Game Board for The Creative Journey

I'm still working on it, but here's what I have done so far with my game board for The Creative Journey class (see previous posts). You can click on the photo to get a better view of each section. I used a field sketch board I found at Michael's. I just removed the hardware and that left a nice, study surface to collage onto. Plus, if I play again next year, I can turn it over and make another one! :)

The board is divided into three sections: Upper right section is the "Leaving Home"; lower half of the board is "The Wilderness" and upper left section is "Coming Home". You were also to include a space in the middle for retreat and reflection. With the exception of a couple of things cut from magazines, all of the images so far have come from my own collages. The circle represents the path that the journey will take. There are also stepping stones for each section which I have to make and then place around the board.

The easiest part of the board for me was the "Wilderness" section; probably because I'm so familiar with dark themes! The part keeping me stumped is "Coming Home" section. You are to think of images that convey things such as coming into the light, rebirth of a new self, a renewal, etc. The little door image is a plastic door that actually opens up to my "reward" images. I have it closed now but toward the end of the game I'll show you what's inside. So you can see there is still some work to be done here.

I also have to have my hero character finished and named by Sunday's class. Well, I don't HAVE to, but to keep up with the pace of the curriculum she gives you guidelines for keeping the game moving along. Today I'm going to bake up a bunch of faces from the various clay molds I have and see if one speaks to me. I did get some flesh colored polymer clay, so I won't have to paint them all this time.

Everyone's boards are so different! Part of the fun is seeing how everyone is designing their own boards and characters. They are posting them to the group as they work on them. I'm not ready to post mine yet; it's still rather bare in too many spots! So, back to work...

The Creative Journey

I have just signed up for the coolest class! It's called, "The Creative Journey" and it's loosely based on Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's Journey". If you Google "the hero's journey" you'll get a lot of info on the concept. There have been a ton of classes formed that explore this idea further as it applies to certain areas of people's lives; e.g. creativity in this case.

The class is taught by Barb Kobe and you can read about her and the other classes she offers at her website: http://barbkobe.com/ The class runs from Feb. 22 to May 3. It is designed to help you through a difficulty in your life, a life transition, deciding what to do with your life, or any other kind of question you may have about how to proceed on a certain issue.

It is set up in a game motif. You design a game board based on your life and what you're going through. The above example is somebody's actual game board from a previous class. Throughout your journey you'll design game pieces or characters to signify obstacles, allies, fears, etc. The dolls in the collage above are actual game pieces from participants of past classes.

It's not too late to sign up. There has only been one lesson so far. You can listen to the recordings of the classes as often as you need to. You get an e-booklet of the class curriculum that contains all of the info you'll need to design and make your game board, how the game is played, creating characters, etc. There is also a private Yahoo group for the participants where you can access files, photos, and other info that you'll need.

I'm in the process of designing my game board. I'm almost finished. We have a teleconference scheduled for next Sunday night. By then we should have our game boards finished and our "hero" character finished and named. I'll be posting bits and pieces of my Journey as I go along. This should be a lot of fun!