Inspiration Portfolios

Here are two very cool things. The first is something I recently repurposed (don't you just love that word?!) – an aluminum make-up case, purchased long ago for my daughter. (She was probably too young for make-up, but she found this magical case to be so inspiring...what's an artistic mother to do!?)

At some point, the gorgeous silver box was hanging around unused, filled with eye-shadowed smudges on velvety warped plastic product displays. I tore those out, scraped off the glue residue, cleaned up the box (which has a nice see-through plexiglass lid), and went to town lining the inside with that thin cork that comes on a roll. Now I am on a roll with my portable inspiration box, where I can pin down images and arrangements. It looks nice next to my laptop, too: the same silvery burnished aluminum.

Inside the box in the photo, here is another very inspiring thing – a gift I received at a National Cooperative Grocers Conference for marketing types, held in Portland, Oregon. During a workshop on creative development, artist and actor Bekka Lindström gave EACH person in the room (about 45 of us!) a tiny hand-crafted portfolio filled with small significant images (and a pressed ginko leaf, to help us 'remember').

This was her very powerful take on the (oftentimes dreadful) PowerPoint presentation. We were all touched and impressed, and the message about the value of art, of the human hand, and of a gift (however small) made a deep impression. If you click on the portfolio picture on the left, you will go to a review of the play The Lightning Field, at the Oval House in South London. Bekka had recently finished a run in that show when she showed up at our conference with all of these tiny extraordinary portfolios. Of all of the presentations I've ever attended at a conference, this one made the strongest, most lasting impression.

Please tell me...what inspires you?