Japan. Ja a . Erica E ric B Bohanon Boha n w wass born b r in in Peoria, Peo ia Illinois. Illi I i oi She Sh S e gradu g aduated t d from r m the t Minneapolis Mi n a i College Co e e of o Art Ar and a d Design De gn in n 2003 0 3 with w t a BFA BF in n furniture u n u e design design. d s g Since S c then h n she s e has h s worked w ked on products du t for f r Target T ge Corporation Co p r i n and a d Caldrea. Caldr a Currently, u r n l she h lives v s in n New N w York o k City, C y where wh she h works w r s in n lifestyle f s y e and nd home m product r du design design. e i n

Gary a y Brown B ow iss a professor r f s o at a the h University Un v r t of Cali Califor ai nia i S Santa B Barbara, ab where he e h he teaches t a h jjournaling u n li l g classes cla and n has a developed e e oped an n extensive e t n i e collection c l c on off artist a i t journals u a and n sketchbooks sketchbooks. k t h o s Brown B ow is currently u r n y editin editing e i n ffour o rd decade’s e d ’s worth wo h of of jjournals u nal iinto t artist r is b book–digital o k dig d printed p rn constructions. c ns u t o s His H s work wo k has a been e featured f a u e in M e Nude Male N e Now Now, N w New ew Visions V si n for o the t e 21st 2 s Century C nuy (Rizzoli, (Ri R z li l 2001) 2001). 0 1 Primarily r m r y known k ow ass the he musician m s c n who wh cofounded o o n ed th the h group r u Talking Talki k n Heads H He d (1976–88), (1976 1 7 –88) 8 D David vid dB Byrne r eh hass also a directed i c ed films lm ((True r e Stories S o e ), sscored o e films fi ms (notably, (no b y y, The T Last a t Emperor, Emperor E pe r for f r which w h he h won n an Oscar) Oscar), Os a and a dab balllett (Th The h C Catherine a h rin Wh Wheell)). H He iiss also l o an a accomplished a o plii h visual u artist r s who who has a several e e a books bo k and n numerous um r u exhibitions i t o s to o his h s credit credit. r d t Byrne Byrne’s B r e s recent e en work wo k includes n l d s the album lb bum G Grown own B Backwards Ba k kw rds (N (Nonesuch, N e u h 2004) 20 4 and a dad digital display i p y entitled e tt dT Trees, e s, Tombstones, T mb t n s, & Bullet Bu e Points Po s at the h George e r e Eastman E s ma House House. ou e John o n Clapp C app p iis the t e illustrator i u t a r of o five fi books b ok for f r children, hl r including n ud g books b k written wr t n by b Robin o i McKinley, McKinley cK l y Liz L z Rosen Ros R s berg, b eg a and dB Bruce u e Co Coville. C ill l H His Hi latest la book, bo k Shi Shining Sh i g, b by y Julius u u Lester, e t r, iss a Book B o Sense e s 76 6 Pick P k and a was wa selected e c for o inclusion c o in n the h Society o i t of o Illustrators Illustrators’ us a o s annual a nu sh show h representing e r s n i g the h he Best B s Picture Pi P c u e Book B ok Art A Ar of of 2003. 2003 0 3 A graduate g r d a e of o Art Ar Center C College o l g of Design e gn in i Pasadena, Pa a e he e now n w teaches t a he drawing d aw n and n painting a n ng att San S n Jose J s State University. U niv r i . John o n Copeland Co e a d received r c v a BFA BFA from om San n Francisco Francisco’s Fa c c California C aliff r i C College olle e of of A Arts t iin 1998 1998. 9 8 H He h has a appeared p ea d iin numerous um r u g group r up shows h ws and d had h d a solo o o exhibition e h b i n at a 31 Grand r nd in n Brooklyn Brooklyn, B o k y New w York York, Y r , in n Fall F l 2004 2004, 2 0 where w e eh he is represented. e r s n ed. Copeland’s C p l nd’ journals j u n l can a be b viewed i wed on n his web w b site i e at a johncopeland.com. joh c p l nd om Mike Mik M k Fi Figgis F ggi iis a writer/director/composer it /di e t r/ om s r whose who e 1996 1 feature e u film fimL Leaving v g Las L Vegas V gas wa was nominated om a ed for o four f Academy c d y Awards Awards. Aw r s Figgis F gg joined i ed England England’s g a d s foremos foremost oe s avant-garde v n - a d theater h a e group, g ou The Th he People Peo le Show, Sh S ow in i the h early a y 1970s. 1 7 He e recently r c n y directed dr c an episode p s d off the h Martin n Scorsese-produced S o s s - r d c series series, s r e The h Blues, Blues l e and nd compl completed om l an n installation, in t ll l a io , T Thee M Th Museum m of of the the IImperfect pe fe t P Past s , at the h 2003 0 3 Valencia V n a Biennale. B e na .

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Hannah Hinchman is a writer/illustrator best known for her books about illustrated journals. She teaches summer workshops on that subject throughout the country. Her most recent title is Little Things in A Big Country: An Artist and Her Dog on the Rocky Mountain Front (W. W. Norton, 2004). Currently she is a graduate student in graphic design at Indiana University in Bloomington. Rick Hoblitt is staff geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in Hawaii National Park. He was a member of VDAP for ten years, during which time he was based at the David A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington. Hoblitt received his MS in chemistry in 1970 and his Ph.D in geology in 1978, both from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He lives in Hawaii National Park with his wife. Steven Holl founded Steven Holl Architects in New York in 1976. He is a tenured faculty member at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1981, and was named America’s Best Architect for “buildings that satisfy the spirit as well as the eye” by Time magazine. He was honored by the Smithsonian Institution with the 2002 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture. Maira Kalman is the author of thirteen children’s books and is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. In conjunction with M&Co., the design studio founded by her late husband, Tibor Kalman, she has designed sets for Mark Morris, fabrics for Isaac Mizrahi, handbags for Kate Spade, and watches for the Museum of Modern Art. Jenny Keller is a professor in the science illustration program at the University of California Santa Cruz. She began keeping illustrated field journals in 1981. Her special interests include studies of skeletal anatomy and describing movement through animated sequences. She was the sole illustrator for Dolphin Days (by Kenneth S. Norris, W. W. Norton, 1991), which won the John Burroughs Award for best book of the year in natural history. Anderson Kenny received his MArch from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1998. He currently

lives in Connecticut, where he works for Centerbrook Architects and divides his time between painting, installations, and architecture. The aesthetic of rural settings combined with urban landscapes and contemporary design is a continuing influence in Kenny’s work. Marcy Kentz grew up in suburban Los Angeles and is now attending California College of the Arts in Oakland. She hopes to major in printmaking and book arts. Christopher Leitch is an artist and designer who lives and works in Kansas City. His works emerge from chance processes and randomly selected materials, and, he says, “I never know what anything is going to look like. This uncertainty is liberating and invigorating.” His drawing and textile designs have been exhibited and published around the world. Nakano Masayoshi, 103, is retired from Hitachi Industries, where he worked as an engineer and, in later years, as vice president of the company’s junior college. He resides in Tokyo with his family. Thomas Oslund, the principal design director of oslund.and.assoc., is one of the leading design landscape architects in the U.S. He has received awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, American Institute of Architects, and in 1992 was awarded the prestigious Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome. He teaches and lectures at various colleges and universities and lives in Minneapolis with his wife and children. Lyle Owerko works as a photographer and art director in New York and has received multiple awards and recognition, including from the New York Art Directors Club, the Cannes Advertising Festival, and American Photography. Most notably, his photography was seen around the globe when it was featured on the cover of Time magazine’s special edition published on September 13th, 2001. Robert ParkeHarrison received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1990 and an MFA from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1994. He

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and his wife Shana began officially collaborating in 2001. Their traveling exhibition, The Architect’s Brother, was originally shown at George Eastman House in 2002. ParkeHarrison is represented by Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York. Michael Roberts is known for his highly realistic portrait cutouts on wood, which have made their way into many collections, including the Congressional Portrait Collection. His subjects have included well-known political or historical figures as well as ordinary citizens. Based in Iowa City, where he lives with his wife and two daughters, Roberts is represented by the Iowa Artisan’s Gallery. A former graphic designer and graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Denyse Schmidt has been sewing since her mother taught her as a child. As a professional seamstress, she has worked on everything from tutus and bishop’s mitres to fine clothing. She has a gift line, What a Bunch of Squares, and a how-to book, both published by Chronicle Books. Tucker Shaw is a writer who lives and eats in downtown Manhattan. Author of several books for young adults, including the award-winning Flavor of the Week (Hyperion, 2003), Tucker is an avid traveler and lifelong food freak who has been photographing his meals for years. Brian Singer is the Creative Director at Altitude, a San Francisco–based design firm. He is the creator of The 1000 Journals Project, a global collaborative art experiment reaching over thirty-five countries and every U.S. state. Singer’s design work has been recognized by the American Institute of Graphic Arts 365, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Communication Arts, Print, Graphis, Step, How, the Society of Publication Designers, and the Western Art Directors Club. Andrew Swift received his BS in biology in 1990 from Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, and then taught environmental education on the coast of Georgia. He served three years in the Peace Corps in Ecuador and later attended Augusta State University and the Art Students League of New York. In 1999,

Swift earned his MS in medical illustration from the Medical College of Georgia, where he is currently an assistant professor. Renato Umali was born in the Philippines but grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. He currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he teaches video production and is an active musician, writing and performing the music for the found-text band The Paragraphs. Idelle Weber attended Scripps College in Claremont, California, and the University of California, Los Angeles, receiving a BA in 1954 and an MA in 1955. She has been in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is represented in a large number of public and private collections. Weber taught painting at Harvard University and New York University and was also as an artist in residence at the Victoria School of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia. Her work can be viewed at idelleweber.com. Martin Wilner is an artist living and working in New York City. Represented by Pierogi in Brooklyn, he has been in several group and solo shows. His ongoing subway diary, “The Journal of Evidence Weekly,” is available online at www.tjew.com. “Making History: July 2004” appeared on the cover of Pierogi Press #11. He is also a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and has a private practice in Manhattan.

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“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” —May Oliver, “Yes! No!” Owls and Other Fantasies